Agile Transformation for a Digital Media Platform

For a leader in the digital media space, Gardius co-created the strategic vision for and then delivered a modern, omnichannel CMS platform. Our Agile operating model transformed their development lifecycle, cutting feature release times from months to weeks and enabling personalisation at scale.

Client Profile: A leader in the digital-out-of-home (DOOH) media and advertising technology sector.

The Challenge: To transform a slow, traditional product development lifecycle and consolidate a fragmented digital estate into a single, API-first omnichannel content platform.

Our Solution: Gardius led a complete operational transformation, starting by co-creating the strategic product vision before designing and implementing a pragmatic Bimodal Operating Model to accelerate delivery.

The Impact: Delivered a headless, API-first CMS that radically accelerated feature releases from months to weeks, and enabled the delivery of dynamic, personalised content across all digital signage channels.

The Situation 

A leading digital technology company was struggling with a fragmented digital signage estate. Their core CMS platform was being developed using a rigid waterfall methodology, resulting in long lead times for new features. This technical friction, combined with the lack of a single content hub, led to inconsistent user experiences across their digital signage channels and an inability to compete with more nimble players in the fast-paced digital media market.

 Our Approach & Solution

Gardius was engaged not simply to manage a project, but to provide the strategic leadership needed to redefine and rebuild the company's product development engine.

• Co-creating the Strategic Vision: Before any methodology was implemented, our first action was to partner with senior stakeholders to co-create and ratify a clear, ambitious product vision. This collaborative process established a 'North Star' for the programme, ensuring universal buy-in on the future state: a headless, API-first omnichannel platform.

• Designing a Bimodal Operating Model: We recognised that a "one-size-fits-all" Agile mandate would disrupt critical business operations. Therefore, we designed a pragmatic Bimodal Operating Model, a key strategic decision that allowed mission-critical 'run' functions to continue with stability, while all new platform development was moved into a dynamic Agile stream.

• Implementing Agile Ways of Working: Drawing from our deep Agile Ways of Working blueprint, we implemented the Scrum framework for the product teams. This involved a complete redesign of team structures into cross-functional "squads" and hands-on coaching to embed a new rhythm of iterative development, continuous feedback, and relentless improvement.

The Results & Impact

The transformation of the company's operating model and technology platform had a profound and lasting impact on its performance and capabilities.

• Delivered a Headless, API-First Architecture: The new platform enabled content to be created once and deployed seamlessly to any channel—web, mobile, or digital signage—radically improving efficiency and consistency.

• Accelerated Time-to-Market: The feature release cycle was reduced from multi-month projects to bi-weekly sprints, allowing the company to deliver value to clients at the speed the market demanded.

• Enabled Personalisation at Scale: The new CMS architecture empowered the client to deliver dynamic, personalised content to their customers, a key goal of their strategic vision.

• Improved Team Morale & Ownership: The empowered, autonomous squad structure fostered a strong sense of ownership and significantly boosted team morale and productivity