Stories
The Story of our first fulltime developer Rob
Developer number one: building K3 Global Accounts for already 24 years
For 24 years, Rob Cortlever has helped shape the technology, innovation and collaboration behind K3 Global Accounts. As the company’s very first developer, he witnessed its growth from nearby. From a small team of four Icelanders to an international organization supporting IKEA projects worldwide.
From pioneering to global solutions
When Rob joined the former Landsteinar 24 years ago, the Dutch team consisted of four Icelanders and one Dutch sales employee. On his very first day, he was handed a manual, a few customer questions from IKEA Delft and essentially one message: figure it out yourself. And that turned out to suit him perfectly.
“It was a small company where everyone did a bit of everything,” Rob explains. “I didn’t even fully understand the framework yet, but I immediately got the freedom to start building things.”
That freedom helped Rob grow into Global Accounts’ first developer. More importantly, he became one of the people who laid the technical foundation for solutions that IKEA retailers around the world would use for many years.
Room to develop
What appealed to Rob most was the opportunity to create new solutions from the start. Not just experimenting for the sake of it, but solving real customer challenges.
“Everything is possible,” he says with a smile. “Sometimes I had no idea where to begin, but we simply got started.”
Those early years offered the perfect environment for pioneering. There were no fixed structures or strict frameworks yet. Rob literally helped shape the direction of the platform and the solutions around it.
Laying the foundation for key solutions
Rob was one of the driving forces behind the IKEA KPI solutions and the VIA Server. Later, he also worked on the database technology that could be controlled through handheld devices, something that was far from common at the time.
“That’s what I enjoy most,” says Rob. “Creating something that doesn’t exist yet.”
Kuwait, Dubai and true partnership.
Only a few weeks after joining, Rob experienced his first international adventure. He was asked to travel to Kuwait for a store opening. Soon after came Dubai, a project he still considers one of the company’s major milestones.
There, different software had to be migrated into the Global Accounts platform, a major technical challenge involving many people and teams.
But what stayed with him most was the collaboration with IKEA.
“We’re not really supplier and customer,” Rob explains. “It feels much more like a partnership. Together, we look for the best possible solution.”
A family feeling throughout the organization
When Rob describes Global Accounts in one word, he always comes back to the same thing: family.
“Within K3, with retailers and with Inter IKEA, it doesn’t matter what role someone has, that family feeling is always there.”
That feeling is one of the reasons he stayed. Through periods of change, growth and acquisitions, Rob experienced it all: from Landsteinar to K3 and later XBSG. Yet some things always remained the same for him: trust, freedom and building solutions together.
Still far from finished
After 24 years, Rob is still looking ahead. Standing still simply does not suit him. Today, he is deeply involved in AI and exploring how new technologies can evolve into practical products and solutions.
“I’m mainly looking at how we can truly add value for customers.”
According to Rob, the real strength lies not only in new technology itself, but in combining innovation with years of knowledge about systems, customers and processes.
And as long as there is room to keep developing, building and staying curious, Rob is far from done.
For 24 years, Rob Cortlever has helped shape the technology, innovation and collaboration behind K3 Global Accounts. As the company’s very first developer, he witnessed its growth from nearby. From a small team of four Icelanders to an international organization supporting IKEA projects worldwide.
From pioneering to global solutions
When Rob joined the former Landsteinar 24 years ago, the Dutch team consisted of four Icelanders and one Dutch sales employee. On his very first day, he was handed a manual, a few customer questions from IKEA Delft and essentially one message: figure it out yourself. And that turned out to suit him perfectly.
“It was a small company where everyone did a bit of everything,” Rob explains. “I didn’t even fully understand the framework yet, but I immediately got the freedom to start building things.”
That freedom helped Rob grow into Global Accounts’ first developer. More importantly, he became one of the people who laid the technical foundation for solutions that IKEA retailers around the world would use for many years.
Room to develop
What appealed to Rob most was the opportunity to create new solutions from the start. Not just experimenting for the sake of it, but solving real customer challenges.
“Everything is possible,” he says with a smile. “Sometimes I had no idea where to begin, but we simply got started.”
Those early years offered the perfect environment for pioneering. There were no fixed structures or strict frameworks yet. Rob literally helped shape the direction of the platform and the solutions around it.
Laying the foundation for key solutions
Rob was one of the driving forces behind the IKEA KPI solutions and the VIA Server. Later, he also worked on the database technology that could be controlled through handheld devices, something that was far from common at the time.
“That’s what I enjoy most,” says Rob. “Creating something that doesn’t exist yet.”
Kuwait, Dubai and true partnership.
Only a few weeks after joining, Rob experienced his first international adventure. He was asked to travel to Kuwait for a store opening. Soon after came Dubai, a project he still considers one of the company’s major milestones.
There, different software had to be migrated into the Global Accounts platform, a major technical challenge involving many people and teams.
But what stayed with him most was the collaboration with IKEA.
“We’re not really supplier and customer,” Rob explains. “It feels much more like a partnership. Together, we look for the best possible solution.”
A family feeling throughout the organization
When Rob describes Global Accounts in one word, he always comes back to the same thing: family.
“Within K3, with retailers and with Inter IKEA, it doesn’t matter what role someone has, that family feeling is always there.”
That feeling is one of the reasons he stayed. Through periods of change, growth and acquisitions, Rob experienced it all: from Landsteinar to K3 and later XBSG. Yet some things always remained the same for him: trust, freedom and building solutions together.
Still far from finished
After 24 years, Rob is still looking ahead. Standing still simply does not suit him. Today, he is deeply involved in AI and exploring how new technologies can evolve into practical products and solutions.
“I’m mainly looking at how we can truly add value for customers.”
According to Rob, the real strength lies not only in new technology itself, but in combining innovation with years of knowledge about systems, customers and processes.
And as long as there is room to keep developing, building and staying curious, Rob is far from done.