Located on Amsterdam’s Zuidas, UNGA was originally founded 15 years ago as a toy design studio. UNGA means “Let’s play!” in Papiamento. The company has since grown to become the specialist in family-oriented loyalty campaigns for supermarkets in various countries worldwide, with their largest clients particularly in Australia. They design fun and educational concepts and work with retailers, brands and partners through multiple channels. The people at UNGA are passionate about toys, games and design, which brings out the child in them. This is how they create meaningful loyalty campaigns that bring families closer together and help share beautiful moments.
Small dedicated IT team
UNGA has a small dedicated IT team with members from Finance, Office and Design who provide ongoing maintenance of the IT inventory and environment. Stephanie Meli is Finance Director and deals with workplace management in addition to finance. Haiko Oosterbaan is Senior Designer with a background in IT. He deals with the “fun stuff” in the company, making beautiful designs for the loyalty programs, and with the more technical issues of workplace management.
Need knowledge that wasn’t available internally
How did UNGA come to Root3? Before switching to Root 3, UNGA was working with another IT support partner that focused primarily on Windows. Stephanie says, “As the company began to grow, we faced some issues, especially since we only use Apple devices. As a result of the company’s growth, we needed a managed solution and wanted to work with a partner focused on Apple. Hence the move to Root3!”
Flexibility in scaling up or down
Since 2021, UNGA has been using Apple Managed Services to their full satisfaction for their workplace management for the approximately 65 people in the Amsterdam office. “Root3 works with a system we were already familiar with, JAMF Pro, so this made the transition smooth for us,” Stephanie explains. She also likes that the solution is financially flexible. “The payment per active device ensures that you only pay for devices that are in use and you can adjust this per month.”
Broad knowledge
“They also offer broad knowledge when it comes to Apple devices, such as single sign-on solutions, and know how to implement software solutions in a larger company,” Haiko adds. “UNGA and Root3 have also worked together on replacing our server and partially migrating it to a cloud-based solution. Together we worked on a solution that was best for UNGA.” Haiko constantly monitors IT developments and regularly has ideas or requests, with Root3 then working with him on the best solution for UNGA.
Always looking for feedback
Stephanie says she likes the fact that UNGA and Root3 have continuous contact moments with each other. “Root3 is in our office one day a month, we kick off the day with a meeting to discuss priorities and plan the day. This is very helpful to make sure we can address the most important issues. At the end of the day, Root 3 shares a list of tasks they’ve been working on, so UNGA stays on top of the status of the IT environment.” In addition, a quarterly QBR takes place where results, focus and areas for improvement are discussed. For Stephanie and Haiko, it is striking how actively Root3 is always looking for feedback for improvement. “In addition, they are very approachable and friendly. They also always remain so tactful and patient, even if someone comes for the umpteenth time with the same problem,” Stephanie said.
UNGA definitely plans to continue working with Root3 for the ongoing maintenance of their IT devices and environment. “We are always curious to see what Root3 recommends to us in terms of optimizing and improving our current systems and practices,” concludes Haiko.