"We bring the processes to the business level!"
Interview with Annemarie Pucher, CEO of ISIS Papyrus Europe AG
Since its founding in 1988, the Austrian software developer ISIS Papyrus has established itself globally in the market with a platform for managing business communication and processes, always focusing on exceptional reliability and innovative strength – a strategy that is particularly fruitful in the fast-paced software business: While AI is still uncharted territory for many, ISIS Papyrus has been working with innovative technologies for decades. In the interview, CEO Annemarie Pucher reveals where the company's customers are currently feeling the most pressure and which growth impulses it is currently pursuing.
Wirtschaftsforum: Ms. Pucher, ISIS Papyrus has been a powerful partner in the market for digital communication and document management for 37 years – how exactly do you support your customers in this respect?
Annemarie Pucher: Essentially, we provide a platform as standard software that can map the entire lifecycle of business communication – because nowadays every subarea of a company is almost inseparably linked with process management. Our customers can then use this platform with intuitive tools tailored for the department exactly as it best fits their specific application environment. In addition to providing the simplest possible user experience, the reliable stability of our solution is also of crucial importance: Many companies are regularly involved in decades-long contractual relationships that must be traceable at any time – even if some documents are even older than ISIS Papyrus.
Wirtschaftsforum: How important is it to have a perpetual willingness to innovate?
Annemarie Pucher: Of course, that is also a no less relevant basic prerequisite for our ongoing success. At the same time, thanks to our decades of experience, we can serve as an important point of reference for our customers. In this context, there is currently, of course, especially with the topic of AI, a lot of need for discussion. Because the technology behind it is now well known to many – but there is still a lot of uncertainty both in terms of the exact use cases and regarding security issues.
Wirtschaftsforum: ISIS Papyrus has been dealing with machine learning and artificial intelligence for decades. Does the current AI revolution overshadow everything that has come before – or is it just turning a new chapter?
Annemarie Pucher: It's another chapter in a long story – we had our first AI patented in 2008 when no one else was particularly interested in it. Now, with GenAI, a new spectrum has emerged, in which we are collaborating with IBM, providing us with a self-learning agent. IBM guarantees the accuracy of the results, which is not only an important sign of trust but also an essential business foundation so our customers can use the agent without any concerns.
Wirtschaftsforum: Besides AI, what are the biggest pain points for your customers currently?
Annemarie Pucher: Particularly in the German-speaking region, the range of document management systems has significantly thinned out over the last few years after many manufacturers sold their respective divisions and discontinued the service for their legacy products. Consequently, many of our customers now face the problem of needing to migrate their existing landscape to a new solution. Many envision this as a dreadful Sisyphean task, with traditional manual labor and enormous costs. However, two years ago we introduced a reliable converter to the market that can automate about 90% of the data conversion, which has significantly streamlined the process. This reduces manual steps to an absolute minimum and significantly saves time and costs.
Wirtschaftsforum: What innovations are currently particularly important for ISIS Papyrus?
Annemarie Pucher: Today, the challenge for most users is that they can no longer understand their transactional data. To reduce the associated complexity as much as possible, we enable our customers to consistently work in their business language, where data can be mapped automatically – without the user having to define multi-layered logics in complex programming languages. In this way, we really bring the processes to the business level – and not only reduce complexity sustainably, but also set a sensible impulse against the massive effects of the ubiquitous shortage of skilled workers in IT.
Wirtschaftsforum: What other goals has ISIS Papyrus set for the near future?
Annemarie Pucher: We are currently focusing strongly on further growth, because we are convinced that we can support our customers with a very comprehensive and effective system, not least through our cooperation with IBM. For this, we want to be represented in all our markets with corresponding consulting and sales teams, and we also rely on a strong partner network. In addition to our four development centers in the Vienna area, in Düsseldorf, Barcelona, and Italy, we are also represented in all relevant markets such as Singapore and the USA with our own companies on-site, where they implement our software solutions and take care of support – to always be close to the customer.