“Shareconomy” in company communication
The three LINTRA managing directors Lars Bendler, Knut Köchli and Christian Graup are “ascending to the heavens” – not just when the lift in their office floor ascends high up the Magdeburg office building. “SkyDrive“ (a Microsoft service) is the central aspect of state-of-the-art company communication: a storage place which any authorised person can access from any device anywhere. “This makes internal communication significantly easier, and increases the freedom of self-organisation and flexibility in the work process“, says Lars Bendler, highlighing the benefits that good information management offers.
“Whether a customer file, purchase or material management – 30 to 40 per cent of processes within a company are supported by programs standardised for it,” says Lars Bendler, and “this does not apply to the predominant 70 per cent.” In particular, it does not apply to the creative processes where knowledge emerges and is developed further. Knowledge that should not be lost, because “value comes from value” is LINTRA’s motto. The experts are developing internal communication platforms together with their customers based on the customers’ requirements, low-threshold in use and which are adapted to the company’s interests. “After preliminary analysis interviews, we reach into our toolbox and combine suitable applications for a customised solution to the problem,“ says Bendler with delight. He and his colleagues are active worldwide. LINTRA’s customers come from the automobile industry, the medical sector, the media and other sectors. LINTRA has approximately 250 customers from medium-sized enterprises to DAX-30 groups across Germany and abroad in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, the USA, Canada and Thailand.
In 2002, the three men born and raised in Saxony-Anhalt founded their company in Magdeburg as IT service providers because they wanted to stay in their home state and fortunately this state is centrally located for their business operations. “And, as true men from Saxony-Anhalt, we get up even earlier if there is a long way ahead of us,” chuckles Lars Bendler, referring to the state’s slogan. After training and starting his career at FAM Förderanlagen Magdeburg, he studied at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg. Like both of his colleagues, he had established a high need for consultation in practice which companies have with regard to their organisation and information management and the setting up of controlling and management systems. According to Bendler, throughout their consultancy work, he and his partners were more and more convinced of Microsoft’s user-friendly systems - and have specialised in their technology.
LINTRA enthusiastically pulls out “SharePoint” from its “toolbox” if it concerns designing corresponding company processes more efficiently through information technology. LINTRA products, according to Bendler, enable the comprehensive management of documents and projects, the set-up of intelligent intranet portals and the extension of internal social networks.
“A company’s capital lies in the knowledge of its employees,” emphasises Lars Bendler. The main concern of companies is that all internal knowledge is stored and made available for everyone. LINTRA can tell them “how” that works. And it can look like that in practice. All company employees create their personal profile on the intranet, including their specialist areas and interests. Everything that they produce in knowledge for the company is documented by SharePoint and stored so that any other authorised person can use it. Then, if someone enters a search term, he or she not only automatically receives files on the topic but the contact person in the company is also displayed.
“Anyone who works with SharePoint no longer sends documents by e-mail but only links,” explains Lars Bendler. “Through the link, all authorised persons have simultaneous access to a file, can edit it and also follow what the other person does.”
Bendler knows that “this is what the workstation of the future looks like“ and he does not just mean in the office. Finally there is also the benefit of having access to all the knowledge in the company while travelling. When he and his managing director colleagues appear this year at CeBIT, Shareconomy, the sharing and common use of knowledge, resources and experiences, will be a major topic for consultation. In the end, companies want to be equipped with the latest technology in competition for young well-trained specialist staff.
BU: two of the three LINTRA managing directors: Lars Bendler and Knut Köchli (from left) beneath their company logo. Shareconomy, the sharing of knowledge, is their topic for consultation at the CeBIT.
Author: Kathrain Graubaum (text/photo)
Contact:
LINTRA SolutionsGmbH
Otto-von-Guericke-Straße 87a
39104 Magdeburg
ph: +49 391 40064-0
Web: www.lintra.de