Inside Scala’s next chapter with Product Manager Ahmed Chaban

You’ve been part of Vertiseit for 12 years. What has your journey looked like? 

It has been quite a journey, and in many ways, it feels like coming full circle.

When I joined Vertiseit, we were a Scala partner and one of the largest Scala partners in the Nordics. We knew the platform extremely well and used it in some very demanding retail environments.

At Vertiseit, I started as a System Developer and later became Head of Development. A lot of my work was focused on the technical side of retail experiences, including developing a CMS on top of Scala, Scala scripts, templates and customer-specific solutions.

When Vertiseit and Scala later went in different directions, my role evolved as well. I continued working with digital in-store technology and became closely involved with other platforms and parts of the group.

Over the years, I’ve also been part of Vertiseit’s largest global retail rollouts. That meant working very closely with retailers to understand their requirements, as well as with partners to create solutions for real retail environments.

Today, I’m back working with Scala, now as Product Manager. So there is a real full-circle aspect to it: I started my journey working deeply with the platform, gained experience from different parts of the digital in-store ecosystem, and now have the opportunity to help shape Scala’s next chapter.

What attracted you to product management, and what do you enjoy most about the role?

For me, one of the most exciting parts is the opportunity to work with such an established brand and product.

Scala has meant a lot to me throughout my career. I started out working very closely with the platform, so having the opportunity now to help shape its future is very special.

I also really enjoy the dialogue with our partners. Listening to their expectations, understanding their challenges and discussing where the platform needs to go next is a very important part of the role.

In some ways, it feels like going back to my roots, but now with the opportunity to influence the product from a completely different perspective.

What is the focus for Scala today?

A major focus is strengthening the core platform and regaining product innovation leadership, while continuing to build trust with our partner community.

One important part of that is becoming more hardware agnostic.

The digital signage ecosystem is broad, and different environments require different hardware. We want Scala to support that ecosystem and give partners greater freedom to choose the hardware that is right for a particular customer, environment or solution.

That represents an important shift. Our role is to provide a strong platform, while enabling our partners to make the right hardware choices for their customers.

How important is partner input in shaping the product?

It is extremely important. We have already had a large number of conversations with partners about where we are taking Scala, and the feedback has been very positive.

But trust is something that has to be earned continuously. Consistency and transparency are very important to us. Every product decision and every release is an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to the platform.

We want both existing and new partners to feel confident that they can build their business on Scala for the long term.

That means listening carefully, being transparent about our direction and consistently delivering on what we say we will do.

How do you balance improving Scala today with preparing it for what partners will need tomorrow?

It starts with staying close to our partners.

They understand their customers, their markets and the environments where the platform is being used. Those conversations give us valuable insight into both today’s priorities and where the market is heading.

At the same time, we are putting significant effort into Scala and its future development. We see a clear future for the platform, and the positive response we have received from partners reinforces that direction.

For us, it is about combining a strong, reliable core with the product development needed to keep moving forward.

Looking a few years ahead, what would you like Scala to have achieved?

I would like Scala to be recognized as one of the most trusted enterprise In-Store Experience Management platforms.

A platform that helps our partners deliver reliable, scalable and increasingly data-driven in-store experiences and one they feel confident building their businesses on.

Trust is a big part of that ambition. Not only trust in the technology itself, but trust in the direction of the product and in our long-term commitment to it.

What are you personally most excited about in the next chapter for Scala?

I’m very excited about what we have ahead of us.

We have already shown parts of what is coming to some of our partners, and the response has been very positive.

There is a lot on the roadmap that I think our partners will really appreciate, and the next year will be an important milestone for Scala.

More than anything, I’m looking forward to showing our partners, through the product itself, how much focus and effort we are putting into its future.