Why did we increase our number of companies to 4 entities for strategic reasons? What will happen in 2023? And how often can one expect a person to go to the notary's office? Dive into our annual review and a little teaser of our plans for next year!
The most expensive report in the company's history
Okay, let's start with something negative! It just has to come out. We created a new report that taps into various data sources to ultimately display our project utilization rate simply and make it much easier to plan.
We have had this report since April, and since then everything has been much easier. How much did it cost us to create the report? Well, it took quite a few hours, maybe even a few days when you add up all the interface programming. The real question, however, is: How much did it cost us not to have the report?
Telling the whole story here would require its own blog article, so here’s the short version: As banal as this report may sound, as "easy" as one could manually gather the numbers (spoiler: it’s not done often enough): Not having this report in the first quarter cost us almost €300,000, it’s that simple. €300,000 that we left on the table because the efficiency of our project planning was good, but not yet excellent. It was a lesson for us, we reacted, we improved.
Growth in the LEAN family
But now for the good news: The LEAN family saw strong growth in 2022. Naturally, the annual financial statements are not yet finished, but I can already announce that all companies are exiting positively, meaning with a profit - which is incredibly strong for young "startups"! By the end of 2022, we are nearly 40 employees and are working with a team of nearly 40 freelancers on our software projects - a lot has happened!
LEAN-CODERS Switzerland
With LEAN-CODERS Switzerland, we have established a new foothold in our neighboring country. In this first year, a lot of groundwork has been laid, infrastructure has been created, and first clients have been serviced. Currently, we are primarily active in software projects in the banking sector and in the legal field in Switzerland (big surprise). By the end of the year, we were also able to contribute 2 talks at the WebZürich conference, thus beginning the groundwork for the Zurich software community.
The plans for next year include ramping up our personnel strength and also strengthening the sales area. Additionally, we plan to promote collaboration with Austria within the framework of international teams.
You can find more information on the homepage of LEAN-CODERS Switzerland
LEAN-FORGE
Mid-year, a new software forge was formed in Vienna: The high-tech startup Expressflow became LEAN-FORGE. While LEAN-CODERS covers the classic areas of software development, LEAN-FORGE often works with cutting-edge technology: For example, this year we were able to launch our first app based on Flutter in the iOS and Android stores with Appli.Dog.
Next year, several significant points are on the agenda. Salesforce will come into focus. Our experienced and certified consultants and developers will conceptualize, implement, and expand CRM implementations with Salesforce. As always, our motto "craft with impact" is at the forefront, guaranteeing quality and rapid implementation times for our clients. Furthermore, SecureBeamwill come to the forefront - a service for securely storing and transferring files that operates entirely without central server logic. We will integrate SecureBeam into existing business solutions, such as CRM systems, making it easily and quickly accessible for the B2B world.
More information on the homepage of LEAN-FORGE
LEAN-HIVE
We achieved several milestones in 2022 regarding recruiting and personnel placement. At the beginning of the year, a lot of energy was invested in infrastructure (e.g., automation/tooling support for the recruiting and sales process) and initial market development, but the focus shifted towards personnel development from mid-year. We were able to win a total of 4 new colleagues for the acquisition of software projects and for the personnel market.
The close integration with LEAN-CODERS is clearly noticeable: Anyone applying for a position advertised by LEAN-HIVE receives optimal support from both the business perspective and the technical side. This way, we find the tailored job for our applicants. The focus in 2023 will be on further expanding all services of LEAN-HIVE.
A list of currently advertised positions can be found here: https://lean-hive.at/jobs
LEAN-CODERS
And finally, a lot has also happened at LEAN-CODERS. In addition to constant process improvements (see the first headline in this article...), further project volume and personnel strengthening, and of course the company formations, we were also able to win new colleagues in strategic expansion positions. The areas of DevOps, UI/UX, and back office have been strengthened, and we now have a Chief Operating Officer on board.
As one of his first official acts, a new dev team structure was also created. The teams were set up cross-functionally so that each team can take on projects holistically and completely independently (from business analysis to implementation, testing, rollout, and maintenance).
We have continued to engage with the community, hosting and sponsoring meetups for software developers, and contributing to one or another open-source project.
Next year, we will continue to actively work in the community and strengthen our efforts. We will engage even more intensively in the topics of open source, decentralized solutions, and also Bitcoin applications.
If you are organizing an IT or tech meetup and looking for sponsors, feel free to contact us - for example, through the contact form at the end of this article!
2023 - and every year the notary's office greets us again
Now I have reached the point where I itch to just scream it out into the world - but I can't yet.
We will establish another subsidiary.\nNot in Austria!\nNot in the IT sector!\nYou will hopefully learn more soon - but I can only say: 2023 will be AWESOME!
