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i-systems once again in Deloitte Technology Fast 50

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This is the second time, i-systems was a part of Deloitte Technology Fast 50. The ranking affiliates the fastest growing technology entrepreneurships in Central Europe, based on the growth rate of annual operating revenues. Technology Fast 50 is a part of Technology Fast 500 EMEA, organized by Deloitte – international company, specializing in audit services in the field of economic consulting, financial advisory, risk management and tax advice.

17th edition of Fast 50

In this year’s ranking of the fastest growing technology companies in CEE, there were 21 companies from Poland. The dynamics of revenue growth of all companies equaled 1057% in 2015, and it was almost two times higher than a year before. i-systems company took 43 place in the ranking with 373% growth and was one of the seven European companies, which managed to appear in the ranking for two consecutive years.

– Our company specializes in creating dedicated e-commerce systems for retail and distribution. Being among 50 most innovative technology companies in CEE for the second time is a great honor for us. We hope that in the upcoming years we will take higher and higher places in the ranking – says Krzysztof Jaciw, CFO at i-systems


As in previous years, this year’s Technology Fast 50 ranking was dominated by companies dealing with use of information technologies, however in different applications: marketing, analytics of large databases, Mobile UX. They constitute up to 74% of all companies from the ranking (50% a year before).

Criteria of the ranking

To be a part of Deloitte Technology Fast 50, except from dynamic growth, the companies had to develop or create proprietary technologies and/or spend a significant amount of capital on research & development, have an ownership structure that excludes majority-owned subsidiaries of strategic entities, have its headquarters in a participating country, be a technology company and be active in one of the categories: IT and digital solutions, internet, media and telecommunications, clean technologies & energy, and biotechnology, nanotechnology and medical technologies.

8a.pl with an idea for e-commerce development

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As in any business, in case of e-commerce you need to act fast. You need to stay open-minded and constantly develop system to meet the demands of a modern customer – says Piotr Czmoch, the owner of 8a.pl

What are the plans of 8a.pl company to use the e-commerce potential?

– Our e-commerce system is a professional online store, directed to strictly defined customers. Selling online, we focus on a narrow group, however we want to be the best in chosen area. 


We don’t want to extend our product range with all possible physical activities. We do our best in order to our customer, the user of outdoor equipment and clothes – climber and mountain hiker – found satisfying offer in terms of brands, products and prices. We want the customer, a potential visitor to our store, to efficiently and intuitively make a purchase.

What are the biggest challenges of selling online?

– The number of challenges connected with online sales is considerable and despite commonly shared opinion: nothing comes easy. The competition is enormous, and customers more and more pampered and demanding. While making a decision to start selling online, from the beginning you need to fit the standards and have an idea for further development. Trade rules are becoming increasingly tougher, more professional and global. Foreign companies, which on the domestic market have already reached the maximum level of development, see Poland as an excellent area for „colonization”. Therefore, while selling online, you have to be prepared to fight for the interest of the customer.


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How do you imagine e-commerce at 8a.pl and in Poland in two years?

– Online sales is developing dynamically, so that forecasting what will happen in two years, would be like reading tea leaves. Because it depends on several elements, among others: the economic situation, the expansion of „big players”, the mode of action of shipping companies etc.


What we know, however, is the direction 8a.pl wants to follow. Due to the growth in sales, we want to develop processes related to warehouse logistics. We also want the constant modernization of our e-commerce system, so that it meets the growing expectations of our customers. Also, not resting on our laurels, investing in our team and sales system determine today’s success in online sales – sums up Piotr Czmoch, the owner of 8a.pl

Among its product range, 8a.pl has equipment for mountaing trips – touristic, as well as climbing. The product range also covers: outdoor women’s and men’s clothing, trekking shoes and climbing shoes, high quality equipment and accessories for ski touring, as well as accessories for fans of outdoor cooking. 8a.pl store is the right place for climbers, travelers and adventure lovers. The brand has won many awards for the use of modern business e-commerce solutions. This year, the company was placed among four final companies in Mobile Trends Awards for the design and operation of sales system on mobile devices.

i-systems among Polish LIRs

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i-systems is the first producer of e-commerce software in Poland, being LIR at the same time. After receiving a positive decision, the company can support the security and development of its customers, while improving service quality.

What is LIR and RIR?

Starting from the abbreviation RIR, which stands for “Regional Internet Registry” one can find out that it is an organization, which deals with allocation and registration of IP addresses in the particular regions of the world. The custody is exercised by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which aim is to keep order in IP addresses and domains.

However LIR (Local Internet Registry) is an organization, to which a pool of IP addresses has been assigned by RIR. Those addresses are further assigned to LIR’s customers. LIRs are mostly internet service providers, entrepreneurships and academic institutions.

What are IP addresses for?

IP addresses are used to identify servers, and their number is limited. Therefore, their price on the market is constantly growing. This is why an alternative standard, called IPv6 was developed, in which the number of IP addresses is enormous. Unfortunately currently most of the operators do not support this standard. But yet, there are IPv4, which availability is constantly decreasing. However, being among LIRs we have a pool of addresses at our’s disposal.

Theoretically, you can run any number of sites on a single IP address, however it is not advantageous taking the positioning into the consideration. Moreover, you cannot successfully run SSL, which is to provide data confidentiality and authentication of server, on such address. Until recently, it also assumed that one IP address is assigned to a single domain. Currently, standards allow to run multiple domains on a single IP address, however once again, this solution is not supported by all devices. What is more, many services evaluates the so-called “reputation of the IP address”. Let’s take, for example, spam servers, which have a low reputation, and that means that e-mails from these addresses are rejected.

Swimming in the pool of IP addresses

Previously i-systems rented the so called pools of IP addresses, and their number was limited. When the company wanted to have bigger pool of addresses, the older one had be returned. This, however, involved a time-consuming configuration of domains and security.

Currently, being LIR, the company received a pool of thousand unique IP addresses. It is strictly connected with security, as in case of leased IP addresses, the operator can ask to return them at any time, which would result in unavailable i-systems sites. Being a partner of the main provider of IP addresses, no one can request their return.

Another benefit is the fact, that when having its own IP addresses, i-systems can direct them to any server room. In case of leasing addresses from the server room, while moving, they stay with particular server room. Hence, it is another element of security, and moving between server rooms is no longer a problem.

A pool of IP addresses, i-systems received while becoming a LIR, is a pool of brand-new addresses, which were never used before. The customer can therefore be sure, that for instance a month earlier under this address there wasn’t any  domain used for a spamming purposes or containing illegal contents. Receiving IP address from the server room is pretty like buying in secondhand, you never know who wore the clothes before and what happened during wearing them. Such address can be listed on blacklists and be blocked, and this can cause problems with, for example, receiving e-mails with orders.

Being among LIRs, i-systems company strives to improve the safety of services, being independent from server rooms and assuring unique IP addresses, which couldn’t be blocked in any way before. Having such addresses also affects better positioning. The company meets, at the same time, all the most stringent SSL standards, because one domain has a single IP address.

The new image of BeanBrothers e-commerce system

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The new e-commerce system for BeanBrothers has been created for the lovers of aromatic teas and coffees from all around the world. The new online store is a combination of an elegant graphic design, referring to the colors of the earth, and modern functionalities supporting online sales. All of the solutions were implemented within single idea – to create a place, where the customer can easily and comfortably purchase both favourite coffee and specialized equipment, needed wherever short black is brewed.

– Our online store has a lot of advanced functionalities, which facilitate making purchases for individual customers and business partners. We especially appreciate the integration with the accounting system, thanks to which we can execute orders much quicker – says Filip Sura, BeanBrothers

Solutions for efficient and flawless execution of orders

E-commerce system prepared for BeanBrothers offers high-quality tea and coffee, as well as grinders, coffee machines, and special accessories, such as filtering systems or dispensers. As the offer is directed either to B2C and B2B sector, it generates considerable traffic on the website. In order to ensure efficient execution of many orders, company’s representatives made a decision to integrate e-commerce system with Subiekt GT accounting system. Thanks to the implemented solution the situation when the customer orders unavailable product can be avoided.

The company also sells its products through Allegro auction portal. Wide range of products means a necessity to create multiple auctions with different parameters. Generating auctions “manually” can be burdensome and can cause many errors. Thanks to the automatized creation of auctions, only products which are available in BeanBrothers warehouse, are the subject of an auction.

Repair Management System

Repair Management System

Automatization of the Repair Management system

Except for products, BeanBrothers offers repairs of different kinds of coffee equipment. Every year, the brand gains new customers, so traditional completing of documents, related to possible equipment failure, would be time-consuming. Therefore, automatization of the Repair Management System was for company’s representatives of great importance.

A dedicated Repair Management System has been implemented in the new e-commerce system for BeanBrothers. Every coffee machine owner can now easily report failure directly through online store and order service. What the customer needs to do is simply fill a short form. On the basis of this information, accurate costs and repair time are given.

Information on stationary stores and discounts in exchange for signing up for the newsletter

Information on stationary stores and discounts in exchange for signing up for the newsletter

Modules aimed at improving customer service quality

An interesting solution which supports customer service quality is Abandoned Carts module. There are several reasons why customers do not finish their purchase transactions. They want to check the price of the competition or they just simply forgot about the order. Thanks to this solution, the administrator of the online store can set automatic e-mail reminder to people who did not finish their purchases during a specific amount of time. This module is a perfect remarketing tool, allowing low-cost reminder of the offer.

The customers who signed up for the newsletter were also well taken care of because of the additional discounts. Customers are reluctant to share their private e-mail addresses, however everyone likes to get bonuses. Module called “coupons for signing up for the newsletter” allows to create customers database at low cost. Customers, on the other hand, get additional percentage or amount discount for BeanBrothers online store.
Brand-new e-commerce system for BeanBrothers can be found here: www.beanbrothers.pl

i-systems release – version 4.3

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Another version of our system has been released. This time, changelog reached a record number of 258 positions, such as: adding new full-text advanced search engine, redirection module, spam shield module, as well as HTTP Auth configurable authorization.  

What is advanced Solr search engine?

This module is an extension of an advanced product searcher (PAS), which uses Solr for searching. What is Solr? It is an efficient platform for full-text search. The previous version of the system was based on storing product data in database, however it was much slower. Solr is quicker than database query.

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This option can be efficiently scalable and expandable, unlike the previous version, where additional queries were needed. In case of PAS module, all changes in product features had to be refreshed, so that data could be outdated. Now, they are being refreshed incrementally every 5 minutes, and all data is being refreshed every hour. This means that  the longest waiting time for this changes on frontend level is 5 minutes. Moreover, customers get Solr search engine bundled with version 4.3.

Redirection module

This module allows to create and import URL redirections from the panel level. The customers want to keep URL address, they had in the previous store, because of positioning. Therefore, we prepared a tool, which in a very universal way, deals with tasks, which until now have been carried out in an individual way.

Spam Shield Module

Spam Shield reduces email spam from the contact forms, as Internet bots send unwanted content. This protection is based on both analysis of the display time and time needed to send a form – to small interval alerts application to bot. Also, a hidden box has been added, the fulfillment of which will inform the system about the threat.

HTTP Auth configurable authorization

Along with the launching new versions of the multidomain stores, when the customer does not want the store to be indexed by Google, while working simultaneously with the current store, the module introduces an additional authorization for a particular domain. This means, that the stores continue working, and the module introduces an additional authorization, preventing content indexing by Google.

What else?

In addition, discount politics module has been updated. The following changes have been introduced: discount limit support, base price discount, improvement of Allegro cart price calculation, improvement of transport registration, transport surcharge support, and conditional coupons support. Release 4.3 also includes new options for logistics modules, and improvement of UX in the administration panel.

Herbamedicus expands the group of its customers through eCommerce

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Herbamedicus Poland was established in 2010. With the Swiss preparations the owner met two years earlier. However, at this time he worked for a different international corporation, so he made a decision to carry out market analysis. After extensive research, it turned out that Polish consumers want to use natural healthy products.
Herbamedicus Poland offers Swiss preparations of natural medicine. All products contain extracts of herbs and medicinal plants, creating a fully natural products. The brand can be found in pharmacies, herbal shops, as well as in drug stores and retail chains, located throughout the country.

Reaching wider group of customers

The company carries out activities aimed at increasing the range of its customers. In April, they started cooperation with the Polish champion in bodybuilding – Michał Sawicki. Thanks of the campaign, Herbamedicus products are more and more often selected by active people.

– Not so long ago, our offer was addressed to the customer who was over 45 years old. However, we decided to expand our business and reach younger customer. Products for athletes, dermocosmetics, and coconut oils, addressed to all people who want to live a dynamic and healthy live were made. To reach younger customer, besides offline sales, we have created a mobile and technologically advanced eCommerce system – says Adam Jakobiuk, Chairman of the Board at Herbamedicus
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Awards for modern eCommerce system

The company has recently been recognized with many awards. They received “Skrzydła Biznesu” [Business Wings] – an award granted to the companies searching for the new solutions for development, silver medal in “Konsumencki Lider Jakości 2016” [Consumer Quality Leader 2016], and title “Dobra Marka 2016” [Good Brand 2016]. Due to an implementation of the modern eCommerce system, Herbamedicus received title of “e-gazela biznesu” [Business e-gazelle]. Herbamedicus online store has a lot of B2B solutions and functionalities to support the automation of payments and order fulfillment. The management board particularly appreciate the dedicated Call Center module. Thanks to the implementation of this solution, the company effectively increases phone sales.

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– Our eCommerce system is an innovative project. On the one hand it is easy-to-use and intuitive, on the other – it has several developed functionalities to increase the quality of customer service. We hired external companies to run phone sales. The decision to create proprietary Call Center module was a good choice – states Iwona Urbaniak, Office Manager at Herbamedicus.


Development of the new brands

The Swiss Herbamedicus company is not the only brand offered by a Polish company. In their offer they also have their own brands, such as Vitamedicus – herbal preparations, and Herba Pure – dietary supplements.
Despite many successes the company is not slowing down its development. They recently purchased land for the new office and warehouse. Currently they are waiting for an appropriate permissions and finalizing the construction project. The new warehouse is to be environment friendly and consistent with the overall idea of ​​the company. Completion of construction works is planned at the end of next year.

i-systems release – version 4.1

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Brand new i-systems release has been recently launched. The changelog consists of 38 records, including 11 updates of features such as coupons, remarketing, payments and auctions. The major change introduced in our latest software update has been the migration to the Git revision control system.

Release adjusted to the Git revision control system

All the development works has been executed on the basis of Bazaar revision control system so far. However there were some deficiencies, such as: a kind of archaic solutions, and, the most troublesome, lack of development and adjustment to the changing systems and environment. While creating over a dozen releases during the year, as well as systems of increasing structure, this problem seem to grow bigger with every update of i-systems software. IT team had to create their own solutions in Bazaar very often.

In the long-term perspective it appears to be very ineffective. Therefore all the versions from level 4.1 and upward will function based on Git revision control system. Current release is a key to the transition process, because it identified and solved all the problems and discrepancies between Bazaar and Git. This above mentioned discrepancies concerned among others: adding new scripts, refactoring autoload, and adjusting components to the corresponding location in the project tree.

Why Git?

Revision control system is responsible for tracking changes in files and code. It also enables reestablishment of any previous version during the process of creating eCommerce software. What is more, there is a possibility to compare this versions and find out who implemented those changes, when did it happen, and what are the specific changes implemented. This is a key factor considering system development, and it is very helpful in case of large projects and teams. Git system is a response to challenges that IT teams have to face while working on developed projects. Git is disturbed, fast, it protects against repository errors and eliminates all the CVS errors. Among its specific advantages there are possibilities to:

– track project development from the beginning to the current state; 


– reestablish any previous version; 


– track changes in code in offline mode; 


– maintain every repository as a separate branch, what is very helpful in case of projects with above 900 branches;


– merge changes introduced by different people in different time; 


– build branches, to allow parallel work of several programmers on several solutions without blocking and interfering each other; 


– make the revision control system work faster (easy to notice on large projects); 


– merge from any place in the project to any other place;


– save a complete change view, in opposition to other revision control systems, where only particular changes could have been saved.


Adjusting release to the Git revision control system is a part of long-term development plan of i-systems software.

From continuous delivery…

The vision of the i-systems software development assumes faster growth, as well as more effective adjustment to the market demands and to the dedicated customer demands. Therefore, introducing Git revision control system will allow more effective transition to the continuous delivery model. Continuous delivery is a process of automatic code implementation for the testing environment, where it can be a subject of other tests and where other functionalities can be created, until the desired result is obtained. After a completion of series of tests, the product is being transferred to the “production line”, which means that functionalities tested are being applied into production server.

Of course, despite increased automation, all the decisions are to be made by the team. An intense process of software development has no impact on stability and safety of the projects. Continuous delivery method is being applied in aviation, banking and medical industry. It is assumed that NASA applies this method in case of space probes. Only after passing all the tests and being approved by the team, the software can be used by the customers.

With the automation of the routine tasks and quick feedback, continuous delivery process improves satisfaction level of the programmers as well.

…to continuous integrations

In the long-term perspective all the changes have to result in continuous integration of the i-systems software. Continuous integration is characterized by a systematic addition of current changes in the code to the main repository. A frequency of the changes mentioned can reach the amount of even several times a day. However, the optimal frequency, taking i-systems into the consideration, is smaller. The most important advantages of the continuous integration are: increased efficiency when combining work during projects, the ability to detect any possible errors and constant access to the latest code version. In practice, continuous integration provides a set of tools for the programmers, which compiles code, creates build, performs automatic tests and other static code analysis.

All the changes in the process of software development will be implemented gradually, and will be practically invisible for the i-systems customers – what changes is only an organization of the part of IT team itself.

Polskie Fabryki Porcelany “Ćmielów” i “Chodzież” S.A. and i-systems together in eCommerce

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One of the oldest Polish brands, established in 1790, has launched a new online store. All of the works has been performed by i-systems.

Everything started in Ćmielów, Poland in 1790, when a local potter, Wojtas, started a workshop of clay pots and faience. In 1838 production of porcelain begin. Polskie Fabryki Porcelany combines three brands of different nature: elegant and luxury Ćmielów, classic and functional Chodzież, as well as modern and bold Ćmielów Design Studio. Moreover, Polskie Fabryki Porcelany is a member of the Wistil capital group.

– Ćmielów is one of the 10 oldest brands in Poland. The fact that such brands can see the potential in eCommerce and are willing to take a full advantage of it, by investing in new B2B and B2C solutions, is very significant. – claims Marcin Rutkowski, PR & Marketing Manager at i-systems.

– We wanted to combine our rich tradition with the best solutions on IT market. As a result we are now in possession of the system that enables us to take advantage of the fact that we are a well-recognized brand and thus – reach the client’s attention even more effectively. – says Sebastian Kozłowski, Production & Development Manager at Polskie Fabryki Porcelany “Ćmielów” i “Chodzież” S.A.

Where tradition meets modernity

Historical collections made by Polskie Fabryki Porcelany “Ćmielów” i “Chodzież” S.A. from generations can be found among others in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, in Vatican, and what is more, in many diplomatic institutions.

The main intention was to create an online store that would represent brand’s values and meet the demands of the mobile users. All the design and development works were conducted according to responsive web design solution, which enables the new online store to adjust excellently to every mobile device.

Sklep-w-responsive-web-design

Pro sales and pro logistic solutions

eCommerce system, prepared especially for Polskie Fabryki Porcelany “Ćmielów” i “Chodzież” S.A. has a number of pro sales solutions, for instance: intelligent groups and extended coupons, a possibility to add reviews, extended filters, advanced cart history, and fully automatic, two-way integration with Allegro.

Another advantage of the new eCommerce system is supporting the brand in logistics. With dedicated warehouse modules it is easier for the system’s administrator to manage product flow in both internal and external warehouses, prioritize, and verify states systematically.

The new online shop can be found here: http://sklep.porcelana.com.pl

The new eCommerce system in 5.10.15.

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A new shop for Komex is already online. Komex, the owner of a stationary shop chain 5.10.15., is one of Poland’s biggest retail sales chains. It currently owns over 230 stationary shops, where it sells children’s clothing and accessories. The cooperation with i-systems is aimed at enhancing the use of online sale potential.

Changes in the shop

The new online shop means not only a new image and a wider offer, but also many new options for customers: they can now preview the available sizes on product lists as well as use enriched search and filtering options. Moreover, a full mechanism of promotion combined with a refreshed loyalty program was created. More efficient system integration allows for faster delivery of orders to customers. Thus, the majority of packages is sent on the day of placing the order and delivered the next day.

Mobile consumers set the standards

The entire eCommerce system was prepared according to the best standards of Responsive Web Design. The new online shop of 5.10.15. automatically adjusts to the resolution of the screen on which it is viewed. All the development works concerning the full mobility of the online shop were carried out according to the Mobile First rule, which means that the shop layout on the smallest devices was prepared first and then the workspace was widened. Shop implementation also followed that rule. Thus, shopping on mobile devices is now much simpler.

“eCommerce is the fastest developing sales channel. The reasons are obvious: it is comfortable and saves time as well as, oftentimes, money. Young generations, which grew up with computers, tablets and smartphones, are becoming parents today and eagerly choose that kind of shopping. Thus, we treat eCommerce as a promising sales channel and mobile shopping as its strong basis. The entire eCommerce will soon be very mobile; it will intermingle with traditional shopping, the ROPO effect will increase and… the market will become crowded. That is why we are preparing for it as early as today” said Tomasz Sulejewski, eCommerce Manager in Komex.

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Dedicated eCommerce integrations

“Large stationary sales chains such as Komex act on the basis of precisely defined business processes. Their skillful transfer to eCommerce and subsequent optimization is very important. One of the key implementation elements was the creation of dedicated integrations affecting the sales system. The 5.10.15. brand has several affiliate partners within the sales network. Thus, we prepared a module allowing for launching the integration with affiliate networks and flexible management of parameters for each network” highlighted Marek Pawlak, Project Manager in i-systems.

The system also offers advanced integration with ERP. The integration is responsible for product and promotion management plus sales reporting. Its detailed functions include communication with the ERP system and updating the products and their prices; it also regularly sends to the ERP system the information about completed orders and trade documents issued in connection with them.

SAP logistic outsourcing solutions were also implemented, via integration with a Partner, in the new online shop at http://www.51015kids.eu/. This allows one to control the handling of the whole order.

Omnichannel retailing challenges

The scale of the undertaking presented by the new eCommerce system for the 5.10.15. brand made it necessary to divide the works into several stages. The first step in combining online and stationary sales was the possibility of checking the locations of all stationary shops belonging to the brand in Poland. Then, the loyalty program was unified in all channels: now it is coherent both online and offline. The next functions taking advantage of the multichannel idea will be implemented systematically as part of an adopted action plan.

“The platform constructed by i-systems based on modern standards is a prelude to further cooperation and the beginning of implementing the omnichannel strategy in full, since we are currently working on the latter,” claims Sebastian Moleda, Operations Director in Komex.

The implemented platform can be viewed online at http://www.51015kids.eu/.