In this four-part blog series, we look back on our company history – from our beginnings in Stuttgart to becoming an IT service provider operating worldwide.
In the first part of our anniversary series, we traced ITVT’s development from its Stuttgart location to a globally positioned IT partner. But growth alone tells only part of our story. Since our founding in 2001, it has above all been one quality that has shaped ITVT: closeness to our customers.
Right from our first years, we were active in a wide variety of projects and industries. We looked after IT infrastructures, supported data migrations, developed interfaces between systems and helped companies digitalise their business processes. In doing so, we did not only get to know technologies. Above all, we got to know the people, processes and challenges behind those technologies.
Driven by our founders Jochen Klipfel and Patrick Kreuzer, this closeness to customers became a firm part of the way we work at an early stage. With our consulting approach, the “ITVT Capability Mapping”, we did not merely analyse requirements – we looked at companies holistically: their processes, their workflows and their strategic goals. Today, ITVT still pursues exactly the same consulting approach with the “ITVT Maturity Models”: meeting our customers exactly where they currently stand.
That this approach works was already evident in a genuine pioneering project: for Mall GmbH in Donaueschingen, ITVT implemented the first Microsoft CRM system on the European continent. Today, Microsoft looks like a self-evident market leader in the business software space. In 2003, however, that was by no means a given. Opting for Microsoft CRM took courage, a willingness to innovate and, above all, the trust of a customer prepared to break new ground with us. It is precisely this pioneering spirit that shapes ITVT to this day.
The guiding principles of founders Jochen Klipfel and Patrick Kreuzer: partnership, flexibility, pioneering spirit.
The deeper we immersed ourselves in our customers’ processes, the clearer a pattern became: many companies were facing similar challenges within their respective industries. Our close cooperation with numerous well-known companies in the energy sector therefore gave rise, in 2006, to ITVT’s first in-house industry solution: “REGIS”.
“REGIS” stands for “Regulierungs-Informations-System” (regulatory information system) and was far more than just a software solution. It was proof that genuine industry knowledge and technological expertise can set new standards together. Even back then, regulatory requirements were generating an enormous documentation workload – one that could be automated with the help of this in-house development.
At the same time, REGIS laid the foundation for a development that still defines ITVT today: building our own solutions on the basis of real customer requirements.
A special moment: the team around Patrick Kreuzer and Jochen Klipfel with the first REGIS release.
The experience gained from REGIS fed into further innovations over the years. A particular milestone followed in 2017 with the official launch of the “Stadtwerk365” industry solution at E-world energy & water in Essen. The solution went on to become ITVT’s best-known industry platform today, supporting municipal utilities and energy providers in digitalising their customer and business processes.
But the idea behind “Stadtwerk365” was the same as with REGIS: not to develop technology for technology’s sake, but to create solutions that address the concrete challenges of an industry. This principle was applied consistently to further industries:
Today, ITVT has an extensive portfolio of industry-specific solutions built on decades of experience and close cooperation with customers.
One industry solution grew into an entire family of solutions: Stadtwerk365, ITVT Industry Solution, Chemical365 and Pharma365.
As our customers developed further, so did the demands placed on ITVT. While the earliest projects often concerned individual systems or processes, there was a growing desire for integrated end-to-end solutions. ITVT therefore consistently expanded its portfolio beyond the CRM sphere.
Today we support our customers not only with customer relationship management processes, but also with the digitalisation of core business operations in the ERP environment. As a Microsoft partner, we help companies map their entire process landscape onto a shared technological foundation. From sales and marketing through service to finance and operational processes, this creates seamless digital value chains.
When artificial intelligence is discussed today, it still strikes many people as a relatively new subject. For ITVT, however, AI was already a trending topic before it became a trending topic around business applications among the wider public. Since as far back as 2015, we have been working intensively on the possibilities of intelligent systems and their practical use in business processes. Long before AI became a global trend, we were investigating together with customers how automation, data analysis and intelligent assistance systems could be meaningfully integrated into everyday work.
Here, too, the same principle applies today as it does to all technological innovation: technology only unfolds its value once it solves concrete challenges. Today, many companies face the very same challenge: the possibilities of artificial intelligence appear almost limitless. Yet not every idea creates genuine added value.
That is why we see our role not only as a technology partner, but as a guide for AI transformation. Together with our customers, we identify the use cases in which AI can make a measurable contribution to processes, productivity and business success.
Whether “Vision Roadshow” or “Meet the Experts”: AI has been a fixed part of our events since 2015.
Looking back today on 25 years of ITVT, one thing becomes particularly clear: our innovations and solutions were never created in an ivory tower. They emerged in workshops with customers. In projects. In conversations. In challenges that at first seemed unsolvable.
Closeness to our customers, our flexibility, our spirit of partnership and our pioneering mindset have motivated us again and again to break new ground. From Europe’s first Microsoft CRM implementation through our own industry solutions to modern ERP and AI platforms, one common thread runs through our history: we listen. We understand. And we develop solutions that genuinely move companies forward.
ITVT has spent 25 years listening. That is why ITVT can provide orientation today, introduce AI with real benefit and help companies strengthen their competitiveness for the long term. With the “ITVT Maturity Models”, we bring our experience together and make it accessible, understandable and usable for our customers.
AI Factory: an event format run jointly by Microsoft and ITVT, and deliverable for a range of industries.
Listening has brought us one more important insight in recent years: not every company needs extensive custom development or months of conceptual work. Small and medium-sized companies in particular know very well today that digitalisation is necessary. They want to deploy modern systems, digitalise processes and strengthen their competitiveness. At the same time, they often do not have unlimited time, budget or staff resources for lengthy workshop and rollout projects.
In response to these requirements, we developed our QuickStart product line. Behind it lies the same thinking that has accompanied ITVT for 25 years: meeting customers where they stand. With pre-configured, industry-specific solutions, we give companies a fast, pragmatic and low-risk entry into digitalisation – without having to give up best practices or future viability.
Whether custom development, a specialised industry solution or a QuickStart package: our solutions grow out of our customers’ challenges and are guided by what companies really need. That was our aspiration 25 years ago – and it still is today.
The third part of our anniversary series is about the expertise behind the solutions: we show which awards, Microsoft certifications and professional qualifications ITVT has earned over the past 25 years – and why they mean far more to our customers than just certificates on the wall.
Do you have questions before then? Then please feel free to get in touch!
QuickStart Racer: the digitalisation turbo for small and medium-sized enterprises.