Relaunch of the digital media services of the German Armed Forces

Tablet-, Smartphone- and Desktop-Screen with the website of the German Armed Force

The new bundeswehr.de wins bronze in the “Website” category at the ADC Awards 2020 – the only award in the entire category!

Public & Defense

Digital Experience Platforms

Experience Design

CoreMedia

bundeswehr.de

Our German Armed Forces come out of hiding digitally – user-friendly, interactive and future-proof on the new bundeswehr.de website. With this new website for the German Armed Forces, IBM iX is creating a central content hub on behalf of BWI GmbH as a basis for further developments.

The old web presence of the German Armed Forces was confusing and out of date. Important topics were spread across almost 70 individual websites, difficult to find and not prepared in a user-friendly way.

The new website presents a modern, transparent organisation with an important social task and provides insights into the motivation of the people who shape the German Armed Forces. All of this with a new look and up-to-date technology: fast, accessible, accurate and conversational. A reliable source of information for thousands of users who communicate with the German Armed Forces every day.

Making-of: A look behind the scenes of the new Bundeswehr.de

The image of the German Armed Forces is primarily shaped by the media

Many citizens* know little about the German Armed Forces or are critical of it. In the media you hear about lack of personnel, inoperable equipment and controversial operations. Until now, the German Armed Forces has had little to counter this on the internet: the old website was confusing and conveyed an image of the German Armed Forces that was no longer up to date. Important issues were spread across almost 70 individual websites, difficult to find and not presented in a user-friendly way.

Acting and communicating on the network as 'one' German Armed Forces

Anyone who wants to find out about the German Armed Forces should be able to do so online: anywhere, anytime and of course when mobile. The German Armed Forces wants to “come out of hiding” and communicate in an open and human manner.

A lot of individual websites have been combined into one new overall presence, with a fresh digital design, revised content, clear information architecture and interactive infographics. And above all: insights into the everyday life and motivation of the people who shape the German Armed Forces.

Subpage of the Website of the German Armed Force

Bundeswehr soldier describes her mission

New look, contemporary implementation and intuitive user guidance

The look is based on the new corporate design of the German Armed Forces, polygon and spotted camouflage instead of grey and white.

Three smartphone screens with images and representations of the Bundeswehr's operational locations

Based on the CoreMedia content management system, the portal is implemented in a responsive design, an accessible format and gender-appropriate language.

The user journey has been significantly improved through an integrated range of information and a new content strategy.

A user-friendly, interactive and sustainable web presence

The new website presents the German Armed Forces as a modern, transparent organisation with an important social role in our globalised world, as one of the most diverse employers in Germany, and as a close-knit force that is supported by human beings.

All this in a new format, with the latest technology under the bonnet: fast, accessible, accurate, interactive and dialogue oriented. A reliable source of information for the thousands of users who communicate with the Armed Forces every day.

An agile project approach means maximum transparency

Scrum & Kanban

In an agile project, the customer knows at all times what is currently being developed or produced and what is next. To achieve this, the development team worked with Scrum and the content team with Kanban.

Sprints

In a total of 22 three-week sprints, features were de-signed and developed, bugs fixed, concepts written and content from copybooks entered into the CMS.

Reviews

The team presented the results of their work in reviews and obtained feedback from customers.

Backlog Refinement

In backlog refinement, the next user stories were de-fined more precisely and prioritised in collaboration with the customer.

Daily stand-ups & refinements

With stand-ups and refinements, work process-es were divided, obstacles were cleared out of the way and possible solutions were discussed across all disciplines.

In retrospect

In retrospect, the team reflected on its cooperation and established measures for improvement.

Stay up to date on the go: the German Armed Forces Newsradar app

We have developed an app to complement the website so that interested parties can follow news from the German Armed Forces even more easily. The advantage: users can filter according to their preferences and stay up to date in real time with push notifications. Members of the German Armed Forces and external interested parties will find the app easy to use, and it will have more functions added gradually. IBM iX Berlin took on the conceptual, creative and technical implementation and publication of the iOS and Android app.

Best results in the shortest possible time

3 months

That’s how long it took from conception to completion of the app.

Strong team

Close collaboration with the Cyber Innovation Hub and BWI GmbH made this rapid implementation possible.

Remote user testings

Despite the pandemic, we were able to collect valuable feedback from users via video calls with screen sharing.

Accessibility

Making the app accessible to people with disabilities was particularly important to us.

4.9 stars

The app currently has this rating in the Google Play store. In addition to positive feedback, the app store ratings also provide us with important information on how to improve the app.

We are family

The BW Newsradar app won’t be the last app from the German Armed Forces. Plans for further members of the app family are already being made.

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Relaunch of the digital media services of the German Armed Forces

Our German Armed Forces come out of hiding digitally – user-friendly, interactive and future-proof on the new bundeswehr.de website. With this new website for the German Armed Forces, IBM iX is creating a central content hub on behalf of BWI GmbH as a basis for further developments.

The image of the German Armed Forces is primarily shaped by the media

Acting and communicating on the network as 'one' German Armed Forces

New look, contemporary implementation and intuitive user guidance

A user-friendly, interactive and sustainable web presence

An agile project approach means maximum transparency

Stay up to date on the go: the German Armed Forces Newsradar app

Best results in the shortest possible time

Ready for the next level of digital transformation?

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