Assa Abloy – Group-Level Ecosystem
Developing ASSA ABLOY’s ecosystem strategy and validating new growth opportunities across access, smart home, and smart workplace.
Case Details
Clients: ASSA ABLOY
• Define Group-level ecosystem strategy and growth narrative
• Validate platform opportunities for Centrios, Multifamily & Smart Home
• Create Ecosystem Portfolio Map and strategic moves
• Establish Ecosystem Team role, roadmap, and governance
Stages: Educate, Envision, Explore, Embark
Client Website: www.assaabloy.com
Client Website:
www.assaabloy.com
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The Story / Challenge
ASSA ABLOY set out to unlock new growth opportunities beyond traditional access solutions by developing an ecosystem strategy that spans multiple business units and customer segments. With initiatives emerging across Centrios, Kwikset, Accentra, and the broader Group level, the organization faced the challenge of aligning activities, identifying cross-unit synergies, and building a unified ecosystem vision.
At the same time, ASSA ABLOY aimed to explore new value pools—such as Smart Home, Multifamily, and Smart Workplace—and determine how existing assets could evolve into platform and ecosystem business models.
Together with fastbreak.one, ASSA ABLOY initiated a multi-layer ecosystem strategy program to assess opportunities, validate concepts with customers, define strategic moves, and establish the structures needed to accelerate ecosystem-driven business building.
The Role of fastbreak.one
To support a shift toward ecosystem thinking, we worked with teams across ASSA ABLOY to create a shared understanding of platforms, network effects, and ecosystem-based business models.
Through interviews, workshops, and internal research, we brought together insights from Group strategy, IT, M&A, market trends, and voice-of-customer inputs. This enabled teams to see beyond individual products and understand how new “beyond access” value can be created across markets such as Smart Home, Multifamily, and Smart Workplace.
We collaborated with Centrios, Kwikset, Accentra, and the Group ecosystem team to define a holistic ecosystem vision and identify strategic opportunities across multiple business areas.
Key activities included:
Mapping ASSA ABLOY’s portfolio across market ecosystems (Home, Work, Healthcare, Hospitality, Mobility, etc.)
Identifying strengths, overlaps, and synergies between existing solutions (e.g., Accentra & Unite in Multifamily)
Assessing customer needs and evaluating top opportunity spaces such as “Smart & Secure Smart Home,” “Smart Workplace,” and asset-sharing models
Developing bold strategic moves and future roles for ASSA ABLOY (Enabler, Producer, Orchestrator)
Aligning internal stakeholders on a unified narrative for “business building beyond access”
This phase resulted in a clearer ecosystem direction across divisions and a foundation for an integrated strategy at Group level.
Together with ASSA ABLOY teams, we validated several ecosystem opportunities across Centrios, Multifamily, and Smart Home.
Centrios: We conducted 18+ customer interviews across industries to validate a potential asset-sharing marketplace and assess customer demand, risk acceptance, and segment viability. Key insights included strong demand in the “space” category and opportunities to evolve from access management to a broader “Smart Workplace” ecosystem.
We also defined high-level platform requirements and linked them to the Centrios technology roadmap.
Multifamily (Accentra & Unite): We assessed both solutions, reviewed stakeholder input across teams, and identified synergies in technology, market approach, and business model structure.
Workshops in Stockholm helped define an ambitious Smart Home & Security vision and outline required roadmap steps.
Group-Level Ecosystem Opportunities: We created the initial Ecosystem Portfolio Map to identify high-potential candidates across the ASSA ABLOY portfolio—an important tool for prioritizing strategic moves and supporting internal collaboration.
To ensure long-term scalability, we supported ASSA ABLOY in preparing structures, capabilities, and governance for ecosystem-driven business building.
This included:
Defining the role and services of the central Ecosystem Team (Education, Exploration, Execution)
Creating a team “Strategy House” including purpose, value proposition, and North Star KPI
Designing processes, playbooks, and cross-unit collaboration mechanisms
Integrating Centrios and Kwikset into the ecosystem-building approach
Preparing roadmaps, resource needs, and decision-making materials for Group leadership
These elements enable ASSA ABLOY to coordinate ecosystem initiatives, accelerate market entry, and unlock new recurring-revenue business models.
The Results
Our collaboration with ASSA ABLOY resulted in:
Customer Reviews of the Case
fastbreak.one guided us through a complex transformation—from product thinking to ecosystem strategy. Their expertise helped us validate opportunities, align teams, and accelerate our path toward new growth beyond access.
