The Changing Role Of The CIO In The Health Club Industry

Third-Generation
Evertonian
Hardcore football fandom translates into an
excellent member experience for Pure Gym
The Vision
is Clear
CIO Arvid Johansson leverages his
experience in retail to merge SATS Elixia
It’s All In
Your Story
Group CIO Andy Caddy reveals his approach
to Virgin Active’s digital transformation
And much more inside

Art Direction: MMM design
Stories: Snowball Copy
Photography: Magnus Omme, Getty Images, iStock

05 Checking in with RÉMI NODET,
Exerp CEO
06 President of the Fitness Industry
Technology Council BRYAN K.
O’ROUKE discusses today’s biggest
CIO challenges and opportunities
12 Virgin Active’s Group CIO ANDY
CADDY uses technology to create
an artful human experience
16 VIRGIN ACTIVE CASE:
Taking a no-nonsense approach to
change management
20 Exerp Projects Director PETER
HONORÉ injects speed and
predictability into large-scale projects
26 Fitness entrepreneur RASMUS
INGERSLEV reveals his winning
strategies for marrying fitness with
technology
30 Exerp COO LAURENT
CZINCZENHEIM keeps his eye
on his customer’s long game
34 ANDY FORSYTH, Head of IT
at Pure Gym, translates his hardcore
football fandom into excellent club
member experiences
38 PURE GYM CASE:
Shared trust and an entrepreneurial
spirit fuels the Pure Gym-Exerp
relationship
40 Exerp Business Consultant
JONATHAN MIDTTUN
moves his customers smoothly to-
wards their brighter, optimised future
42 CIO ARVID JOHANSSON
leverages his experience in
retail to merge SATS Elixia with its
total-fitness future
46 On the quest for simplicity with
Exerp Systems Architect
MARTIN LINDBOE
50 Exerp Supporter ANNE
KRONBORG understands
what’s important to her customers
– she used to be one
52 GO HEALTH CASE:
Partnering with technology experts
is key to creating a uniquely personal,
holistic training experience
75 Exerp Commercial Director JACOB
HERBORG NATHAN on the
company’s plan to better serve North
American customers
3

MEET RÉMI NODET, CEO AND PARTNER
CHECK IN WITH EXERP
The fitness industry has changed in dramatic and exciting ways since I
joined Exerp as a developer in 2003. Never before has technology played such
a major role in how fitness clubs serve the ever-changing needs of their
members.
As providers of the leading club management system for large enterprises,
we work with an array of exciting, boundary-pushing international health
clubs, and we have a plethora of inspiring stories to share. That’s why
we created Club Exerp, and we’re so grateful to our contributing clients for
allowing us to tell their stories.
Packed with intriguing professional profiles and inspiring technical and
commercial stories, this publication is designed to motivate you to change.
Change is hard. It requires a huge commitment. Nobody understands that
better than your own club members. But the benefits and results can be truly
amazing. Read on to find out more.
Thanks for checking in with Exerp.
Yours truly,
Rémi
5

CIOs everywhere are being thrust into new and increasingly strategic roles
that enable reinvention of their business models via digital technologies.
More often than not, they are required to advocate innovations that rely on
emerging technologies and their associated investments. The complexity
of this can be massive, as digital initiatives often include a cacophony of
disconnected and unintegrated activities. It is a challenging new era, and in
the highly competitive health club marketplace, the interplay between risk
and reward has never been higher.
What does this mean for technology leaders in health clubs? There has never
been a greater opportunity for CIOs to make an impact on both their
organisations and on the industry as a whole. Major brands in particular
have reached a precipice dividing those willing to seize tremendous digital
opportunities, knowing there are uncertainties; and others who will take
their chances and do little to nothing new or different. For those looking to
make a significant impact, we share views on what CIOs can do to meet their
potential as the drivers of change in their companies and in the industry.
CREATE A VISION-LED CULTURE
A CIO can have great command of maintaining technology infrastructures,
be cognizant of trends the future holds and even make contributions to
some digital innovations. These efforts, however, are still inadequate to fulfil
the promise of a CIO as a leader of change.
Transformations require inspirational leadership. Gartner’s 2015 CIO Agenda
surveyed over 2,800 global CIOs, representing $12.1 trillion in revenue and
public sector budgets across industries, and directly interviewed 11 leading
CIOs as well. One key finding of the report was the benefit of flipping CIOs’
people-leadership orientation, from a traditional control-led perspective to a
vision-led one.
Leadership is almost always about creating vision and inspiring people to
believe in it, not about commanding and controlling. CIOs determined to
be digital leaders must put their energies into teaching and inspiring those
around them. In the survey, 75% of CIOs planned to change their leadership
Preparing for impact
As the health club industry enters a new era,
CIOs face challenges and opportunities
By Bryan K. O’Rourke, President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council
7

style over the next three years, most commonly by amplifying their vision
(47%) while reducing their command and control efforts (65%). Without an
inspiring culture, the adoption of new thinking - which is required of digital
initiatives - becomes very difficult to achieve.
DEFINE TECHNOLOGY’S POTENTIAL IMPACT IN TERMS OF
THE MEMBER EXPERIENCE
CIOs should build an understanding of both current processes around the
customer and what could be possible via digital. This way the organisation
can see the potential and make choices about what is most relevant from the
viewpoint of the customer.
Creating cross-functional teams involving key areas like operations, mar-
keting, member service and sales is a good place to begin. It can also be ex-
tremely helpful to involve external partners in customer journey mapping.
By defining existing business processes around the customer, along with a
road map for the future based on a digital business model, innovation teams
can begin to clarify the user experience they are seeking to create. They can
also begin to process the implications, costs and priorities related to the new
digital tools.
This is by no means a short-term effort. Project teams should become an in-
tegral and ongoing means of establishing the specific technology initiatives,
developing implementation strategies and measuring their outcomes.
ALIGN WITH THE RIGHT RESOURCES
When faced with the significant organisational changes that digital initia-
tives can create, there is a need for insights and experience. Unbiased guid-
ance, to help contextualise alternatives and decisions around digital ini-
tiatives, is critical. There is great benefit in having insight into what other
industry adoption challenges and opportunities exist.
CONCLUSIONS
There can be no doubt that the seeds of change resulting from technology
have already been planted in the health club industry. Digital experiences
will make or break organisations, and thus exceptional digital experiences
are now a necessity to compete.
For CIOs to impact their organisations, they must evolve beyond technical
experts and become strategic leaders that bring forward-thinking vision, in-
stil new disciplines, inspire others to see the potential and engage relevant
perspectives and resources. The future of organisations lies largely in the
hands of these special CIO leaders.
Recommended reading
Vision Led Leadership – How to lay the foundation for major
organisational change
• Change the Culture, Change the Game
(Roger Connors and Tom Smith)
• Rapid Transformation (Behnam N. Tabrizi)
• The Ten Faces Of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating
the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your
Organization (Tom Kelly and Jonathan Littman)
Customer Journey Mapping – How to design new or improve
existing customer experiences
• Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries,
Game Changers, and Challengers
(Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur)
• The Experience Design BLUEPRINT: Recipes for Creating Happier
Customers and Healthier Organizations (Gregory James Olson)
• What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that
Separate the Best from the Rest (Denise Lee Yohn)
8

Bryan K. O’Rourke :
Bryan O’Rourke serves as President of the Fitness Industry
Technology Council, a consortium of leading companies
working on technology standards for the fitness industry.
Bryan is also cofounder and CEO of Integerus Advisors, CSO
of Fitmarc and the Flywheel Group.
• Widely published and quoted in periodicals such as the Wall
Street Journal and the New York Times
• Named one of 13 to watch in 2013 by IHRSA
• Has worked in fitness industry for 18 years as an entrepreneur,
investor and club owner
• Serves on the American Council of Exercise’s Industry
Advisory Panel
• Recently contributed to the book Essentials Of Motivation
and Behavior Change
• Is a cancer survivor and underwrites a variety of causes
pertaining to cancer prevention
• Has presented as a keynote speaker at industry and corporate
conferences on four continents
is defined as a sudden or momentous
change in a situation. From Latin
revoltus, past participle of revolvere,
to turn over. In life, relationships,
organizations, or ecosystems; any
total and complete change.
9

of the biggest
Fitness brands
in Europe
run Exerp
Source: European Health Fitness Market Report As Of 31.12.2014 By Deloitte
40%
10

N D Y C A D D Y, G R O U P C I O V I R G I N A C T I V E 11

In the late 1980s, soul and acid jazz were surging through the UK club scene.
Andy Caddy was there with his turntables and mixer, immersing himself in
the scene and experimenting with fresh new sounds. “I remember the first
time I heard two records played together,” Andy recalls. “I immediately went
out and bought myself a mixer.”
Today, he is fascinated by what technology has brought to the DJing arena.
“Music has become so democratic. Now anyone can have a mixer on their PC,
and social media has changed everything from the artist/fan relationship to
the royalty system. It’s fascinating to see how quickly art changes through
technology.”
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
When the 90s came around, house music and hip hop were beginning to
dominate, and Andy became a grandmaster scratcher. At the same time he
was studying electrical engineering at the University of Hertfordshire, and
serious adulthood was looming. “I was never quite talented enough as a DJ,”
he admits self-deprecatingly, “and I needed money, so I decided to give it up
for a proper job.”
His first “proper” job was as an IT trainee, writing code for Argos, the UK cat-
alogue retailer. “I got the opportunity from a woman named Isabel in HR. I
wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my degree, but she said to me ‘What
you need is a job in IT’. She was right. I think I still owe her one.”
The soundtrack
to his career
DJ Superstar turned CIO, Andy Caddy, uses technology to create an
artful human experience
Andy’s musical recommendations:
• Laura Doggett, UK
• Gavin James, Ireland
• Chvrches, UK
• Foxes, UK
12

CIO TRAINING GROUND
Andy says the best part of working for Argos was that he got to try 6 or 7
different roles, spanning everything, from coding, to working with big main-
frame systems, to client services. “I developed a very rounded view of the
business and I was trained to think through the business impact of every-
thing I did.”
Andy’s career trajectory, from Argos through to easyJet and Virgin Active,
has always centered around a unique customer experience. “I’ve always been
an empathist – trying to use technology to match great products and services
with the right customers. With IT automating everything for businesses
today, I think you have to be good at this to succeed.”
INSPIRED BY REAL LIFE
Today Andy is applying this same philosophy to the fitness industry. But it’s
no accident – on top of being a music fan, he is also an avid footballer and
runner. “Just as technology has changed music, it is also creeping into the
health and fitness arena. I have been eager to become a part of this evolution
since 2008.”
13

In 2008, Andy had a heart murmur. After a tense period of countless hospital
visits and cumbersome tests involving limited technology, doctors concluded
it was simply due to too much caffeine. “Luckily, I could easily take care of
the problem. But during this whole process, I kept thinking ‘There must be a
better way to use technology.’”
A MORE INFORMED FITNESS EXPERIENCE
As luck would have it, in 2013 Virgin Active had decided to pursue a new dig-
ital strategy and needed a new CIO to lead the transformation. They called
Andy. “I count myself very lucky. I wanted to work on merging fitness with
technology, and I wanted to work for a great brand. This job offers both and
I love it.” Now Andy is leading the creation of a digital experience that gives
Virgin Active’s members better insight, more control, and more choices when
it comes to their fitness.
KEEPING IT REAL
Despite his high-level, high-profile position in the world’s biggest interna-
tional health club, Andy stays in touch with his musical roots. “I try to keep
current on music and follow the industry. I like to go to Kickstarter and back
young new groups. There are loads of talented people out there who can
make a living in music with the right backing. Helping them out keeps me
young – and I don’t accept ageing.” Andy also plays football weekly and runs
an annual half marathon to stay fit.
Catch Andy at one of his upcoming speaking engagements or follow him on
twitter @Cadmeister.
What’s your most critical lesson from your first IT job?
Be aware and critical of yourself. Work to align your job with
the goals of the business.
What’s the best thing about the fitness industry?
The opportunity to use technology to improve people’s health.
What is your favourite football team?
Milton Keynes Dons
14

ARCHITECTURE
JAVA Industry-standard platform based
on Jave EE
JBOSS Deployed on JBoss Enterprise
Application Platform
ORACLE Oracle back-end database server
DEVELOPMENT TESTING
JIRA Development Testing
GIT Version control integrated with de-
velopment planning tool (JIRA) and
continuous integration platform
(Jenkins) provides full immediate
audit trail of changes and context
JENKINS Open-sourced Jenkins used for
continuous integration and auto-
mated testing of new releases
TESTRAIL TestRail by Gurock is used for
weekly release testing
CUSTOMER SERVICE
ZENDESK Zendesk helpdesk system, making
it possible to provide support on
multiple channels (email, web inter-
face, tablets) while keeping track of
every communication
Integrated with internal develop-
ment and defect tracking solution
Our technologies
The Exerp Platform is built on proven industry-standard technologies.
15

C A S E : VIRGIN ACTIVE
Andy Caddy has been working in the UK IT
world for over 20 years, for a number of leading
companies, including Argos, Royal Bank of Scot-
land, Cable Wireless and easyJet. Currently he
is Group CIO of Virgin Active, where he’s in the
midst of a massive, transformational business
project, from three legacy membership systems
to one standardized system, that will reduce cost,
promote simplicity and fundamentally change
the way Virgin Active interacts with their mem-
bers.
“Having three different membership systems for
over 100 clubs made it impossible to service our
customers seamlessly,” Andy reveals. “We knew
we needed to merge them into one system. But
as the largest international health club in the
world, we have a tendency to want to do things
in a big, unique way. But that was failing us. We
realized we needed a membership system that
worked in a standard way – and that meant fun-
damentally changing our business processes.”
Because the level of business change is so sig-
nificant, Andy works closely with Virgin Active’s
COO. “When you’re dealing with this level of
change, it’s important to have the right leader-
ship involved from the beginning. We’re not just
talking about IT, we’re talking about changing
our offerings, our workstreams and the way we
communicate, which affects our staff, our mem-
bers, our clubs, finance processes and opera-
tional delivery. We needed to get organisational
buy-in, but we also needed to prepare our entire
company for the changes we wanted to make.”
It’s all in your story
Virgin Active CIO Andy Caddy takes a no-nonsense,
narrative approach to change management
16

VIRGIN ACTIVE facts
• The world’s largest
international health club
• 1.4 million members
• 270+ clubs in 9 countries
18

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
“You start by getting your story together,” Andy
continues. “Mine was simply that we were not
differentiating when using three different busi-
ness systems. In order to keep growing, our strat-
egy is to differentiate by offering a digital fitness
experience. But for that to the happen, the core
underlying system just needs to work.”
While Andy was focusing on spreading this story
like gospel and preparing the business internally,
Exerp was preparing the new membership sys-
tem for rollout in all 118 clubs. “After looking in
the market and narrowing it down to three pro-
viders, we chose Exerp because of their proven
track record – they have never had a project fail-
ure. They were knowledgeable, experienced and
believable.”
THE CHANGE FACTORY
The project started in March 2014 and was com-
plete by May 2015. “I think that’s testament to
our factory approach to the project. We want-
ed to roll out about 10 clubs per week and we
didn’t have the resources for one team per club.”
So Andy’s team developed a six-week pre-launch
program that included e-learning videos, web
inars and a central knowledge desk for club
employees to contact when they had questions.
They did the actual integration overnight, and
placed one person in the club the day after to
help troubleshoot; but only for 24 hours.
“We needed to achieve all of this change while
minimising the impact on the club and the
members. Exerp were key to making this hap-
pen. They were willing to talk openly about
issues, and brought a wealth of business
process experience that helped us simplify
our own processes. Exerp are great believers in
simplicity – and removing complexity. When em-
barking on a business change of this scale, that is
exactly the kind of partner you need.”
INCITING TRANSFORMATION
Andy says the most important part of his role
is inciting and enabling Virgin Active’s digital
transformation. “I see it as my responsibility
to change the way we think about Technology
and Digital – from a disconnected afterthought
to a complete digital member journey. I’m on a
mission to use very clever technology, combined
with very smart people to help our health club
on its journey to be loved by its staff and by its
members.”
With the streamlining of business processes and
integration of the single membership system
complete in the UK, next on the agenda is rolling
the new system out in the other seven Virgin
Active territories.
Andy’s change management advice
Understand and visualize what success of the
transformation really means.
Ask yourself:
1. What’s the impact on the business?
2. How will you measure that impact?
3. How does the change become a part of the
business flow?
19

MEET PETER HONORÉ, PROJECTS DIRECTOR
When a customer engages with Exerp, they are
introduced very early on to Exerp’s Project and
Account Management (PAM) team. The team,
seven people strong, represents a wide range of
IT disciplines, from coding to consultancy.
Peter Honoré is Projects Director and head of the
team. “Our broad experience with large multina-
tional clients in the Fitness Industry is our main
strength,” he explains. “On top of our technical
abilities, our people understand the importance
of planning, the unique capabilities of the Exerp
platform, and the needs of the fitness industry.
By combining all of this with extensive experi-
ence developing and migrating systems, we can
act as a strong single point of contact for our
customers throughout the entire implementa-
tion process.”
GETTING INVOLVED EARLY
For some customers, the system implementation
process can seem daunting. But the PAM team
has a very structured process and expert tools for
guiding customers through it. “Our involvement
usually starts in the sales process. We help po-
tential customers review the different modules
of the system, and we demonstrate how they
can be used. We then get involved with the gap
analysis and scoping to make sure we are tight-
ly aligned with the customer on any business
process and development requirements.”
Peter says early involvement of the PAM team
is critical to an efficient implementation.
“The closer we work with the customer in the
“discovery” phase, the fewer surprises we
will have in the development and configura-
tion phases. And this makes for a faster, more
predictable rollout.”
THE MIRRORING APPROACH
Exerp’s Project and Account Management team calls on heavy industry
experience to inject speed and predictability into large-scale projects
“Our team needs to be very flexible. No matter how
big or how agile our customers’ organisations,
we need to be able to support them in a way that
makes sense for them.”
21

WIDELY VARIED NEEDS
Exerp’s customers are very different, both
in terms of their needs and their access to
resources. “Our team needs to be very flexible.
No matter how big or how agile our customers’
organisations, we need to be able to support
them in a way that makes sense for them.”
Senior Project Manager Jonathan Clein of Virgin
Active can concur. “At Virgin Active, we have a
unique internal methodology when it comes to
IT projects. The PAM team were very flexible
and adapted quickly to our approach.
Everyone on the team brought invaluable
industry experience. Their style is collaborative,
structured and pragmatic.”
Once the Exerp system has been fully imple-
mented, the project transitions from project
phase to business as usual. At this stage, all
Exerp customers have a dedicated account
manager who will liaise with them on a regular
basis. At the same time, day-to-day support
issues are handled by the Exerp Support team.
For more information about project imple-
mentation or the PAM team, contact Peter at
PH@exerp.com
“At Virgin Active, we
have a unique
internal methodology
when it comes to IT
projects. The PAM team
were very flexible and
adapted quickly to our
approach.”
Jonathan Clein,
Senior Project Manager,
Virgin Active.
22

tips for
successful project
implementation
Peter’s top
1. Make sure the scope is clear and committed to by all parties.
2. Both sides should dedicate sufficient and empowered project teams with clear objectives.
3. The key resources should have a strong understanding of the business and its needs,
as well as the Exerp system’s capabilities.
4. Make the progress visible and tangible for both parties. If possible, provide product demos
of development.
5. Ensure daily or frequent dialogue between the key project resources, so that progress is
guaranteed and deviations from the plan are made visible.
6. Ensure sufficient management attention on both sides so that escalation is easy if necessary.
6
23

Predictable planning
To bring speed and predictability to the implementation process, Exerp employs
some of the industry’s most accomplished Project Managers and Business
Consultants. Despite the scope and complexity of the projects, Exerp maintains
a 100% successful project track record.
24

Exerp rollout framework
– 50 clubs
25

A S M U S I N G E R S L E V, F I T N E S S E N T R E P R E N E U R26

Future-proofing
your business
Overcoming the tech challenges of the fitness industry
“Welcome to the club, Rasmus. Your program for today has been transferred to
your selected device. We have added 5% on all leg exercises since you did so
well last time. Your friend Dave came in five minutes ago and he is also doing
cardio today. Enjoy your workout”, says the robot as I enter the club.
BEING A HEALTH CLUB MEMBER IN 2025
If I imagine myself as a health club member 10 years from now, I believe
the three most remarkable changes from today will be: 1) The services
offered are more flexible and independent of the four walls of the club;
2) The services offered are more individualised; and 3) Training has become
social again.
All of these changes will be technology-driven, and my club will know
me better thanks to their extensive data mining. My club will know my
interests and goals, and can track my past performance and activity through
my wearable device (or clothing), which acts as the foundation of their
communication with me. In addition, they know my DNA, and accordingly,
how I should work out and eat to get the best results. They also know how
I should work out to prevent life-threatening diseases.
Based on this data, I am getting individually-tailored suggestions for what
I can do, when I can do it, and who I can do it with, which can be personal
trainers, my friends, or other members with similar goals – even a virtual
trainer on my mobile device. I can do the classes I want, whenever I want,
with the best instructors in the world. Either with a “live” instructor in
By Rasmus Ingerslev, Fitness Entrepreneur
27

28
the club, by following a class streamed over the Internet with a thousand
other people following a celebrity trainer, or by doing a pre-recorded class.
If I want to do an outdoor activity, I can easily team up with the
“gym-buddies” I have been introduced to through the club’s member
management system. In short, the offering will be more personalised,
more flexible and more social – and more importantly for operators, the four
walls of the club will no longer be what defines them. They will be defined
by how they engage with their members.
THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE
The rapid advance of smart technology is giving consumers more choice
and convenience than ever before, and members want freedom and control.
Wearable devices, health and fitness apps and streaming exercise classes
are brilliant examples of the new consumer-centric and tech-driven way
of delivery, which is also impacting the health and fitness industry. The
four walls of the club are being broken down from the outside by all of
these emerging technologies and services.
Studies have shown that robots can already diagnose and treat patients
better than doctors in many cases. By comparison, there will obviously
come a day where personal training, group exercise and a lot of other
functions in a club can be done better by robots than by real people.
Technology is not developing linearly but exponentially, so there is good
reason to believe this will happen sooner rather than later.
But what about the human touch? Well, do not be too sure you can tell the
difference. In 1950, the British mathematician Alan Turing (portrayed in the
movie “The Imitation Game”) created a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit
intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a
human. A machine passed that test for the first time in June 2014.
NOT IF, BUT WHEN...
Assuming the question is not “if” technology will change our industry
dramatically, that leaves us with “when”. A lot of pieces to this puzzle
are already out there. There are over 200 million wearables in the market.
Several club groups offer DNA analysis and Under Armor alone has more
than 120 million users on their health and fitness tracking apps. The latter is
more or less equal to the total number of people holding a gym membership
globally today.
The challenge for any club operator is that these pieces do not co-exist in
the same ecosystem. My prediction is that the big “when” will be when
these pieces are connected. That does not mean that there is no value in the
various technology options in the market today. On the contrary, I believe
there is a lot of value in being among the early adoptors if you choose wisely.
LESSONS LEARNED BY DOING AND PAYING
A few years back when I was starting up an online gym, I was sure that I had
seen the light in terms of technology. I pushed forward hard and invested
significantly, only to learn that the idea was right but the timing was wrong.
I was ahead of the market, and even ahead of what was technically possible.
The good thing was that I learned a lot, and enough to keep the company
afloat and reinvent it to a successful global supplier of virtual classes.
My key take-aways from those years of hardship, which I believe apply
to the current challenge of the industry, are: 1) Do not reinvent the wheel;
and 2) Time to market is essential. With regard to reinventing the wheel,
again using my own start-up as an example, I was so focused on creating
something that was unique that I decided to do all the developing rather
than using an existing platform and tweaking my idea to match that.
Assuming the question is not “if” technology
will change our industry dramatically, that
leaves us with “when”.

Rasmus E. E. Ingerslev:
Experienced fitness entrepreneur with an international foot-
print. Has built and run two of Denmark’s largest health club
groups from start up to exit. Executive Vice Chairman of
Wexer Virtual, who supplies virtual classes to the majority of
the global top 25 health club groups.
• Fitness World, Vice Chairman (2014-2015)
• Scilife Clinic, Board Member (2014-)
• IHRSA, Board Member (2013-). Currently serving as Vice
Chairman
• Fresh Fitness, Founder and CEO (2010-2014)
• Wexer Virtual, Founder and CEO (2008-2014). Currently
Executive Vice Chairman
• Fitness dk, Founder and CEO (2001-2008)
• Exerp, Chairman of the Board (2009-2010)
• Anti Doping Denmark, Board Member (2006-2008)
• The Danish Fitness Health Organization, founder and
Board Member (2006-2014)
The thing with developing is that you never know exactly what you end up
with, nor does it end up costing what you expected. It will always cost more
– and it will always take longer than anticipated.
LEAVE THE DEVELOPING TO THE EXPERTS
Basically, you have to ask yourself what you are. Are you a developer or a club
operator? You could build your own treadmills, but you do not. You could cre-
ate your own spreadsheet software, but you use Excel or something similar.
Why? You know what it costs, you know when it is available, and you know
that it will continuously be improved and that the products are supported.
But what about the competition? I don’t believe it’s the uniqueness of the tools
you use that makes the difference. I would suggest choosing proven, robust
and scalable services, and putting all of your effort into how you apply them.
Time to market is so much more important than anything else. In today’s mar-
ket it is not the big who eat the small. It is the small and agile that eat the slow.
Having said that, it’s important to remain critical with regard to time to
market. Being ahead of the market can be as costly as being behind. Luckily,
you have people to ask when it comes to this critical question: your members
and the market. Today it is so easy and inexpensive to conduct surveys. Do it.
It will help you understand whether you are premature, spot on, or too late in
terms of the services you are considering adding.
CHALLENGE IS ALSO OPPORTUNITY
The fitness industry has seen significant changes over the past few years.
It will continue to change, like so many industries do – and technology will
be a key driver. If you are not convinced, look at accommodation. The biggest
provider today is AirBnB, who own no real estate. The largest taxi company
in the world is Uber. They do not own a single taxi. The most popular media
owner is Facebook, who own no content – and to stay in our industry, one
of the largest suppliers of classes is ClassPass who has surpassed the value
of several major gym chains, without owning a single studio. Adjusting to
this new market and competitive landscape is obviously challenging, but also
exciting - and in every challenge lies opportunity.
2929

MEET LAURENT CZINCZENHEIM, COO AND PARTNER
Laurent Czinczenheim is the COO of Exerp
and a data migration expert. He oversees all of
Exerp’s daily operations including Support, Host-
ing and Technical Consultancy. He gives each of
his team members the objective of helping their
customers optimise their businesses on a daily
basis.
This starts during the process of migrating new
clients from their legacy systems. Laurent has a
unique understanding of the complexities asso-
ciated with migrating large volumes of data, and
a unique ability to identify dependencies and
anticipate consequences of certain system
changes. “With data migration, every second
counts and costs, so we focus on being extremely
efficient and agile,” Laurent explains.
AN ADVANCED MIGRATION FRAMEWORK
Over nine years at Exerp, Laurent has overseen
the migration of almost two million club mem-
bers. His extraordinary migration skills are
partly the result of his engineering degree from
Ecole des Mines Paris, one of the most prestigious
engineering schools in France.
“Several years back, we realised we had to devel-
op a more advanced data migration framework,
to put some speed into the migration and make
processes less fragile (to decrease the number of
manual errors to correct afterwards),” Laurent
adds. Today, the Exerp Migration Framework,
which is the result of several past conversion
experiences from heterogeneous systems, allows
Exerp to safely roll out chains of over 270,000
members in just five hours.
“The framework works incrementally,” Laurent
explains. “If it is stopped during execution, it will
immediately restart where it stopped, making it
extremely robust against both data-related and
unexpected problems, such as network failures.”
PERMANENT SOLUTIONS TO ISSUES
To minimise in-house IT dependencies and
relinquishclientsfromhostingandoperating,the
Exerp platform is offered as a SaaS solution.
“We basically control the whole technical stack.
That means that on the client side there is no
need for a department with specific technical
knowledge,” Laurent says.
Comprising nine Supporters, four Technical
Consultants, six System Administrators
including two Oracle-certified professionals,
Laurent’s team manages close to 1000 clubs,
which he admits sometimes gets his adrenalin
pumping. “When issues arise we need to be
extremely precise and quick in solving them.
And we don’t just slap a bandage on the issue
and go home. We work to get to the root of it,
and afterwards, find a permanent solution that
improves the system as a whole. That’s just
one way we keep evolving the system around
customer needs, with their business operations
and strategies in mind. ”
Get in touch with Laurent at lc@exerp.com
EVOLVING AROUND CUSTOMER NEEDS
With a unique mind for migration dependencies,
Exerp’s COO keeps his on eye the customer’s long game
30

“When issues arise we need to be extremely precise and quick
in solving them. And we don’t just slap a bandage on the issue
and go home.”
Laurent Czinczenheim
31

32
Exerp in numbers
1171M EUR
M+2.5
In annual collection
(Direct Debit,
Credit Card etc.)
Active Members Hosted

215
M
K
K
Check-ins in January 2015
Group Exercise Classes
in one month
Check-ins in just one day
(January 12th, 2015)
10.7
500
33

N D R E W F O R S Y T H ,
H E A D O F I T AT P U R E G Y M

Third-Generation
Evertonian
Sports and fitness fandom runs thick in Andrew Forsyth’s blood
Everton has competed in the top division
for a record 110 seasons and has won the
League Championship nine times.
Born and raised in Liverpool, Pure Gym Head of IT Andy Forsyth began his
career working for Everton Football Club – just like his father and his father
before him. “I had been an Everton fan since I was a small kid,” Andy reveals.
“My dad and granddad both worked at the stadium (Goodison Park) so going
to football games and supporting the team was just a way of life.”
When it was time for young Andrew to join the workforce, it seemed like a
job at the stadium was a natural next step. “A lot of people there already knew
me through my father, so I guess they thought they could give me a shot at
operating the scoreboard.”
Andy soon went on to manage Everton fan club membership worldwide.
“Everton has millions of fans all over the world. I became the administra-
tor of the fan club, enrolling people, sending newsletters and answering
mails. It was great having so much interaction with fans like myself.” Andy
then went on to manage the sales staff of 50 people – selling tickets and fan
paraphernalia at the games.
LOOKING AFTER FANS
Andy says working for Everton was fantastic training for his current role at
Pure Gym. “The common thing between the two jobs is looking after mem-
bers. The goal is to provide the best services – the safest environment and
greatest atmosphere possible – for the football fans and gym members alike.
And to make it easier for them to acquire these services.”
35

36
From Everton, Andy went on to work in national membership services for
the UK sporting goods and apparel sector. He started at Pure Gym in 2012.
“At the time, Pure Gym was beginning to make a big play in the affordable
fitness market, and wanted to do something fairly radical in terms of mem-
bership and IT. It seemed like it could be an interesting challenge – and it
is.” Andy says he aims to make Pure Gym’s IT system the best in the market.
EVERTONIAN FOREVER
Just because he no longer works for the club doesn’t mean Andy’s support
for Everton has wavered. “I’ll always be a die-hard Everton supporter – the
only football team in Liverpool,” he laughs cheekily, referring to the fierce and
dramatic rivalry between Everton and neighbours Liverpool. The Forsyth
family football tradition has also been passed to Andy’s eight-year-old son,
who plays for South Liverpool.
What’s you’re favourite thing about working in the fitness
industry?
Providing a service that helps people stay healthy.
What’s the best IT decision you ever made?
Bringing our direct debit and online member services in house.
Any advice for other fitness brands?
Stay true to your offering and your company values.
Words to live by?
Trust and earn trust – and everyone can be more effective with
what they bring to the table.
Everton Football Club, Liverpool
League: Premier League
Nickname: The Toffees
Founded: 1878 as St. Domingos F.C
Stadium: Goodison Park
Chief rival: Liverpool

Pure Gym is the UK’s leading affordable gym
chain, serving 450,000 members. With no swim-
ming pools, saunas, racquet courts and no fixed
contracts, the company’s gyms typically employ
just two people, supported by up to 12 self-em-
ployed trainers.
Pure Gym was formed in 2009, when the founder
saw a gap in the fitness market. Until then, the
UK market had been dominated by mid-market
and top-end chains. The vision was to make
fitness more affordable, by stripping away the
expensive optional facilities and offering many
of its member services online.
“What Pure Gym set out to do at the time was
quite revolutionary in terms of IT,” explains
Andy Forsyth, Pure Gym’s Head of IT. “Fitness
centres were mostly analogue operations. Pure
Gym was the first to take memberships and class
registrations online, making it possible to keep
the monthly fees low.”
GOING FOR HOLISTIC
Pure Gym’s original bespoke-developed IT
system was designed to support just six or
seven sites. But as the company grew, so did
the need for a more holistic IT system that
could better support both their members’
needs and Pure Gym’s plans for expansion.
“When I started with Pure Gym in 2012, I wanted
to look at how we could simplify things,” Andy
says. “With multiple systems and multiple out-
sourced suppliers, it was difficult to track mem-
bers and get to know them – and it was holding
us back from our potential to be agile and to
grow.”
TRUST IN A FAST-PACED ENVIRONMENT
Andy and his team set out to analyse the market
for software suppliers. After meeting with sev-
eral companies, he flew to Copenhagen to meet
A Match Made in Data
Shared trust and an entrepreneurial spirit fuels
the Pure Gym-Exerp partnership
C A S E : PURE GYM
38

39
Jacob and Lars from Exerp. “My gut feeling was
that these guys were trustworthy, competent
and skilled. They never over-promised and were
really transparent as we reviewed the system.”
Andy went with his gut feeling and he says it re-
ally paid off. “Pure Gym is a group of fast-paced
decision makers. Exerp developed a unique roll-
out plan to suit that – they rolled out 55 clubs
across the UK and Ireland in just four months.”
He also says it was easy to work with Exerp. “They
are great data debaters and good brainstormers,
and that built a lot of trust between us. Once you
have that trust, you can be very entrepreneurial
and agile together.”
DATA-DRIVEN FUTURE
Now that the system is fully implemented across
the chain, Andy’s plan is to continue to rely on
data to improve member services. “It’s all about
listening to members and helping them achieve
their fitness goals. With Exerp’s help, we will
continue to work on a micro-level with individ-
ual member data to discover purchasing and
exercise patterns. Not only will this help us im-
prove the member experience, it will also help us
make better business decisions in terms of when,
where, and how we expand.”
Today, Pure Gym has 92 clubs, with another 30
scheduled to open by the end of 2015. Pure Gym’s
target is to have 250-300 clubs by 2020.
PURE GYM facts
• 450,000 members
• 92 clubs
• 2014 Financial Results:
Membership up 66%

MEET JONATHAN MIDTTUN, BUSINESS CONSULTANT
Jonathan Midttun is a Business Consultant at
Exerp. He started as a trainee, fresh out of techni-
cal school in 2008, providing tech support to 400
individual clubs around Denmark. This gave him
a very broad and deep introduction to the fitness
industry.
“Tech support back then meant being onsite and
working on individual PCs in the clubs,” says Jon-
athan. “It gave me a unique opportunity to meet
a lot of people working in the clubs and get an
understanding of what was important to them.”
Jonathan’s role later evolved into project man-
agement, where he focused on the start phase.
Today he helps develop unique solutions for Ex-
erp customers, including leading systems migra-
tion and user training on the customer side.
“The Exerp system gives customers the opportu-
nity to understand their members so much bet-
ter,” explains Jonathan. “I see it as my job to help
customers visualise how far their data can take
them in terms of meeting member expectations
and improving their business processes.”
ESSENTIAL TRUST
Since September 2013, Pure Gym UK has been
one of Jonathan’s main customers. An ambitious
and fast-moving company, Pure Gym achieved
the fastest rollout in Exerp’s history: from 1 to 60
clubs in 4 months. Jonathan says it would not
have been possible without a really high level of
trust.
“It is no small endeavour to change IT systems.
A certain level of disruption is necessary and
expected. But if we work closely together, listen
to and trust each other, we can move through
the development and migration processes really
quickly and with minimal disruption.”
MIGRATORY ANIMALS
In the case of Pure Gym, that meant being onsite
at the head office in Leeds for several weeks of
scoping and preparation, working with their web
development team based in Manchester, and
traveling around the region educating new staff
and top management on the benefits and use of
the new system.
The actual migration happened on a cold Febru-
ary night in 2014. “I remember feeling a bit like
an orchestra conductor, waving my virtual wand
from my little flat in Copenhagen. We had the
THE ART OF DISRUPTION
Exerp Business Consultant reveals his approach to moving customers smoothly
towards their optimised future
40

conversion team, website agency, the gate control
system, and payment processing teams working
through the night. By 7 am, 340,000 members
were converted to the new system.”
Now that Pure Gym is running at full speed with
plans to add 50 more clubs this year, Jonathan’s
role becomes less about minimising disruption
and more about helping them optimise their
data to enhance member engagement.
“It’s been a very satisfying journey working with
Pure Gym.” Jonathan concludes. “I found that by
really listening to and understanding their goals
I was in a better position to provide the unique
solutions they needed. And they were really
open to our ideas as a result. I think we brought
out the best in each other – and the business
results speak for themselves.”
Contact Jonathan at jm@exerp.com
Jonathan Midttun
41

R V I D J O H A N S S O N , C I O S AT S E L I X I A

Before taking on his current role, SATS Elixia CIO Arvid Johannson worked
for seven years helping a German supermarket chain expand across Sweden.
“During my time there, the company went from 0 to 150 stores,” Arvid says. “It
was a fun journey at a very big, but agile and exciting international company.”
It was also a journey that shaped Arvid’s perspective on how IT can be mis-
sion-critical when it comes to expansion. “When you’re a chain business, you
need standard IT systems and protocols across the organisation. When you
make changes in the system, you need to think ahead to the implications on
each individual store and each individual customer in order for the changes
to be successful.”
This experience came in handy when Arvid, a fitness fan in his own right,
took the opportunity to join SATS, one of Sweden’s leading fitness brands, in
2009. “The fitness industry was not very IT-mature. There seemed endless
opportunities to improve the business by leveraging IT.”
ENTER ELIXIA
In 2013, SATS’ parent company, Health and Fitness Nordic, began merging
SATS with Elixia, Norway’s leading fitness brand. “The biggest challenge
from an IT point of view was time,” Arvid reveals. “The merger was approved
in June and we needed to launch as one brand by August – that meant all
systems needed to be migrated within a few months.”
The Vision is Clear
CIO Arvid Johansson leverages his experience in retail to
merge SATS Elixia with its total-fitness future
“Going forward, SATS Elixia will focus on
communicating with individuals and crafting
total wellness solutions for them, instead of
pushing mass solutions up market.”
43

Luckily, Arvid says, there was plenty of time for preparation. “My team did
a fantastic job keeping an overview of all systems, integrating them into
one portfolio, and working closely with our suppliers to keep some solid
momentum.”
As SATS Elixia continues to expand across Norway, Sweden and Finland,
their strategy is to stay focused on making Nordic people healthier and hap-
pier. Arvid says that means offering a total fitness experience. “The Nordic
people are very in tune with their fitness needs – they want to combine nu-
trition and fitness for a total-health experience. Going forward, SATS Elixia
will focus on communicating with individuals and crafting total wellness
solutions for them, instead of pushing mass solutions up market.” This will
require SATS Elixia to take an ambitious approach to its digital and online
services, currently in development.
Together with its sister brands in Health Fitness Nordic, SATS Elixia
currently has 500,000 members and about 200 clubs across Norway, Sweden
and Finland.
What’s the best IT decision you made during the
SATS Elixia merger?
To do a proper pilot before rolling out the wider systems migra-
tion.
Advice for other CIOs embarking on mergers or acquisitions?
Make time to involve your suppliers closely – so they under-
stand every implication of the project and can staff up properly
to support you.
Greatest passion
Gym training, skiing, golf and my three kids (ages 3, 9 and 11).
Words to live by
Bring your gym bag with you every day – so you never have an
excuse not to train.
44

– Audit in 2014 by
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
Throughout 2014 Exerp has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to comply with the International Standard for Assurance Engagements
(ISAE 3402), formerly SAS 70, to produce a formal report on the design, implementation and operating effectiveness of the hosting environment.
45

MEET MARTIN LINDBOE, SYSTEMS ARCHITECT
The Exerp platform is based on a standard
set of building blocks – that’s what makes it
easy for companies to adopt. But it is also very
flexible, making it easy for clients in all segments
(low-budget, mid-market, or premium) to custo
mise with the exact functionalities they need
to run their businesses. Whatever the customer
needs, the Exerp Development team works to
deliver the simplest and safest solution.
Martin Lindboe is Systems Architect at Exerp.
“When customers come to us, they always have a
business case that is painfully complex. Our job
is to simplify it. Just like with your car, you want
a smooth, safe ride, but you don’t want to think
about what’s happening under the hood. The
everyday user of Exerp should not have to worry
about these complexities.”
“The user interface is simple and intuitive, and
it’s easy to get a good overview of your business
activities – no matter what your role in the
company,” says Martin. “We hide the technical
details of the transaction or activity to make
usability as simple as possible. And you can
choose the level of simplicity you want for each
role in your company. “
BUILT-IN SAFETY AND SECURITY
Safety and security measures are built right in
to the standard system. “We’ve made it so that
different employee roles are assigned certain
functionalities in the system. This reduces the
risk of wrong entries or a slip of the finger causing
chaos in the business – and brings our customers
peace of mind.”
“We put a lot of effort into improving reliability
and network security,” Martin continues. “Our
latest application detects network problems
and can switch to an offline system for certain
functions. This is particularly useful in regions
where IT infrastructure is not very robust. We
accept responsibility for all areas of the system
– including infrastructure resilience and network
challenges.”
MOVING THE PRODUCT AHEAD
FOR EVERYBODY
Exerp works with a wide network of global health
clubs. Martin says the experience and knowledge
they gain from working across this network gets
channelled directly towards moving the system
forward for all their customers.
SIMPLICITY – TO THE LEVEL YOU WANT IT
With a focus on each customer’s individual needs, the development team works
to keep the Exerp system simple and secure for every user.
46

“No two customers can get the exact same bene
fits out of any feature we develop – it depends
on how they run their business. Basically,
we take relevant elements of the new product
developments and apply them to the system in a
way that benefits everybody – and our customers
really like this.”
Every week, Exerp releases a new version of
the system. Customers are made aware of the
exact changes each week so they can make an
informed decision on whether to upgrade to the
new version. Martin says they are careful not to
add huge features, and to ensure the features
they do add fit seamlessly with their customers’
current business processes.
“When customers come to us, they always
have a business case that is painfully complex.
Our job is to simplify it.”
Martin Lindboe
47

COPENHAGEN CALLING
A mecca of Scandinavian design, fashion and architecture, Copenhagen is one of Europe’s trendiest destinations.
It’s also the breeding ground for some of the world’s most successful IT innovations. Companies such as
Zendesk, Endomondo and Navision originated in this city. Come to Copenhagen to meet Exerp and learn about
the company – and the world’s leading club management system for large enterprises.
Contact Jacob at Exerp to hear more.
 jn@exerp.com
49

MEET ANNE KRONBORG, SUPPORTER
For nine years, Anne Kronborg worked as Sup-
port Manager at Fitness dk’s Copenhagen head-
quarters. She was responsible for membership
support in all 41 clubs, managing their central
call center. She was also responsible for the
Exerp system and was an Exerp superuser.
“I was in close contact with Exerp on a weekly
basis, asking questions about what the system
could do and what functionalities were possible
to add,” Anne explains.
After working with Exerp for so long on the
customer side, Anne decided to join the Exerp
support team in January 2015. “There are so
many great opportunities within the system – I
thought it would be a fun challenge to work with
it on a daily basis. Plus I already knew and liked
the people on the team, so I felt pretty confident
I would fit in.”
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
Anne has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and
a mini MBA. To her support role, she brings a
strong understanding of business and an in-
depth knowledge of the financial functions in
the Exerp system. She says she likes the team
approach to customer support. “Each of us has
our own unique competencies, but we approach
every ticket as a team and decide who is best
equipped to handle each request. We definitely
go for quality over quantity and ensure there is
enough time to handle each request thoroughly.”
Anders Olsen, Head of Support adds, “At the
same time, the Supporters need to be methodical
and motivated to self-diagnose and find the best
solutions – even under pressure.”
BUILDING CUSTOMER BONDS
There are eight people on the support team.
Anders continuously strives to deepen the
knowledge and keep it on the quickly-growing
team. He thinks it’s important that the Support
team is introduced to new customers early, so
theycangetanunderstandingoftheirbusinesses
before they start providing day-to-day support.
“Ideally, we like to get involved during the project
implementation and training stages,” he explains.
“It gives us an opportunity to build a bond with
the people we will later be working with on a
daily basis.”
Anne will soon head to South Africa to embark
on her first customer training session. “I’m
excited to introduce the system to people
with absolutely no experience with it. I know
what’s important to new users because I’ve been
in their shoes, and I can easily help them trouble
shoot.”
IN HER CUSTOMERS’ SHOES
Exerp Supporter Anne Kronborg understands what’s important to customers
– she used to be one
50

Anne
Kronborg
USING THE SYSTEM TO DIFFERENTIATE
With the industry continuing to rely more heavi-
ly on IT, Anne foresees continuous opportunities
to learn and develop in her role. “IT is spreading
further and further into the clubs and every-
thing is connected. That means Exerp will never
stop developing the system, and on the support
team, we will never be stagnant or bored.”
Anders adds, “It’s an exciting time for our
customers. There are so many opportunities
to use IT to differentiate. No matter how our
customers decide to do this, we will be there to
help them use the Exerp system to drive their
business forward.”
Contact Anne at ak@exerp.com or Anders at ao@
exerp.com.
51

Rory Sweetlove and Eddie Swinnen have known
each other for decades. Both lifers in the fitness
industry, they’ve worked together in South Afri-
ca and abroad – on various projects in different
capacities, but always sharing the same philoso-
phy: that fitness should be affordable, personal,
and a part of everyday life.
One day, back in Johannesburg, the two sat down
for coffee and Rory pitched to Eddie his idea for
GO Health. “I already had a major investor by
then, so I knew the venture was realistic.” Rory
explains. “I said, ‘Eddie, I have a project for us.’”
That day, the two joined forces and have never
looked back. Today Rory is Managing Director of
GO Health, and Eddie is CIO. Their value propo-
sition and fitness mantra: “It’s not a health club,
it’s life.”
MAKING IT ABOUT THE MEMBER
“We are passionate about personalised training,”
says Rory. “Fitness should not be an isolated ac-
tivity that stays in the club. We want the club’s
holistic health philosophy to follow members
into their lives. At the same time, we want it to be
convenient, affordable, and to feature a unique,
world-class member journey.”
Rory explains that South Africans don’t have
time to get to the gym as much as they would
like to – and they sometimes prefer to hike, run
or walk the dog on the weekends. “We want our
members to consider all of these activities as part
of their regimens. When they get to the club, the
calories they burnt on those outdoor activities
should also count on their personal programs
C A S E : GO HEALTH
Slick and Personal
From the Ground Up
GO Health Club partners with technology experts to help create a
uniquely personal, holistic training experience
52

“The beauty is that we’re starting with a clean
slate. We have the freedom to create solutions
from the ground up.”
Rory Sweetlove (MD) and Eddie Swinnen (CIO)
53

towards rewards in the club. Everything should
sync so they can think holistically about their
overall health and fitness.”
TECHNOLOGY IS KEY TO MEMBER
CENTRICITY
To help create this unique experience, Rory and
Eddie have assembled a team of leading-edge
technology partners. “Our vision was to create a
very slick single-member ecosystem,” says Eddie.
“For that we needed to find partners that best fit
this vision.”
They chose Technogym, leaders in fitness equip-
ment, Gantner for top-class access technology,
and the Exerp enterprise club management
system. “The beauty is that we’re starting with
a clean slate,” Eddie continues. “We don’t need
to force new solutions into an existing rigid sys-
tem. We have the freedom to create solutions
from the ground up.” With that, they gathered
their partners around the table and offered the
unique challenge of creating a personalised
member experience together.
“In our experience, the best, most uniform mem-
ber journey comes from collaborating with oth-
er technology providers,” says Jonathan Midttun,
Business Consultant at Exerp. “Technogym al-
ready has a great tracking system called mywell-
ness® cloud. With this system, they hold all the
data on member activity, while the Exerp system
holds all the other member data. We worked
with Technogym to aggregate all the data in one
place. We also worked with Gantner to sync ac-
cessibility of the club and its offerings into this
system, creating the slick member ecosystem GO
Health was looking for.”
PERSONALISATION IS THE FUTURE
That means that as soon as you join GO Health,
you get a single access device that gives you
access to the club. This tool also allows you to
load your personal exercise program into any
machine you may use, as well as record your out-
door activities. This way you can track your over-
all performance and burnt calories, whilst getting
rewards for your efforts in and out of the club.
“We believe this is the future of fitness, and we
are proud to be creating this niche in the South
African market,” Rory says. “It has been such a
privilege to watch our visions become a reality,”
adds Eddie. “This has been one of the top bene-
fits of working with technology leaders like Tech-
nogym, Gantner and Exerp.”
The first of GO Health’s chain of clubs is set to
open in Johannesburg 15 May, with four more
opening by the end of 2015. By 2019, 38 high-qual-
ity affordable clubs will be open across South
Africa.
Exerp in collaboration with:
54

Exerp is offered as
a SaaS Solution.
Exerp manages and
takes responsibility
for the entire hosting
infrastructure.
That means there
are no “man-in-the-
middle” issues.
55

Helping Fitness World grow
The Exerp platform seamlessly scales, making it easy for health clubs to expand.
Since 2007, Exerp has supported Fitness World (Denmark’s biggest fitness chain) as they acquired
several clubs in Denmark and Poland.
Contract signed
with Exerp
Acquires Equinox
and becomes the biggest gym
chain in Denmark
Acquires Enjoy Fitness
and Fitness One and reaches
300,000 members
Acquires SATS’
clubs in
Denmark
Acquires Fresh Fitness
and reaches
400,000 members
Acquires Condizione
in Poland and reaches
450,000 members
2008
(38 clubs)
2007
(7 clubs)
2009
(55 clubs)
2010
(70 clubs)
2011
(89 clubs)
2012
(100 clubs)
2013
(116 clubs)
2014
(128 clubs)
2015
(155 clubs)
Contract signed
with Exerp
Acquires Equinox
and becomes the biggest gym
chain in Denmark
Acquires Enjoy Fitness
and Fitness One and reaches
300,000 members
Acquires SATS’
clubs in
Denmark
Acquires Fresh Fitness
and reaches
400,000 members
Acquires Condizione
in Poland and reaches
450,000 members
2008
(38 clubs)
2007
(7 clubs)
2009
(55 clubs)
2010
(70 clubs)
2011
(89 clubs)
2012
(100 clubs)
2013
(116 clubs)
2014
(128 clubs)
2015
(155 clubs)
Niclas Pedersen, IT Manager, Fitness World
Exerp has delivered an extremely reliable IT solution with superior
reporting capabilities. Even as we add new branches, Exerp Platform
seamlessly scales with us making it cost effective to expand.”
“
56

BE PART OF THE BIKING CULTURE
In greater Copenhagen there are more bikes than citizens. 36% of its 1,263,698 citizens commute
to work and school by bicycle. That means 1.2 million kilometres (0.75 million miles) are cycled in
the city every day. Come to Copenhagen and explore its distinct neighbourhoods and intriguing
architecture from the cool, breezy comfort of the bike lane.
57

Our global reach
Based in Copenhagen, we currently serve fitness clubs on
two continents and are establishing offices in
North America in 2016. Get in touch to find out more.
EXERP SUPPORTS LOCAL DIRECT DEBIT SCHEMES
IN THESE COUNTRIES:
United Kingdom – BACS
France – SEPA Core Direct Debit
Germany – SEPA Core Direct Debit
Austria – SEPA Core Direct Debit
Switzerland – LSV Plus and PostFinance
Netherlands – SEPA Core Direct Debit
Czech Republic – ABO
Poland – ELIXIR
Denmark – Betalingsservice
Sweden – Autogiro
Norway – Avtalegiro
Finland – E-invoice
South Africa – Debit Order
IN PIPELINE FOR 2016:
USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, Portugal
58

60
I V E I N T O T H E D E TA I L S
The Exerp Platform is a standard club
management system for large enterprises.
With highly configurable features, the system
allows each of our clients to use the product
in their own unique way.
Exerp acts as the centralised information
source and member database for the
purposes of payment collection, reporting,
business analysis and customer relations
management. Dive in to see which features
could work for you.

61
OPTIONAL FEATURES
BASE PACKAGE
SERVICES
Add-on services
Bundled products
Gift cards
Clip cards
Micro payments
Start-up campaigns
Group memberships
Campaign codes
CORPORATE
Corporate agreements
Corporate sponsorships
BOOKING
Book a seat
Child care (Creche)
Class booking
No-show sanctions
Resource booking
Staff booking
Book friend
CUSTOMER RELATIONS
Automated messages
Data cleaning
Questionnaires
SMS services
Task management (CRM)
Mobile App
FINANCE
Debt collection
Expense voucher
Recurring credit card
General ledger
Inventory management
Payment Plans
BI (2015)
HARDWARE
E-signature
Gate control
Integrated chip and pin
Vending integration
SELF SERVICE
Online services
Online sales
Self-service terminal
INTEGRATIONS
Automated export
API
Mobile API
Push API
MISCELLANEOUS
KPI tracker
Escrow service
Subscriptions
Product catalogue
Role system
Target groups
Access control
Point of Sale (POS)
Reporting
Direct Debit (EFT)

62
get groups can be drawn from any data available
in the Exerp platform to segment the target
groups for your special offerings, such as person
types, training frequency, relations or historic
purchases.
GROUP MEMBERSHIPS
Allow additional users to be signed up on specific
membership types. Members with group mem-
berships can add family or friends as secondary
users on their membership, either included in
the monthly fee or as a charged monthly add-on
service.
ADD-ON SERVICES
Differentiate your offerings and optimise sec-
ondary revenue with complementary services in
addition to the base membership. For example,
members can choose to subscribe to privileges
to use PT, Child Care, towel/shoe service, golf,
squash etc.
BUNDLED PRODUCTS
Increase secondary spend with product bundling
(package deals) of all types of products, includ-
ing retail and memberships. Allow for advanced
bundles, such as combinations of ‘two items
from this product group’ and ‘three items from
that product group’. Your staff will be prompted
to ensure additional suggestive sales.
GIFT CARDS
Sell and issue gift cards (vouchers) using your
barcodes, magnetic or RFID cards. Sale and re-
demption of gift cards are managed completely
CLUB SERVICES
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Through subscription products, your members
(students, seniors, corporate etc.) will obtain var-
ious privileges, i.e. rebates and access rights. Our
unique Privilege System allows management to
centrally define strict offering policies regarding
rebates and access rights. The privileges can be
temporally and geographically scoped and ap-
plied to products or subscriptions in any combi-
nation conceivable.
PRODUCT CATALOGUE
Streamline your product offerings across your
organisation while still allowing for controlled
local deviations. Manage all product types; retail,
subscriptions, add-ons, services, clip cards, gift
cards etc. from one single product catalogue to
eliminate product duplicates and ensure correct
price changes and phase-outs.
ROLE SYSTEM
Ensure safe and effective control of what staff
can do, when and where, through a fine-grained
role system. The role system allows for configu-
ration of multiple composite roles, each compris-
ing a set of allowed actions. The scoping in the
Exerp platform allows employees to hold mul-
tiple composite roles, i.e. ‘Club Manager’ in one
club and ‘Receptionist’ in another.
TARGET GROUPS
Use target groups to provide offerings and cam-
paigns to a selected group of members, giving
discounts or special access to facilities. The tar-
by the Exerp platform, which keeps track of the
amounts used on each gift card and ensures that
gift cards cannot be used once the full amount
has been spent.
CLIP CARDS
Manage session packs with clip cards for PT, sun
beds, group training etc. Clip cards are managed
electronically using the member cards and can be
used for both access rights and retail purchases.
All clip usage is logged in the member’s profile
for easy access of usage history.
MICRO PAYMENTS
Differentiate your revenue by charging members
for the use of various services or resources such
as showers, group exercises, VIP facilities etc.
The Micro payment is automatically processed
when the member hovers his/her wristband at
a touchless sensor. The Micro Payment is settled
via Direct Debit or instantly subtracted from a
pre-paid amount in the member’s account.
START-UP CAMPAIGNS
Use start-up campaigns for your selected mem-
bership types. The start-up campaign gives dis-
counts on the start-up period for new members
signing up, for example, half off the firstmonth.
The price is automatically increased once the
discounted start-up period expires with no addi-
tional administration overhead.
CAMPAIGN CODES
Create campaigns that are limited to customers
with a predefined campaign code. The campaign

63
codes can either be reusable codes, such as QR
codes, or individual codes that can be used only
once. The campaign code option can be applied
to both start-up campaigns, bundle campaigns
and general campaigns, giving discounts on re-
tail products and services.
BOOKING
BOOK A SEAT
Let your members choose their preferred bike in
the cycling studio (or other equipment used for
various classes), and have Exerp confirm their
booking. Payment for the booking is in the road-
map for this feature, so members can be charged
for this individual service. Note: this feature is
only available through the API and in the Exerp
Client application. It is not available in the Exerp
Standard Web Solution and Kiosk.
CHILD CARE
Structure and manage your child care service
with the Exerp Child Care feature. It handles
staff scheduling, child and parent relations, bill-
ing, booking and child check-in and pickup pro-
cesses. A special child care view gives you instant
overview of all children present.
CLASS BOOKING
Manage your group activities with flexible con-
figuration of rules for participants, cancellations,
bookings, activity recurrence, automated waiting
lists, reminder messaging triggers, cost budget-
ing, instructor requirements etc.
NO-SHOW SANCTIONS
Use no-show sanctions to automatically add a fee
on the next Direct Debit of members who do not
show up for their bookings. Alternatively, you can
sanction no-shows by automatically limiting the
rights to make new bookings for a period.
RESOURCE BOOKING
Allow you or your members to book resources
like rooms or equipment in the resource calen-
dar. Rooms can be defined with pre-defined time
slots to enable booking of sun-beds or courts like
squash and badminton. Rules ensure that the
bookings of your resources are optimised at any
time.
STAFF BOOKING
Let staff define the work hours and booking
availability, so they can be booked for personal
sessions. The central configuration ensures that
only the right staff is booked for specialised
activities like personal training or intro tours by
restricting activities to specific staff groups.
BOOK A FRIEND
Let your members book each other for classes
and add their training buddies in Exerp. When
adding a training buddy, the member can allow
their buddy to book classes on their behalf and
vice versa. Upon a booking, both the member and
the buddy will receive a booking confirmation
message. This feature also allows members to
sponsor their buddy using clips from a personal
clip card, if the booked buddy does not have priv-
ileges, or to use personal clips to bring a friend.
Note: this feature is only available through the
API and in the Exerp Client application. It is not
available in the Exerp Standard Web Solution
and Kiosk.
CORPORATE
CORPORATE AGREEMENTS
Ensure safe and effective managing of your cor-
porate agreements throughout the chain. All
corporate prices are enforced in the clubs when
corporate members sign up for a membership.
The corporate discount can apply to all products
including subscriptions, joining fee and retail
products and can be defined as fixed price, price
discount or a percentage discount on the normal
price.
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP
Bill your companies for the sponsoring of their
employees. The sponsored part can be a percent-
age, a fixed amount or a fixed price. Sponsorship
can be both on signup and on the recurring
monthly membership price. Corporate members
will pay the non-sponsored part on sign up or by
monthly Direct Debit.
CUSTOMER
RELATIONS
ACCESS CONTROL
To strictly control who may enter the facilities,
members obtain access privileges to activities
and resources through various service prod-
ucts; subscriptions, campaigns, corporate agree-

64
ment etc. In case of any outstanding issues with
Direct Debit, frozen or terminated subscriptions,
undelivered messages, debt etc., front desk staff
will be alerted when members swipe their card
at the turnstile.
POINT OF SALE (POS)
Allows front desk staff to quickly execute sale of
subscriptions and goods. To ensure that mem-
bers always receive the right price of any prod-
uct, the price is given by the system, taking into
account rebates stemming from campaigns, stu-
dent offerings, company agreements etc. In other
words, the front desk staff never inputs a price,
which reduces the risk of mistakes and fraud.
TASK MANAGEMENT (CRM)
Define task types and workflows to manage your
prospects and member retention activities. This
feature includes a highly configurable workflow
engine and support for messages, notes and
appointments. For all tasks and workflows you
can report on the steps and actions you have
defined in your workflow.
AUTOMATED MESSAGES
Let the Exerp platform automatically send debt
reminders, booking reminders, membership ex-
piration reminders etc. automatically through
the members’ preferred channel. The feature
supports more than 40 automated message types
that can be sent either by email, SMS or deliv-
ered through the member self-service interfaces.
DATA CLEANING
Keep your member data updated using external
data cleaning services and let the Exerp plat-
form automatically handle the processes related
to personal data retention and protection law
compliance by removing personal data that no
longer needs to be kept.
QUESTIONNAIRES
Know the trends in your member base by is-
suing bulk electronic questionnaires. Let your
members answer online or by the aid of front
desk staff and use the answers for statistics or
targeted campaigns etc. Besides bulk question-
naires you can also include entry and exit ques-
tionnaires to capture information at the right
time to learn why people may be signing up or
cancelling.
SMS SERVICES
Send SMS directly from the member profile or
use SMS as channel for the automated messages
sent by the Exerp platform. The service includes
integration to a professional, international SMS
Gateway Provider. Setup, maintenance and ad-
ministration are all taken care of by Exerp and
our partner.
MOBILE APP
Exerp Mobile App is a white-labelled app for
mobile devices that can be customised to your
brand. It includes class booking, push notifica-
tions to members and QR codes for campaigns
and access control. The App is made in Apple
swift and Android native code, and integrates
directly into the back end of Exerp for easy man-
agement of, for example, class schedules, book-
ings and member profiles.
FINANCE
REPORTING
REPORTING
Instant overview for your CFO and back office.
Perform chain-wide reporting across clubs, re-
gions and countries and take out standard, time-
safe reports on sales, deferred revenue, subscrip-
tion evolution, aged debt, attrition, Direct Debit,
campaigns, bookings etc. Or use the Easy Extract
Wizard to take out your own extract and apply
these to campaigns, newsletters, staff to-dos etc.
DIRECT DEBIT
Automatic billing of recurring subscription fees
guarantees correct and timely deductions on
a chain-wide level. Direct Debit (EFT) is fully
supported in UK, FR, DE, SE, NO, DK, and FI. A
robust framework for implementation ensures
that any additional EU countries are seamlessly
integrated using SEPA Core Direct Debit.
DEBT COLLECTION
Ensure automated and consistent handling of
members in debt. Based on your setup, the
Exerp platform will automatically block access,
send out emails, SMS, physical letters and add
reminder fees etc. Members with overdue
debt can also be electronically transferred to a
third-party debt recovery agency.

65
EXPENSE VOUCHER
Let staff register minor expenses and manage
petty cash in clubs using the Exerp expense
vouchers. An easy step-by-step wizard ensures
correct registration and mapping to your finance
accounts, giving you a day-to-day view of expens-
es paid out in clubs and reduces your back office
administration.
RECURRING CREDIT CARD
Let your members create Direct Debit mandates
for credit cards and deduct monthly, weekly, or
daily membership fees and retail sales using the
credit card instead of bank deduction. The solu-
tion provided together with Payex is easy and se-
cure, and allows members to manage their own
credit card details in the online member portal
(transaction based pricing apply).
GENERAL LEDGER
Manage your organisation’s own chart of ac-
counts and setup schedules for automated ex-
port to your external finance system. The export-
ed finance data is automatically aggregated and
ensures a complete audit trail between the Exerp
platform and the finance system.
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Keep complete track of the financial and phys-
ical flow of your retail products. This includes
management of your suppliers, deliveries, inter-
nal usage, faulty products, and write-offs. The
Exerp platform will provide an instant overview
of stock values and keep your finance system up-
dated daily.
PAYMENT PLANS
Allow your members to split payments of large
sales amounts, e.g. personal training sessions,
into an upfront payment followed by monthly
installments of the remaining amount by Di-
rect Debit. The feature gives you full control of
the business rules for allowed installments and
amounts to ensure that the payment plans fol-
low your corporate business policies.
BI (2015)
Use the Exerp integration with Qlik Sense to
get your reporting figures on all the required di-
mensions, and make the figures accessible on all
platforms throughout your organisation based
on roles and security levels. Qlik Sense is a data
visualization and analysis application that em-
powers you to easily create personalised reports
and dashboards with drag-and-drop simplicity.
The integration allows you to explore and break
down the numbers as well as tracking the evolu-
tion of the slowly changing report dimensions.
HARDWARE
E-SIGNATURE
Let your members sign contracts and receipts
electronically and have the signed documents
stored in the member profile as PDFs. This way
you always have easy access to the contract and
other signed documents in both clubs and in
head office. You can also allow your members
access to the signed documents including their
contract in their online profile.
GATE CONTROL
Integrate your doors and gates with the Exerp
platform using Gantner relays or the Barionett
relay provided by Exerp. This allows you to set
up access rules in Exerp, ensuring that only the
members with the right privileges can access the
resources and facilities in the club.
INTEGRATED CHIP PIN
Avoid problems of reconciling your cash registers
by integrating Exerp with your credit card termi-
nals. Exerp automatically sends the requested
amount to the terminal and reconciles with the
terminal at the end of the day.
VENDING INTEGRATION
Integrate your vending machines and allow
your members to make cashless purchases over
their membership account using either a pre-
paid amount or deduction by Direct Debit with
a monthly micro credit. Prices are controlled in
the Exerp platform and allow you to give target-
ed discounts through the vending machines. No
coding of vending machines needed.
SELF SERVICE
ONLINE SERVICES
Give your members access to online services
through the customisable Exerp member portal.
Various options and services can be made avail-
able like online booking of classes and courts,
freeze and termination of membership, and view
and edit personal data.

ONLINE SALES
Add the online sales channel to your website
by offering subscriptions and online credit card
payment enrolment processing. New members
can sign up and refer to existing members for
discount (optional). Existing members can renew
their membership, cash up their account or pay
debt.
SELF-SERVICE TERMINAL
Use self-service terminals with touch interface
for fast and convenient fitness class check-ins
and staff bookings. In addition members can
view messages, print their booked classes and
make new bookings of coming classes.
INTEGRATIONS
AUTOMATED EXPORT
Schedule exports of custom extracts of data
from Exerp to other systems like gate systems or
BI systems. Schedules can be set up daily, weekly
or monthly, reducing manual processes for back
office staff, and can include any selected data
from the Exerp platform.
API
Exerp offers an Open API allowing you to easily
integrate third-party systems to the Exerp plat-
form. The Open API allows external systems to
read and update almost all member related data,
and includes functions for booking of classes
and staff. The integration is based on the stan-
dard Web Service called SOAP.
MOBILE API
Build your custom mobile apps using the Exerp
Mobile API. The API is designed according to
REST principles on top of an HTTPS protocol
and using JSON data interchange format, which
is supported in all mobile development frame-
works: it allows direct calls from the mobile app
to the Exerp back-end with a secure token-based
authentication. Push notifications are also built
into Exerp’s automated communication feature.
PUSH API
Push member data changes instantly to third
party systems based on events and triggers in
Exerp. Messages can be pushed when member
profile changes, bookings are made or when a
member buys or makes changes to memberships.
Messages are pushed to external service using
http requests with information on the changed
data.
MISCELLANEOUS
KPI TRACKER
Set up your own custom Key Performance Indi-
cators (KPI) and use the Exerp platform for set-
ting and monitoring specific operational goals
within sales, retention, attrition, classes and
much more. The KPI’s are made available based
on user roles, so you can provide different user
groups with their own set of KPI’s.
ESCROW SERVICE
Exerp offers Data and Source Code Escrow Ser-
vice in partnership with the National Comput-
ing Centre (NCC) in Manchester (UK). The ser-
vice is exclusive to enterprise clients. The Escrow
Service includes monthly transfer of the clients
data in Exerp (Oracle), the Exerp Source Code
and Exerp Executables.
66

Clients
Virgin Active
Pure Gym
Sats Elixia
Holmes Place
Fitness World
Actic
Fresh Fitness
Fitnessdk
GO Health
Pulse Fitness
67

The Exerp Platform has been developed over more than 10 years with input from our
entire customer base. It integrates a wealth of industry best practices and is built with
enterprise clients in mind. Here you can discover the parts that make up the whole.
TECHNICALFACTS
68

69
ARCHITECTURE
The Exerp platform is a tiered application
built on the industry-standard Java Platform,
Enterprise Edition (Java EE) deployed on
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss
EAP). The production environment consists
of Oracle back-end database servers, clustered
application servers and front-end servers for
web and gateways. On the client side, users
access the system using the Java Web Start appli-
cation that can be launched from any browser.
Members can access through a web portal that
also supports mobile phones.
HOSTING
The Exerp platform is delivered as a hosted
service managed by Exerp with two physical data
centres located at EasySpeedy.com (Denmark)
and EasySpeedy.de (Germany). All hardware
setups are redundant including standby data-
base servers, clustered application servers and
standby front-end servers. Our two data centres
offer redundant network/internet connectivity
and all servers have dual power supply with A/B
feed, UPS and diesel backup generator. The back-
end servers are running JBoss EAP and Oracle
Database on Linux CentOS.
BACKUP
All server operating systems, programs and files
are backed up on a daily basis. The Oracle back
end is continuously backed up with Oracle’s
Backup and Recovery Manager (RMAN), with
daily local backups. Besides this, all user data
is exported on a weekly basis and stored off
site. Exports of production data are regularly
restored on the test system on request of the
customer. The backup procedures are managed
by Exerp as a part of the hosted service and are
not configurable.
ISAE 3402
Exerp’s hosting services have been thoroughly
audited by PwC to comply with the International
Standard for Assurance Engagements (ISAE
3402), formerly SAS 70. The aim of the report is
to provide an independent entity’s opinion and
management assertion on the design, implemen-
tation and effectiveness of controls within the
Exerp organisation. The ISAE 3402 compliance
report is available on customer request.
DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
Exerp’s disaster recovery plan has been reviewed
by PwC as part of the ISAE 3402 audit. Among
other things, it addresses the following major
possible incidents: hardware failure, intrusion,
network connectivity loss, data loss and data
centre loss.
INFORMATION SECURITY
Access to different application areas and to
reading and writing data on the Exerp platform
is controlled with more than 200 fine-grained
actions. The actions can be used to configure
and customise the organisation roles that are
assigned to users. Each role is composed of a set
of actions and can contain other roles as well.
Roles are granted to users for a specific scope
(a club or group of clubs) and for each specific
report. For example, this allows a user to be
receptionist in one club and club manager in
another.
AUDITING
All platform configurations and platform-wide
changes are logged within the application to
ensure the audit trail of changes to the sys-
tem setup. Tools are available for auditing user
actions and roles assigned to different user
groups. Log files of calls to the application
servers contain a unique session ID that
identifies a specific client instance. All calls to
the application server with the originating work
station and user name are stored for a minimum
of 20 days.

70
DATABASE - ORACLE
The Exerp platform database entails a produc-
tion Oracle database server with an additional
standby server. The application servers are using
JDBC to connect to the database. Monitoring and
managing the content and structure of the data-
base is a part of the service provided by Exerp.
Users do not have direct access to the database.
Custom extracts of data not already available
in the system are provided through the client
application using the built-in SQL-based and
parameterised query engine.
PERFORMANCE
The Exerp platform is a solution built to handle
the largest multinational chains and is proven
to scale up to more than 500k members and
150+ clubs. As of March 2015, Exerp’s plat-
form is helping manage more than 2.2 million
active members. The Exerp Operations Team
continuously monitors and reviews the
operational performance and scalability of the
environment to anticipate growth issues by
either scaling up the hardware setup or improv-
ing the software itself.
INSTALLATION
Exerp is delivered as Saas (Software as a service)
so the only software to install is on client
computers: client computers require Windows
7 (or above) with Java SE 7 (or above) installed
and a well-functioning Internet connection.
New computers can be prepared with images
for quick installation. When the application is
launched the first time, a simple step-by-step
wizard takes the end-user through a confirma-
tion of the settings. Once the client application
is installed the peripherals not already installed
can be configured and installed remotely if
needed.
PERIPHERALS
The Exerp platform supports several device
types including barcode scanners, card read-
ers, credit card terminals and relays. Some are
integrated directly while others use OS drivers.
Two types of printers are supported: ordinary
printers for contracts and normal documents;
and receipt printers for Point of Sale. The under-
lying technology (laser, inkjet, thermo printer) is
not relevant as long as the printers are supported
by Windows.
LOGIN
Users can log in by swiping their employee card
or by entering their employee ID, followed by
the user password for authentication. Inactive
users are logged out of the Exerp platform auto-
matically, and can quickly log in again by swiping
the employee card. A second longer time-out can
be configured, which will force the user to enter
the password to log in again. The last login date
is stored for each user and can be used to
deactivate unused logins.

71
PAYMENT CARDS
The Exerp platform supports integration with
several Payment Service Providers and the
different terminal types they provide. To ensure
a high level of service and maintenance of the
integration, generally only one payment service
provider is supported per country. All integra
tions are PCI and PA-DSS compliant. Card
processing and communication of card data
are done by the integrated chip and pin termi-
nals towards the payment service provider or by
using the external integration of the online card
capture pages supplied by the provider. Exerp
does not handle, process or save any payment
card data.
THIN CLIENTS
The Exerp client application is optimised for
desktop and laptop computers, with key front-
desk processes, e.g. Point of Sale optimised for
touch input. The application can be launched
natively on any Windows 7 (or higher) computer
or Windows 8 Pro tablet over the Internet,
using HTTPS to communicate with the back
end. The initial installation requires a one-time
code to establish a trusted certificate for the
client. The client can also be run though thin
client solutions like Microsoft remote desktop
or VMWare view, to make it available on a wide
range of thin clients.
NETWORK
The Exerp platform is delivered as a service
with connections made directly from sites and
the head office to the Exerp hosting centre
through the Internet. For a site we recommend
a dedicated bandwidth of 2Mbit/s downstream
and 512kbit/s upstream for up to 10 clients.
Because today’s networks are used for many
purposes (IP telephony, web browsing and other
corporate applications), we also recommend a
network with QoS capability (Quality of Service).
The communication between the Exerp client
and back end is using the HTTP protocol with
SSL encryption and authentication, also known
as HTTPS. The client-server communication is
using the standard HTTPS port 443.
SECURITY WITHOUT VPN
VPNs are all too often a single point of failure
or a performance bottleneck. In order to
provide the highest level of security without the
need of a VPN, client computers communicate
with the server exclusively through an HTTPS
protocol with client authentication using
certificates. Only authorised clients with
certificates generated and signed by the back end
can establish a connection. Client certificates
are tied to a hardware identification of the
computer to avoid misuse by copying them on
to another computer. Client certificates can
also be managed/revoked very easily using the
built-in client administration tool. Besides this,
normal password-based user authentication is
performed within the application. The Exerp
platform is using the standard authentication
mechanism Jaas for access permissions and
passwords are stored encrypted in the database.
Password change policy can be enforced auto-
matically to enable minimum complexity and to
force users to change their password on a regular
basis.

72
DOCUMENTATION
Exerp provides comprehensive system documen
tationinEnglish,targetedtosecond-levelsupport:
IT and super users. The documentation help
pages, when relevant, are available through deep
links from the user interface. Client-specific
processes and end-user documentation can
be written and maintained by our clients
within the same documentation system called
“Confluence”.
CODE MANAGEMENT
The Exerp Development Department uses
GIT for development and code maintenance.
The system includes full revision history and
audit trail of changes to the system source code.
Different releases are maintained in branches
to ensure remedy builds can be created for all
existing production versions, independently of
code changes made in later versions.
RELEASES
A new version of Exerp is released every week.
Through weekly releases, Exerp continuous-
ly adapts to the needs of its clients with an
unmatched time-to-market in the industry.
New releases include new features, support for
new business processes, bug fixes and general
enhancements. Each client gets access to a
test environment similar to the production
environment, which can be used to review and
test new releases.
TESTING
Exerp is using the Jenkins tool as a continu-
ous integration and build system. Every change
to the code base triggers a build on the devel-
opment servers, which comprises a test suite
of more than 3000 automated tests. Every
release undergoes a regression based on the
areas that have been changed in the system.
The regression test is managed with a system
called ‘Test Rail’, where the functional test
cases to be executed are selected among a list
of more than 800, and then executed by Exerp
staff with in-depth knowledge of the Exerp
platform processes.
UPGRADES
Installation and upgrades of the servers are
part of the service provided by Exerp. The
installationisfullyautomatedfromadistribution
file produced by our build system. The same
automated installation procedure is used for
transferring the build from the test environment
totheproductionenvironment.Clientcomputers
are automatically and seamlessly upgraded
when a new version is deployed on the server.
The client upgrade happens when the client
application is launched and usually takes
between 5-10 seconds of download time. No
user actions are required to perform client side
upgrades.

73
WEB INTEGRATION
The Exerp Platform comes with a standard
web portal for members and provides extensive
member self-service functions including sign-
up, booking, messages, account and contract
access. The standard web portal can be seamless-
ly integrated in the client’s existing website and
can be fully customised using cascading style
sheets(CSS)andtemplates(XSLT).AnApplication
Programming Interface (API) is available for
clients who wish to extend the online services
beyond the standard functionalities delivered
by Exerp.
FINANCE INTEGRATION
The Exerp platform includes a core general
ledger system and all finance transactions
are booked according to the chart of accounts
configured on the platform. Accounts can be
mapped to external finance systems and exports
can be set up daily, weekly or monthly. Files can
be configured by scopes to separate different
legal entities. For export to an external finance
system, the Exerp platform comes with a set of
standard export file formats. It is also possible to
implement new file formats to support specific
finance systems not already supported.
SYSTEM INTEGRATIONS
The Exerp platform includes several options for
integrating to external systems. You can set up
automated file exports of data to third-party
systems such as BI systems or gate-control
systems. System integration, which uses export
files (CSV format), is scheduled and uploaded
automatically to an SFTP server. Other types
of system integrations can be done using the
Exerp platform API, which is based on standard
SOAP web services with WSDL service descrip-
tion files. This interoperable standard techno
logy is supported by all leading development
platforms like Java, .NET and PHP. For real-time
updates of external systems you can use the
Exerp platform Push Messages system for posts
of XML data to a URL to instantly keep data
synchronized in third-party systems.
DATA MIGRATION
Exerp has many years of experience in data mi-
gration from legacy systems. The Exerp data
migration framework ensures that only valid
member data are migrated. Filters allow cleaning
invalid data as a part of the migration if neces-
sary to accommodate the validation rules on the
Exerp platform. The Data Migration framework
will convert according to rules defined with the
client if data is inconsistent or incomplete. For
large data migrations, dry runs are executed for
quick iterations and verification of the migration
rules agreed with the client. Just before migra-
tion, Exerp recommends performing a complete
migration on the test environment and running
a full billing cycle in order to compare results
between the legacy system and Exerp.

reasons to
check out Exerp
Top
1. PROVEN TRACK RECORD – 100% successful. 20 Years of uninterrupted business. Over 2.5
Million active members hosted
2. PROGRESSIVE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT – Driven by the needs of the world’s most
recognised fitness operators
3. CONTINUOUS WEEKLY RELEASE MODEL – With high development pace, which means
Exerp quickly adapts to the needs of its clients
4. FOCUS ON LARGE OPERATORS – Where streamlining, control and scalability are essential
5. UNIQUE GEOGRAPHICAL REACH – Exerp is available on two continents (Europe and Africa)
and will be available in North America in 2016
5
74

It’s an incredible time in the health and fitness industry, and it’s been an
incredible year for Exerp. Having completed several transformational
projects with new and existing clients, we have expanded the capabilities
of the Exerp platform and watched it help our clients’ businesses grow.
We’ve seen that one of the keys to our clients’ growth has been a strict focus
on system functionality, which has an impact on margins, either through
savings, enhanced service or secondary income generation.
Thanks to our broad client portfolio, we have a vast knowledge of the
business requirements that underlie the operations of some of the world’s
largest chains. We work to solve our clients’ challenges around streamlining
processes in the clubs and HQ, and we develop the system to ensure that
business policies are enforced throughout the organisation.
Now we are planning to bring the Exerp platform and our unique client
experience to North America. We have dedicated internal teams to serve this
market and we plan to open offices across the pond by 2016. No matter where
your company is based, we are here to help you innovate and transform the
industry.
On behalf of all of us at Exerp, thank you for browsing our magazine. We look
forward to welcoming you soon to our European or North American offices.
Get in touch with me at jn@exerp to discuss the possibilities.
Sincerely,
Jacob
MEET JACOB HERBORG NATHAN,
COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
Jacob Herborg Nathan
CROSSING THE POND
75

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