Finalist | iTiZZiMO (Germany) - pioneers in simplifying IT

iTiZZiMO is a German Industry 4.0 startup. Their “simplifier” is a platform that can standardize the development of business processes and connect backend systems with mobile and wearable devices using context-aware technologies.

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Where did your idea for the company come from?

iTiZZiMO: Lots of companies use very complex systems based on enterprise software. Isolated solutions are often added to deal with a special problem that the established system can’t map properly. Using many systems consequently results in high maintenance for the IT department and difficult workflows for employees. There is double data administration which means that companies waste a lot of time. Furthermore, more and more companies are now finding it important to retrieve data independent of their current location. So our founders, Reza Etemadian (CEO) and Christian Kleinschroth (CTO), came up with the idea to start a business that addresses these problems: how can employees be provided with the right business data and how can IT landscapes and workflows be simplified.

For which kind of audience is your product or service intended and what problem is it solving?

iTiZZiMO:

We primary target is CIOs and IT specialists at companies. This is because they are the people who get to decide on new software and hardware integration. Our secondary focus is the users in the company. They are the important ones to watch if you want to get reasonable feedback on process optimization or innovative business solutions.

The great thing about our solutions is that there are basically no limits. After we developed the picking solution we realized that companies need a platform which is able to map all processes, independent of the devices used by employees. To solve companies’ problems with their own data, we developed the Simplifier, which can be seen as a platform layer between processes and data storage. The systems that store company data remain untouched. The Simplifier gets all the essential data for one process, the user interacts with a user interface that fits his requirements and the processed data is automatically transmitted back into the data management systems. So there are countless possible applications.

Aside from picking and consignment, further promising applications are remote support and remote maintenance. Think of machinery that automatically reports back on its state of maintenance. Think of a maintenance technician who receives instructions from an expert on the other side of the world without needing to travel anywhere. But we are already pushing this idea further by integrating wearables like watches and smart glasses in our current pilot programs with companies.

But as mentioned before – there are no limits! Nearly every process can be simplified and the technology can be used whenever you want to work mobile and hands-free.

Tell us a bit about the company’s founders like their professional or industry background and the origins of the founding idea.

iTiZZiMO: iTiZZiMO’s leading minds combine several critical areas of expertise. And this mixture is one of our secrets – well not any more.

Mentioned first, there is Reza Etemadian (CEO). He studied business informatics and worked in the SAP environment for several years. He was a highly motivated consultant and thus got to hear first hand about the challenges companies face.

Our CTO Christian Kleinschroth is also a business information specialist and he has many years of experience in the energy supply industry. Having had the same experience as Reza, Christian also started thinking about ways to simplify IT systems.
The former fellow students began playing with the idea of starting their own business.

Christopher Bouveret (CIO) supplemented the existing technical expertise with his knowledge of business administration. He is also highly dedicated to the whole topic of wearables, augmented reality and general business innovations.

The first successful step was to develop first fully SAP-integrated solution for picking with smart glasses.

You’re focusing on augmented reality – especially with wearables. How do you see the decision of Google not to keep developing their Google Glass? Is society not ready for these kind of developments or are we talking about unreasonable concerns?

iTiZZiMO: For Google it definitely was the right decision to stop selling its glasses. Society was absolutely unprepared and it is still not ready yet. We are convinced that smart glasses, like many other innovations in the wearables market, will conquer the B2B market before private users shed their prejudices regarding the new technology. As more and more smart devices become integrated in our business lives, consumers will start to see the advantages and transfer the benefits they get at work to private use.

As you may know, Google is now revamping it’s strategy for Google Glass and building it anew from the ground up. Hopefully, they will take a better approach this time around. For us, developing smart devices is comparable to the development of the Internet. It finally found its way to the end user and none of us could imagine work and private life without it. That being said, we actually really like Microsoft’s new approach with the HoloLens.

See iTiZZiMO live on the CODE_n Stage on Tuesday, 17.03.2015.