Insourcing
Scout24

Approx. 60% lower annual costs

First-wave insourcing cost comparison within the evaluated design scope. Quantity and capacity maintained.

Scout24 Creative Studio: enable quality through consistency, creativity, specialization and synergies; enable efficiency by saving budget and time while keeping quantity and capacity stable. Scout24 logo at bottom right.
Scout24 Creative Studio service level: more than 90% of tasks meet agreed deadlines. Evaluation is based on task counts rather than automated time tracking; further improvements require briefing training and task-tool automation.
High internal satisfaction led other teams to convert freelance or agency budgets into in-house designer roles, enabling a broader range of expertise.
Scout24 Creative Studio illustration: people collaborating in an orange workspace, drawn in black with a sweeping white brushstroke.

My role

As Scout24’s Creative Studio Lead, I brought design and production in-house and developed the insourcing business case and operating model with Procurement and HR.

Designers and freelancers had been spread across business segments, without shared creative leadership. The studio brought leadership, standards and capacity planning together while staying close to the segments.

“Rarely have I worked with someone who achieved top results at such a high level. She knows how to build a high-performing team and lead to success.”

— Jan Flaskamp, former VP Communications & Marketing, Scout24

Approach

Specialist roles and staged hiring gave the studio room to grow. Structured briefs, reviews and Trello Kanban made delivery visible. Reusable modules, templates and automation reduced repetitive production work.

Team development happened through the projects themselves. Assignments connected each designer’s next step with company and journey OKRs, supported by mentoring, training and stakeholder feedback.

Motion skills, for example, became shared motion guidance and After Effects templates. Individual learning built capability the whole studio could use.

Outcomes

The first-wave insourcing comparison showed approximately 60% lower annual costs within the evaluated design scope, with quantity and capacity maintained.

Other teams converted freelance and agency budgets into further in-house design roles. The studio grew to eight direct reports, including functional leads. Career development included five promotions.

Further operational results

Efficiency runs estimated around 50% less time on repetitive tasks. More than 90% of tasks met their agreed deadlines, and the studio handled 1,149 tickets in 2020.

The upward-feedback survey recorded 96% Manager Effectiveness. The UX Guild connected around 25 designers under my facilitation.

Capabilities

  • Creative operations
  • Cost analysis
  • Team design and hiring
  • Design leadership
  • OKR alignment
  • Career development
  • Budget ownership

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