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Satisfied abas Customer since 1986: Mutual Inspiration of two companies

At the abas 360° Customer Conference dinner reception last month in Karlsruhe, Germany, for the first time, there were three special guests honored that night. One of the guests was Beate Becker, Managing Director of Heless GmbH, a doll and toymaker headquartered in Schwetzingen, Germany since 1949 founded by her mother, Helga Moll.

On the eve of the reception, Werner Strub, abas CEO, shared an inspiring story with an audience of customers, partners, OEMs and press. In 1983, the early days of abas, Mr. Strub personally pitched the abas solution to Ms. Becker. Back then, ERP software solutions were sold packaged together with large hardware products by manufacturers like Siemens and IBM. It was a revolutionary idea to sell software independent of the hardware system and this is the pioneering approach that abas took.

 


 

Toast

Werner Strub, abas and Beate Becker, Heless in 1987 toasting to the early years of a business partnership that has lasted for over 27 years.

It was Ms. Becker, as a young boss in 1983, who decided to lead her mid-size company into the age of electronic data processing. She did not select one of the usual software solutions by one of the large hardware manufacturers like Siemens, IBM or Nixdorf, but instead gave the newcomer abas a chance.

Selecting an independent software vendor

”We had a long ERP selection process. In August 1983, we called for bids in collaboration with a consultant. Previously we had a look at various solutions at CeBIT fair in Germany,” recalls Ms. Becker.

“After a long consideration period, when we went to sign the contract with one of the large traditional companies, we didn‘t feel like a customer, but more like an applicant. Various contractual specifications didn‘t seem appropriate. We reconsidered our decision. Our consultant then pointed out that it was also possible to buy a software independent of the hardware,” said Ms. Becker. “This was an entirely different approach.”

“We sent a requirements specification to abas and Roth and on the basis of their response, we decided in favour of abas,” said Ms. Becker.

An inspiring synergy: ABAS and its customers

”In the past years, abas has grown with its customers and customers have grown with abas. I always appreciated this approach. abas is a part of our company and we have trusted them for over 27 years,” said Ms. Becker.

No new data migration for over 27 years

According to Ms. Becker, “For us it was a huge benefit that we started using abas early on. We have an IT environment that we have never had to change. I know some companies that had to change their system, some of them even several times. Every time this means a lot of working hours for the employees. We have been working with abas since 1986 and never had to migrate our data.”

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