Focus on the Customer

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August 23, 2012

censhare pursues new strategy and restructures both company and product.

Growth needs change. Change needs a strategy.

censhare AG, based in Munich with offices in Zurich, London, Delhi and San Francisco has developed integrated software solutions for publishers and companies since 2001. Last year the company generated revenue of just under 10 million euros with its complex and customized all-in-one project solutions. The Munich-based censhare AG is now adapting its structures and portfolio in order to boost growth further. Last week, processes, operations and market needs were analyzed for this purpose and a new strategic course was adopted.

Dieter Reichert, Director of Communication, summarizes the change as follows: „censhare has incredible functional depth. Unfortunately we have not communicated this adequately. Consequently, we still tend to be categorized alongside Woodwing, K4, iBrams, contentserv and Brandmaker. This will now change: we're going to cluster our almost 800 features, describe them from the customer perspective and create products with modular profiles which can also be used as streamlined, standardized SaaS solutions. We have also taken on board the legitimate criticism of our user interface and will be putting initial changes in place for improved usability before the end of 2012.“

Information creates relations

The information age has not only started. We are right in the middle of it. It is an irreversible development which is constantly increasing in speed and relevance. And the consequences affect every individual, every company - indeed the whole of society. Gartner Research describes it as the era of „collaboration of the masses“ driven by four factors: the cloud, social networking, big data (information explosion) and mobility.

censhare's vision of „Information creates relations“ matches Gartner's scenarios: all of a company's information and the individuals acting upon it will be interconnected. No matter where they might happen to be. Mobile devices will be increasingly important in corporate communication, for example. censhare is positioning itself as a tool for the preparation, accumulation, organization and communication of all types of information.

However, the real value will lie in the interaction between the interlinked, relational information (connected in the software) which can be used to provide new content - dynamically and context-based - for all those involved in communication (potential customers, customers, partners, staff).

Examples of application and best cases

The censhare information system can already supplement all assets (texts, pictures, advertisements, products, movies etc.) with geodata and CRM profiles. In this way, the technology can be used as a customer relationship management system, a product information system, an enterprise content management system, a collaboration system and even as a print, web, mobile or social media channel.

In censhare's own embedded database, for instance, there are already installations comprising several million assets (for example for Editora Abril in Brazil and REWE in Germany) which are high-performance and dynamic.

In the recent past, censhare has created integrated solutions based on the censhare information system for the web and online channel. Customers include migros AG in Switzerland and News-Verlag in Vienna, which will be going live in September with news.at, one of Austria's biggest portals. Another well-known example of integrated publishing is the highly successful DIE ZEIT app, the world's first ever hybrid app. It recently won an innovation award.

censhare is restructuring

In the past, censhare responded to very specific requirements arising from varying projects and target markets. In future, customer specifications will be addressed more by means of standardized product modules and variable license models. This has a direct impact on the development department in Munich. Additional capacity will be created in the Product Management, User Interface and Usability, QA and Documentation departments, with appointments to be made in the next few weeks. What is more, an external company has been commissioned to develop a new user interface.

Sales in Germany will be focused at the Munich headquarters and will be expanded with the addition of key account management and lead generation.

The Indian subsidiary established in 2010 will be expanding its operations in Delhi, increasing its workforce for this purpose from 4 to 20 in the months to come. This office particularly supports censhare in connection with web projects worldwide.

Another key structural element is censhare's partner network which contributes a range of technical capabilities and sector-specific expertise. The network has been consistently expanded in recent months and there are plans for further selective growth. Among other things, it now includes IOI Integration in USA and the UK. In the German-speaking region, the XML specialist Pagina in Tübingen is successful in book production and the fast-growing Hamburg-based company msp AG is a powerful retail partner. It has been possible to win the services of a number of important media providers such as mohnmedia in Gütersloh, trevenque in Spain and Longo in Italy who will be adding censhare to their range in future.

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