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One central process for e-commerce, retail, and production: Rose Bikes relies on DataGuard

“A modern SaaS platform needs to deliver usability and seamless integration—and that’s exactly what DataGuard provides. The revision history is a given: I can see exactly what changed, when, by whom, and why. Everything is audit-ready and fully transparent—exactly how a SaaS product should work today.”

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Marcel Schonewille

IT Security Advisor

Rose Bikes

Rose Bikes is a bicycle manufacturer and omnichannel retailer with in-house production and a strong e-commerce focus. The company connects its online shop, logistics, and retail operations, processing large volumes of customer data every day. To ensure data protection and information security don’t get lost in daily operations, Rose Bikes relies on clear processes and centralized governance.

Location

Germany

Company size

Small & medium business

Industry

Manufacturing

Product

Compliance

Compliance that strengthens operations instead of slowing them down

At Rose Bikes, compliance isn’t treated as a side project. With complex processes, multiple touchpoints, and significant customer data across manufacturing, e-commerce, logistics, and retail, it needs to function as part of the core business.

With DataGuard, what used to be a mix of isolated solutions has become a structured, efficient process—centrally managed, clearly documented, and designed so IT Security Advisor and Information Security Officer Marcel Schonewille can keep everything under control despite limited time resources.

Instead of ad-hoc requests, scattered emails, and Teams messages, there is now a reliable workflow supported by a centralized platform and backed by strategic expertise.

Challenge

When processes are fragmented, every request becomes a time drain.

Before working with DataGuard, Rose Bikes was missing one key element: structure. Data protection and information security topics came in from all directions, landing in inboxes, chat messages, or shared folders depending on the department. The work got done, but documentation was inconsistent and difficult to track.

While this setup functioned in day-to-day operations, growing regulatory requirements and increasing complexity made it harder to manage. Especially across IT, Legal, and operational teams, it became clear that without centralized control, every new requirement added disproportionate overhead.

 As Marcel puts it:  

The specific challenges included:

  • Unstructured intake of data protection incidents (emails, Teams messages)
  • Media disruptions from downloading and re-uploading Word and Excel files
  • Lack of revision security and version confusion in documents
  • High coordination effort between IT and Legal (data protection coordination)
  • Pressure to meet regulatory deadlines (e.g., 7-day response windows)
  • Dual responsibility: building an ISMS on top of daily IT management duties

Solution

Rose Bikes chose DataGuard because it’s where platform and expertise work together. The goal wasn’t just advisory support but operational relief through automated workflows and centralized governance.

A key step was moving daily work away from manual documents. Today, Rose Bikes handles core tasks directly in the platform. Documentation lives inside the system. Changes are transparent and traceable.

For Marcel, the built-in revision history is particularly important:

How the platform simplifies daily work:

  • Central governance for data protection and InfoSec: Less fragmentation at the start of the process pipeline, resulting in greater efficiency throughout
  • Intuitive usability: Fewer media breaks, less file handling, more process clarity
  • Revision history and traceability: Audit-ready documentation instead of Word versions and guesswork
  • Structured workflows for incidents: Reports are clearly captured, assigned, and processed
  • Strategic expertise as an accelerator: Regular check-ins, advisory support, and hands-on guidance reduce operational burden

This structured approach becomes particularly valuable in critical situations, when incidents need to be assessed and decisions made under time pressure.

Results

Greater efficiency, faster response times, and improved audit readiness

The biggest impact came at the very beginning of the process. Once incidents and tasks enter the system in a structured way, everything downstream becomes more predictable and progressively more efficient.

Real-world example: Social engineering attempt in the web shop

One recent case illustrates how important this structure is in practice. Rose Bikes received an email claiming that customer data from their web shop had been leaked, including a sample dataset that appeared to contain valid records.

At first glance, the situation seemed critical. Instead of immediately assuming a breach, the team followed a structured validation process. Concrete measures were initiated right away: The Rose Bikes team analyzed the dataset, cross-checked external sources using OSINT scans and dark web monitoring, secured potentially affected accounts, and carried out additional checks on the web shop.

The results of their thorough investigation showed that the incident was not a breach of Rose Bikes’ systems, but rather a classic social engineering attempt based on previously leaked data from other platforms (e.g. due to password reuse).

The case highlights a key point: it’s not just whether an incident occurs, but how quickly and systematically organizations are able to respond.

As Marcel explains:

Tangible day-to-day improvements:

  • Faster and more informed response decisions: Structured workflows enable teams to act quickly while making well-founded decisions—even in critical situations
  • Centralized intake instead of ad-hoc communication: Reports are captured and assigned systematically, reducing delays and unnecessary coordination
  • Higher process acceptance in key teams: Especially in departments that handle frequent incidents, such as customer service
  • Improved audit security through revision tracking: Transparent documentation instead of unmanaged Word file versions
  • Structured progress with no additional resources: Even without a dedicated full-time ISMS role, the platform enables systematic development alongside operational IT responsibilities

Today, available time is used more strategically. The platform creates structure, clarifies priorities, and defines clear next steps. Instead of chasing information or coordinating scattered inputs, the team can focus on strengthening data protection and information security in a meaningful way.

For Marcel, this means less operational friction and greater control over a growing area of responsibility. The combination of a centralized platform and expert guidance ensures that information security and data protection are developed systematically and sustainably and not pushed aside by daily operations.

Outlook

Scaling the ISMS on a solid foundation—with reduced risk of overload

Marcel is building the ISMS for Rose Bikes and its subsidiaries alongside his role as IT Manager. That makes scalability critical. The solution needs to grow with the organization without creating additional overhead. His goal is an ISMS that is well-structured, properly documented, and capable of meeting future external requirements with confidence.

At the same time, responsibility for compliance should not rest on a single individual long-term. Building broader internal ownership is the next step.

Marcel recommends: “Make sure there is strong acceptance for data protection and information security within the organization. Without that commitment, you end up going in circles and risk burning out.”

With DataGuard, Rose Bikes has built a stable foundation: centralized governance, automated workflows, and strategic expertise that make compliance structured, scalable, and manageable, and all of that without additional resources.

 

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