Lack of job and planning security, hardly any liquidity reserves, missing cash cows, far-reaching upheavals in business processes, constant changing employees…these buzzwords describe companies in crisis — or a start-up. Seen in this light, our understanding of “crisis” is perhaps somewhat different than that of most companies. The currently changing personal boundary conditions due to Covid-19 are one of many new situations of the past few months, to which we try to react appropriately.

Our IT infrastructure runs completely in the Hetzner data center in the beautiful Vogtland region, and we have used only laptops as hardware from the very beginning. Therefore, technically nothing stands in the way of longer hours worked at home. The underlying working methods, for example with tickets and wikis in the development and project management software Redmine, are also established through many business trips and the part-time working models of some Peers.

With regard to our customer projects, hardly any restrictions are to be expected at present either. All pilot installations of MADDOX are accessible through secured VPN connections, and can be further advanced through updates and content. Since we rely on cloud-based SIP telephony, we can still be reached under the usual phone numbers. Only planned on-site appointments will have to be cancelled until further notice, as travel is currently not possible.

The postponement of Interpack 2020, at which we would have been represented as a co-exhibitor with well-known partners on three stands, has freed up a lot of our previously allocated internal resources. We have already responded to this situation by adjusting our development roadmap to focus on many other tasks which had been put on hold. We expect to be able to deliver new and improved MADDOX features earlier than originally planned.

These, along with other examples such as the optimized use of our collaboration tools (we now have a great video conferencing system!) and the stronger integration within the team, are just a few of the various opportunities that come with the current, seemingly adverse conditions. We hope that all of our Peers will come through the pandemic without any serious health restrictions and go by the start-up motto: