Karlsruhe, June 30, 2011. CAS Software AG was awarded the "Top 100" seal of approval, and also declared overall winner of the Innovator of the Year competition. Lothar Späth, mentor of the competition, presented the award and the "Top 100" seal of approval to the company's two Chief Executive Officers: Martin Hubschneider (CEO) and Ludwig Neer (CTO) in Warnemünde, Germany.
"CAS Software AG has earned its place at the forefront of the competition, because of its consequent focus on innovation: the company knows that today's innovation is tomorrow's economic success", according to Prof. Dr. Niklaus Franke from the University of Economics and Business in Vienna, and Scientific Head of this Benchmark Project.
"Creative ideas are not just a means of increasing our turnover, but come from a true delight in innovation. It is a particular honour for us to have been awarded the title of overall winners of the competition, and ample reward for the extraordinary commitment and top performance of the whole of the CAS team", said Martin Hubschneider (CEO) at the award ceremony.
The company has come a long way since first developing a sales support system for Mercedes Benz, and has gone on to become the German market leader in customer relationship management, or CRM for short. The company's success can clearly be seen in the employee and turnover figures: both of which have more than doubled between the years of 2006 − 2010. Today, CAS Software employs some 220 employees, and more than 400 in the CAS Group as a whole. Since 2006, the software house has twice been crowned Innovator of the Year.
When it comes to matters of innovation, CAS Software do not leave anything to chance. The company's comprehensive, strategic company and innovation planning policy is deeply embedded in the core values of the "Business and Innovation Development" department. The nine-man team is specifically involved in the technological, economical and organizational side of the innovation process. The importance that the company assigns to innovation is also clearly reflected in its innovation budget: since it began, between 20 and 40 percent of turnover has been reserved for this purpose. The two principle owners, Martin Hubschneider and Ludwig Neer are also mainly concerned with matters of innovation. The company has set its sights high: by 2015 the goal is to become the European xRM software market leader for the small and medium-sized enterprise sector (SME) providing solutions for all types of relationship management.
Getting ready for the future "CAS SmartEnterprise"
"CAS SmartEnterprise" is a network organization of adaptable "SmartCompanies" whose sole aim is to look at and exploit the customer requirements for specific market segments. For example, the SmartCompany "CAS Drive" supports car dealerships in cooperation with T-Systems International, its product partner. The SmartEnterprise concept was also mentioned by the best-selling author Anja Förster in her laudatory speech at this year's Top-100 award ceremony: "The impressive size of the innovation budget; the Board's exemplary dedication towards innovation; the "SmartEnterprise" organisational process; and the strategic new positioning favouring xRM solutions, clearly demonstrates just how passionately CAS Software is committed to innovation".
The University of Economics and Business in Vienna spent several months examining a total of 272 SMEs in an attempt to establish how such companies innovate. The 100 best firms (Top 100), to which CAS Software belongs, are entitled to use the seal of approval for a year. You can find out more about the "Innovator of the Year 2011" competition, and the other 99 award-winning companies, as well as background information on the "Top 100" project at www.top100.de.