The ABAS Software AG has 25 years of experience in the software solution area for medium-sized companies and looks back on one of its best business years. "We have always developed our software in cooperation with our customers," says Peter Forscht, COO of the ABAS Software AG, and thus explains the basis for long lasting success.
"Cooperation is the central keyword of our company philosophy. Our structures which are based on partnerships with customers, sales, employees and software cooperation partners have proven themselves. We do not cooperate with sales and distribution in the classic sense, but with partners which implement the abas Business Software at the customers. The advantages of this cooperation are, on the one hand, that the partners know their customers and their needs a lot better than the abas headquarters in Karlsruhe ever could. This is an important aspect, especially abroad.
In the meantime, ABAS is operating globally, every country has its cultural and legal peculiarities. Due to their autonomy, our partners are, on the other hand, much more demanding when the needs of their customers are concerned. For abas in Karlsruhe this is not always very comfortable, but very efficient for the further development of the abas Business Software." Forscht also explains: "Our well established structures have grown over the past years. One example is our customer forum. Once a year we invite our customers to the Congress Center in Karlsruhe. There, we present the innovations of the abas Business Software and, at the same time, are directly provided with the feedback of the customers, their concerns and needs. Both sides can benefit from these two days of intensive exchange of information."
Another form of cooperation exists in the abas ERP user group
The user group communicates via the Internet and meets once or twice a year. "Employees from development and support of the ABAS Software AG are also invited to those meetings. This direct exchange with interested users is highly efficient and provides us with a good orientation for the further development of the software", says Forscht. If needed, seminars on certain topics of the abas Business Software are ogranized for the members of the user group.
Contacts to universities are also maintained globally
Forscht: "ABAS cooperates with approximately 15 universities. These cooperations are characterized differently. In 2006, for example, we have equipped the Department of Trade at the University of Hong Kong for a modern Enterprise Resource Planning in cooperation with IBM and our local partner ABAS Business Solutions. We can benefit from these cooperations twice: tomorrow's decision makers get to know the advantages of our software and the students give us their feedback. I especially like the annual invitation of the Department of Computer Sciences at the FH Karlsruhe within the scope of the lecture: 'Integrated operative applications". Professor Dr. Robert Graf invites different companies from the industry to present their concepts. For me, the questions and comments of the students are also an opportunity to observe the development at the universities and also to be noticed.
The ABAS Software AG also maintains contacts to associations
Thus, adjustments, either legal ones or in industrial production, can be anticipated. ABAS is a member of the ita (information technology for the automotive industry), BVBC e.V. (German association of accountants and controllers), VDMA (German association for mechanical engineering and plant construction) and the Linux assocation. "We emphasize innovations which occur in the automotive area. The automotive sector is always ahead of the others in terms of modernization. RFID, Just-in-Time, Just-in-Sequence and five day production are just some of the keywords. The same applies to the innovative mechanical engineering and plant construction." ABAS also sets a high value on always being up-to-date in the financial accounting area. Here, the exchange with the association of accountants is a very efficient source of information. Evaluations relating to the past must be increasingly available at shorter notice, these requirements are fulfilled through the implementation of IT systems. Furthermore, looking into the future becomes increasingly more important in order to make substantiated business decisions. On the basis of the prepared past figures it is the task of the accountants and increasingly of the controllers to forecast as accurately as possible and to react accordingly with the aid of the early warning system.
"Cooperations always pay off. In the past years we have gained a lot of knowledge by communicating with our customers and partners. It is not always the easiest way, but it is worth it. This can be demonstrated by our financial statements and most of all by the feedback we get," summarizes Forscht.
