How STARK Group runs mission-critical document management across 1,150 locations

STARK Group is a European leader in the trading and distribution of heavy building materials. The enterprise document management platform that serves major institutions in insurance and finance throughout Europe also runs at the heart of STARK’s IT landscape — because the demands on reliability, scale, and security are the same.

A builders’ merchant serving 450,000 tradespeople across Europe

STARK Group’s goal is to remove hassle for tradespeople. The company brings everything they need within easy reach, equips its colleagues to deliver fast, knowledgeable service, and uses its scale to tradespeople’s advantage. That approach has made STARK Group a market-leading builders’ merchant and distributor of heavy building materials in Europe, with net sales of €7BN.

The group sources more than 400,000 SKUs from more than 15,000 suppliers and delivers them through a dense network of 1,150 warehouses, distribution centres, branches, and shops close to building sites. STARK Group employs more than 20,000 people.

Strategy 2027: digital as a foundation, not an add-on

STARK Group is on an ambitious growth journey that combines organic and acquisitional growth. The strategy towards 2027 rests on ten primary pillars. Pillar four makes the digital direction explicit:

Digital in everything we do: Aim to establish a modern digital foundation that makes key processes more effective, frees up time, and provides smarter, value-adding services that solve essential customer pain points.
— STARK Group, Strategy 2027

IT that 20,000 people and 1,150 locations depend on

At STARK Group’s scale, IT is not a support function. It is operational infrastructure. Without flexible, scalable, efficient, reliable, and secure systems in every part of the business, operations stop. No number of skilled people, forklifts, or trucks can compensate for failing IT systems.

The requirements mirror what drives IT decisions in insurance and finance. Organisations in those industries recognise STARK’s demands immediately — because they face the same ones every day.

Enterprise document management built for the most demanding environments

Next Enterprise Document Management serves major institutions in insurance and finance throughout Europe. STARK Group’s IT landscape carries the same core demands, which is why Next fits naturally into the group’s infrastructure. The partnership between Nextway and STARK Group is built for the long term.