​25 years of jls: What remains when almost everything changes?

For many years, the digital world has been changing at breakneck speed. Technologies come and go. Expectations rise. Projects become more complex. What was new yesterday is standard today. So the question is not just what has changed, but: what remains when almost everything changes?

Our answer after 25 years of jls is clear: what remains is attitude, precision and the aspiration to create digital solutions that work in everyday life. And what remains is the path along which we have grown.

Since 2001, jls has been developing step by step. What began with simple screens is today an interplay of strategy, design and technology.

• Individual projects became connected digital experiences.
• Implementation became holistic development.
• An idea became a digital agency that accompanies brands across digital signage, web platforms, apps and content.

This growth was never loud. It was growth with substance. Pixel by pixel. Project by project. So when we look back on 25 years of jls, we do not just see milestones. We see three phases that have shaped us: build-up, transformation and maturity.

The build-up phase taught us to work cleanly and take responsibility. The transformation phase showed us how important it is to think strategy, design and technology together. Maturity has given us the calm to manage complexity clearly and make solutions viable for the long term.

Throughout, the core has always remained the same: we develop digital solutions that connect people with brands and hold up in reality.

The early years at jls were, above all, about building. It was about earning trust, creating structures and helping shape a market that was still young in Switzerland. Under Guido Stillhard, the first projects grew, step by step, into a company with a clear attitude, close client relationships and a strong operational foundation.

We learned early on that good digital signage solutions do not consist of hardware alone. Impact is created when content, technology and operations work together. This very interplay defined us in those early years and still shapes us today.

Several milestones from this period illustrate this well. Our first Raiffeisen bank laid the groundwork for a later nationwide framework agreement. With Credit Suisse, now UBS, we gained our entry into the banking sector. At the same time, we were named Swiss market leader in digital signage for the first time. The acquisition of MONS Consulting GmbH brought strong software expertise into the company. This allowed jls to expand step by step beyond digital signage, evolving from John Lay Solutions into jls digital ag, from a specialised provider into a broadly positioned digital agency.

In the next phase, it was not just the scale of projects that changed, but also their ambition. We broadened our offering and further developed our methodological strength. Above all, though, this was the phase in which the foundation for our position in retail was laid.

An important milestone was our collaboration with Migros as a major client. It formed the basis for sharpening our expertise in the retail environment and deliberately expanding our position in this field. Because it is precisely in retail that what matters most in digital solutions becomes clear: content must be updatable quickly, systems must run reliably, and experiences must work consistently across many locations.

This phase did not just make jls broader, it made us more precise. In retail, it became clear what matters in complex organisations: clear priorities, highly implementable solutions, and digital touchpoints that remain reliable even in day-to-day operations. We took a great deal from this period, and this understanding still shapes our work today: scaling requires clarity, and quality does not show itself in the concept alone, but in everyday practice.

The step into the retail environment was therefore more than an expansion of our portfolio. It was a strategic development that has shaped our direction ever since.

25 years of jls is not a full stop. It is the foundation for everything still ahead of us. For us, growth means moving forward: strengthening leadership, expanding operational structures so that they can support scaling, and treating new technologies not as a trend but as a tool. Since 2021, this has become clearly noticeable. jls has entered a phase in which it is no longer just about expansion, but about targeted development at every level.

Leadership that creates clarity.

With Swisscom as a strategic partner, a new chapter began: maturity does not mean reinventing everything, but deciding faster and more clearly. We have deliberately developed our leadership structure further, sharpened responsibilities, shortened decision-making paths and brought our three business units – Digital Signage, Content Creation and Software – closer together.

The goal? An organisation in which 105 employees can act quickly and effectively not despite their size, but because of it.

Scaling operationally without losing quality.

In digital signage, we have quintupled the number of display points we manage. In our software business, we have grown by more than 10 per cent annually for years. This has been made possible by consolidated processes, clear project methodology, and new business models that go beyond classic project work.

Our master nomination at the Best of Swiss App Awards shows that this development is not only felt internally, but is also visible in the market.

AI as a tool, not a buzzword.

And then there is the topic occupying everyone right now: artificial intelligence. Our approach is deliberately pragmatic. We use AI where it simplifies processes, supports quality or creates real value in everyday work. Not as a marketing promise, but as part of our daily work.

Internally, we are using AI-supported workflows in development and content production. At the same time, we are building competencies from this that also benefit our clients. The aim is clear: at jls, AI should never remain an experiment, but become a marketable core competency.

If these 25 years have shown us anything, it is this: good digital solutions do not come from more hype, more features or more speed. They emerge where goals are clear, responsibility is taken, and implementation actually works in everyday life.

That is why we never just look at the idea. We look at the whole journey: conception, implementation, operation, further development and collaboration. For us, experience does not mean that we have already seen everything. Experience means being better able to judge what is really needed, where complexity makes sense, and where a simpler solution is the better one.

We bring exactly this understanding into every new project.

What remains is the conviction that good digital work is more than beautiful interfaces.

What remains is the realisation that technology is only valuable when it creates real benefit.

What remains is the attitude of implementing things precisely, thoughtfully and effectively.

And what remains is a path that has shaped us for 25 years: grown pixel by pixel.

We believe in digital solutions with substance. In connected thinking. In design with impact. And in development that does not need to be loud to be strong.

This anniversary is not just our milestone. It is also that of our clients, partners and employees. Thank you for the trust, the collaboration, and the many steps we have taken together over the years.

For 25 years, jls has continued to develop. Pixel by pixel. With curiosity. With experience. With a clear ambition for strategy, design and technology.

Anyone wanting to delve deeper into our history will find the key milestones from 25 years of jls on our anniversary page.