Digital Sovereignty Concerns Us All
Interview with Tobias Mirwald, Managing Director of ADITO Software GmbH
Behind the overpowering competition from Microsoft and Co., there is no need to hide in the Bavarian town of Geisenhausen in the district of Landshut when it comes to CRM software, quite the contrary: ADITO Software GmbH, as a developer of flexible CRM systems, fully relies on independence and autonomy, not only regarding its own corporate direction but also with respect to the work and software requirements of its customers.
The transparency and flexibility of its solutions are very important to the software specialist, as these are missed by many companies, as well as public institutions in their software processes, emphasizes CEO Tobias Mirwald: "We see ourselves as an alternative to American conglomerates, which continue to be the industry leaders, but we position ourselves with digital sovereignty and 'Made in Germany' in the market." Digital sovereignty is extremely important for German companies and authorities and public institutions, as it allows them to decide for themselves whether to opt for the cloud path, which is also operated by ADITO and located in Germany, or even to run the product with cloud technology in their own data center, if the data is to remain in-house.
"If the customer wants to be 100% sovereign, we can help them because that's what we essentially stand for," says Tobias Mirwald. "We have a platform, the XRM platform, our ADITO XM, which provides standard modules for sales, marketing, service, and also for collaborations."
Constantly adjusted
Although the competition licenses each module differently and also prices them differently, ADITO wants its customers to grow with their company – which means there is a price per user, regardless of whether they use one module or five modules. "A price per user is a very simple licensing model with high transparency. There are no hidden costs for the customer," adds Tobias Mirwald.
"Now, naturally, our products are usually not used 'out of the box'; most customers have customization requests." Either ADITO as the manufacturer with its own consulting or implementation team, or a partner from the implementation network established in 2019, handles these adjustments. These software companies not only distribute ADITO software, but also implement it. Currently, the largest partner is the company Adesso, which includes ADITO in their portfolio.
Digitalization Continues
"Through a low-code platform with our ADITO Designer, that's the name of the product, we, our partner, or the customer themselves can make adjustments; it's always the same product," says Tobias Mirwald. "It's important to understand that digitalization is not a project – I don't just implement a CRM and then it runs –, but it is a continuous process. It’s good that the customer can also make adjustments themselves because requirements constantly change, processes evolve, just like a company." Today, medium-sized and public sector customers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are among the company's clients, which generates 15 million EUR in revenue and employs 170 staff.
We supply our software to well-known names from various industries such as industry, commerce, and sports. Companies like Seeberger, Dachser, uvex or Werder Bremen are among our customers. Moreover, organizations from particularly security- and data-sensitive areas like the finance sector and the public sector use our CRM.
Here, we can not only keep up with the American competition, but also score points with our USPs like digital sovereignty. Not only since Trump has this been an important issue. Despite the crises, we were able to grow by 26% last year. The demand is there; digitalization just continues," emphasizes Tobias Mirwald. "AI will increasingly occupy us; for this, we are building our own team. We train many of our specialists ourselves. Here in the Landshut district, we are the largest trainer of IT specialists, currently with 21 trainees," says Tobias Mirwald. "I hope that we can overcome this dependency on large tech corporations in the software sector, where a European alternative can also help."