"Rising like a phoenix from the ashes"

Uwe Bauch

They have been active in the IT sector since 2001 and play in the same league as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Software AG and SAP. The customer database for their comm.fleet product line for fleet and leasing management includes 21 DAX companies and 188 clients in 31 countries. And yet most people in the city only recognise the Chemnitz-based company when the new Chemnitzer FC stadium is given its name. "We rose like a phoenix from the ashes," says Uwe Bauch, CEO of community4you AG. He is the face of the company and our doer of the week.

With software companies, it is always a little difficult to explain what they do. Who uses your software and how?
Uwe Bauch: community4you launched its own technological platform in 2001. The speciality: six companies worldwide can afford to develop on their own technological platform. Everyone knows them: IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Software AG, SAP and us. This means that a customer buys 100 per cent software from the respective service provider.
Our trade fair management system was developed in 2001 on the basis of this technology platform. Today, we can say that all major trade fairs worldwide use one of our core products. Just to name a few examples: CEBIT, IAA, the Frankfurt Book Fair, Shanghaiworld, Paperworld in the USA, Asiaworld in Beijing and Russianworld in Russia.
Our second product deals with fleet and leasing management. We began developing this in 2005/2006. The target group is any large company, administration or public organisation that has a certain number of vehicles. At some point, they need an overview of their fleet for costs, consumption, leasing instalments, etc. We worked on this for almost 18 man-years and launched the beta version on the market in 2010. Thanks to the revolutionary impact within a very short space of time, we established ourselves as the market leader two years later. We now manage more than half a million vehicles worldwide with our software.

You once said that you have a technological lead of two years over your competitors. Is that because you have been in business since 2001?
The reason is our technical expertise. There is no fleet management software that is as modern and can be structured as easily as ours.
The customer is able to operate the system on a module-by-module basis. They do not need any support for simple processes (simplified customising), but are able to configure, add and rename fields and columns themselves without any software or IT knowledge.
We are the only ones in Europe to serve different segments due to the breadth of the software. These include workshop management, fleet management, warehouse and component management, the procurement process, tyre management, electric vehicle management and all mobile applications relating to a vehicle. Together, we are already developing various components relating to self-driving vehicles.

How do you come up with a business idea like this?
I trained as a car mechanic. So the affinity with cars has always been there. Once we had installed the topic of "trade fair management" on the market, we wanted to develop further. We then thought about which niche we could occupy, in which we also have a certain expertise that would bring us added value. The decision was then made to invest in fleet and leasing management.

Going back a bit: From a car mechanic's workshop to an IT company is a big step. Do you wake up early in the morning and have this flash of inspiration?
No. We, my university friend Janko Nebel and I, founded the company in 2001. He originally had this idea, which he had been working on since 1997. I then supported it financially.

An impressive figure: 21 out of 30 DAX companies (such as Siemens, Hermes, RWE) are part of the customer base. How do you manage the acquisition?
I usually go to 90 per cent of the customers myself. I love sales and want to know what's going on with the customer. Of course, it's difficult to win customers at the beginning. When we launched the beta version in 2010, customers were already asking why they should test it now. Thanks to the trust we had built up from previous orders and many years of working together, they tried it out and didn't regret it. In 2011, we implemented the first projects quickly and successfully and made a name for ourselves.

In 2016, community4you AG was honoured as one of four Chemnitz winners in the nationwide Top 100 innovation competition. A total of 366 applications were submitted. Despite the awards, the company was better known in the industry than on its own doorstep. "That's not a bad thing," explains Uwe Bauch, who was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1964. "We don't have any major regional customers here. 98 per cent are based outside of East Germany - in the West or abroad. As a result, it is not our intention to increase the level of awareness here, but to work." The company logo has adorned the new Chemnitzer FC stadium since 1 August last year and the name has been on everyone's lips ever since. "We have solved all our personnel problems in one fell swoop. When you turn up here and finance a large amount of money for the stadium over the years, the company's reputation grows. We hired 15 new employees within six months and thus solved our resource problem in the short term," says Bauch.

Only in the short term?
The problem we and some others have is attracting young people to Chemnitz. They prefer to move to big cities like Hamburg or Berlin. That's why we're facing the same situation again today. We have orders until 2018, are working at full capacity and can't fulfil the volume of orders we want to process. We need good new Java developers. I could hire five to ten new employees right now to work on the projects we have.

How are you trying to get young people interested in your company and Chemnitz?
For example, we are planning to give employees five per cent of the shares in our company when we go public. A separate company is to be founded in which employees can also benefit from dividends. Another point outside of the financial incentive: We have a flexible time management system. Employees can come and go as they please. They just have to do their work properly. Sometimes I don't see a developer for a whole month. Everyone has the chance to organise their day or week individually. We also have our own physiotherapy centre. Everything to keep up with the times and make things as pleasant as possible for our employees. Because the success of the company is not me. The success is the employees.
We now have employees from 14 different countries in the company. We are represented by partners in Argentina, Russia, Austria, Bahrain, Thailand, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. So of course it makes sense to hire employees who speak the language, have the skills and feel comfortable here. I hear from everyone that they feel at home here.

Times have changed. It's no longer the salary that matters, but the feel-good factor?
That is correct. Employees want to have their time at their disposal and a certain feel-good atmosphere. That has become more important.

A newspaper wrote last year that Chemnitz is becoming a centre for software development. For example, with up-and-coming companies such as Baselabs and Staffbase, but also long-established companies such as Prudsys and community4you. Do you have to smile a little when you, as a software veteran from Chemnitz, see the young companies and the long road they still have ahead of them?
No, not at all. It could have gone down the drain for us and I would have sunk the money. It always takes luck to make the right decision at the right time and in the right place.
And the start-up companies have mega ideas and can also realise them. But at some point, even they run into problems: Economics, finances, business plan. And the most important issue is personnel.

What do you mean by that?
Start-ups have the advantage of being fresh out of university and still having contacts in the lecture theatres. That's why they have fewer staffing problems. But in a few years, the issue will become more complicated because they no longer have direct contact with students and will need more staff. When we started in 2001, we didn't have these problems either. We had the staff. But the longer you are away from the university, the more difficult it becomes. Former fellow students are in employment themselves or no longer live in the same city as they did back then, so it is extremely important to maintain and cultivate contact with the universities and training centres. I see the universities and cities as having a responsibility here.

Your company is based at Villa Hahn, the stadium bears the company's name and you are involved with Chemnitzer FC as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. All of this is a commitment to Chemnitz. Where does this connection come from?
I was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt, I feel very much at home here and, at least that is the plan, I will spend the rest of my life here. The city placed its trust in me when we were able to purchase our Villa Hahn. We have now bought a new villa in Rabenstein and have also received support from the city. Then it's just right to give something back.

Where do you see your company and the city in 2025?
If we get the human resources we want, I see us being three times as big as we are now in eight years' time. If we have the opportunity to acquire companies, we will generate growth.
In the coming years, there will be revolutionary things in the automotive world. I'm just talking about autonomous driving. That will be huge.
For Chemnitz, I hope that not only we, but also other innovative companies that attract attention outside of Chemnitz, will be able to attract more young people here with this centre of innovation. When I see how busy the business parks are and how many new ones are being built, it makes me very confident. I think the policy is on the right track.

Finally, a football question for you as Chairman of the CFC Supervisory Board. Are you looking forward to the season and do you have a tip?
Yes, I'm looking forward to it. We have eleven new players, a new coach, a new sporting director and everyone has to find their feet. I hope that we will be in the upper midfield at the end of this season.