History
During the mid-1990s. Year after year, the best university graduates were leaving the Eastern states of Germany. Prof Wolfgang Lassmann thought this situation a totally unacceptable and took action. As the university professor for business informatics and operations research, who heads the Institute of Corporate Research and Corporate Management (IFU) at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, his creed was: “Let’s import work instead of exporting workers.”
His idea: to create a software development centre in the Leipzig/Halle region much like the “centres of excellence” in the sporting world. It was also to be a think tank to bring together industry and science.
1999
May: Prof Wolfgang Lassmann founded itCampus GmbH as a spin-off of the Institute of Corporate Research and Corporate Management (IFU) and the Institute of Business Informatics and Operations Research at Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Institute for Business Informatics at the University of Leipzig.
Among the founding team are eight of the best graduates in business informatics, computer science and related sciences, including Andreas Lassmann and Tobias Schmidt.
One of the first projects: creation of the web portal for the Sparkassen Cup – the international Ladies Tennis Grand Prix in Leipzig (1999–2003).
2000
Creation of custom IT solutions, including work for ThyssenKrupp Stahl AG (Duisburg), Diakonische Akademie (Berlin) and Messe Leipzig tradeshow and exhibition organizer.
Signing a solution partnership with Oracle.
First proprietary development: “World Wide Presentation Service” (WWPS), an online presentation system.
The number of employees goes up to 22. From the outset, growth of the company is 100 % self-financed.
2001
Extension of the range of services to include IT and SAP consulting, internet computing, software development, Linux visions and IT training.
Proprietary software WWPS used in a pilot project in the Arbeitsamt job centres in Leipzig, Essen and Mannheim.
December: The Leipzig headquarters move in to a turn-of-the-20th-century villa in Nonnenstrasse 42 in the Leipzig borough of Plagwitz.
2002
Federal Minister of Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn, visits itCampus’ CeBIT exhibition stand, calling the company’s close co-operation with science and research as “exemplary”.
New products conquer the market including the server and network administration tool “Thanatos” and the project management portal “Ceres”.
Start signal for a major project: itCampus develops a web-based weather information system for the German army (Bundeswehr).
2003
Communication solution “ELSBETH” is launched; development time is two years – from November it is used in the call center “@FRIENDS” with 180 workstations.
Networking with new partners in science and industry, including the Fraunhofer Institute for Graphic Data Processing IGD (Darmstadt), the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF (Magdeburg), the BISON Schweiz AG (Sempach/Switzerland), Infopark AG (Berlin), PC-WARE AG (Leipzig) and Siemens AG (Leipzig).
Presentation of the national endoprosthetics register at CeBIT (collective development with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg).
Introduction of a quality management system to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 – key objective in quality: customer satisfaction.
2004
“ELSBETH” starts conquering the market – within six months of the presentation at CallCenterWorld in Berlin six call centers decide to use the new predictive dialer.
2006
Expansion throughout Europe: itCampus sets up subsidiaries in Britain and Switzerland.
Foundation of the Scientific Advisory Board with world renowned professors of the universities in Halle-Wittenberg, Leipzig and Linz (chair: Prof Wolfgang Lassmann).
Communication solution “ELSBETH” is given a voice – student Julia Beck wins the national competition “Voice of ELSBETH”.
Early October: Foundation of the “Leipziger IT-Allianz” with regional partners perdata Gesellschaft für Informationsverarbeitung mbH, eWerk IT GmbH, KUPPER Computer GmbH, PC-WARE Information Technologies AG, ProSoft Krippner GmbH and Synexus GmbH.
80 highly specialized employees now work in itCampus’ offices. The average age is 32.
2007
24th/25th January: “Call Center Science” in Leipzig with renowned masterminds from industry and science.
ConverTel is integrated into the itCampus Group, formation of itCampus technology – the range of products is extended to all-in-one solutions for call centers.
itCampus opens branch offices in Italy, Austria and Slovakia – the number of employees grows to over 130.
2008
22 - 23 Januay: Call Center Science (CCS) at media city Leipzig. On the agenda: ground-breaking speeches of high-ranking speakers - like Pekka Viljakainen, Executive Vice President of TietoEnator and Corporation President of TietoEnator Digital Innovations. First award of the „Innovation Champion of the Year“.
19 - 21 February: World premiere of the campaign management system ELSBETH PowerContact at the CallCenterWorld in Berlin.
14 - 29 April: First “itCampus Contact Center Days” throughout Germany in five ultra-modern soccer stadiums. The road show focuses on current issues of the industry.
June: itCampus launches new product: web2test. The test software affords automated system tests of web based applications, websites and portals. All tests are platform and browser independent and tolerant regarding layout changes.
9 June: itCampus presents its completely overhauled website.
14 July: Incorporator Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lassmann celebrates his 70th birthday – and numerous high-ranking representatives from science, business and society join the celebration. Among the congratulators are the mayor of Leipzig Burkhard Jung, Prof. Dr. Wulf Diepenbrock (Rector of the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg) Prof. Dr. Edward G. Krubasik (Economic Affairs Council Germany, Chairman of the Federal Expert Commission Growth and Innovation) and tennis legend Michael Stich. Professor Lassmann has been head of the itCampus Scientific Advisory Board since 2006.
17 July: Partnership contract with TietoEnator - a leading IT service provider in Europe.
July/August: itCampus contracts FGM Forschungsgruppe Medien GmbH for the most comprehensive market research study in Germany "multichannel in the customer contact".
August: New development partnership in the energy sector is sealed – with the software company DACHS GmbH Informations- & Kommunikationstechnologie from Schwerin.
September: International presence on fairs with the ELSBETH Communication Center – itCampus takes part in the „Swiss Contact Center Day“ (4 September), the „Call Centre Expo“, the most important industry event in Great Britain (16 and 17 September) and the Austrian „Agent Day“ (23 September).
24 September: SECUDE Global Consulting becomes consulting partner – the SAP specialist from Waldorf will be an important partner in the security and risk management sector. In addition: help in introducing new test software web2test for SAP environment.
26 September: Leipzig Chamber of Commerce and Industry is awarded for having the best website of all 80 CCIs – itCampus holds primary responsibility for the relaunch of the CCI internet presence.
1 October: itCampus prepares a unique anniversary special – „30 for 30,000“. It consists of 30 completely equipped outbound seats based on the ELSBETH Communication Center at a total of GBP 30,000. The comprehensive system – priced GBP 26,000 below the normal price of the ELSBETH Outbound Suite, is especially suitable for smaller call centers and start-ups.
2009
27.-29.01.: Messepremiere für web2test. Mit der neuen Testsoftware präsentiert sich itCampus zur OOP in München.
10.-12.02.: itCampus ist erstmals zur Leitmesse der europäischen Energiewirtschaft, der E-world 2009 – energy & water, als Aussteller vertreten. Unter dem Motto "Spannung aufbauen, Gas geben, Sonne tanken, Wind machen" rückt itCampus in Essen sein technologisches Know-how im Energiebereich in den Fokus – gemeinsam mit dem Leipziger IT-Dienstleister perdata.
17.-19.02.: Weltpremiere der neuesten Produktinnovation zur CallCenterWorld 2009. Mit dem ELSBETH VocalCoach bieten sich für die Call und Contact Center-Branche ganz neue technologische Möglichkeiten in der vollautomatisierten Gesprächsanalyse und unternehmensweiten Qualitätssicherung. Erstmals präsentiert itCampus auch das völlig rechtskonforme ELSBETH Communication Center mit Rufnummernübertragung, maximaler Datensicherheit und echtem Call Blending.
01.04.: Die Software AG, einer der weltweit führenden Anbieter von Infrastruktursoftware für Geschäftsprozesse, wird Mehrheitsgesellschafter bei itCampus. Mit dem Einstieg baut die Software AG ihre Forschungs- und Entwicklungskapazitäten im Bereich Prozessautomatisierung in Deutschland weiter aus. Offiziell verkündet wurde die Beteiligung am 2. März 2009 zum Auftakt der diesjährigen CeBIT.