The Company was established in 1999 in Hamburg by Michał Sobotkiewicz, who was born in Szczecin, but for many years lived in Hamburg. Today, the headquarters employ 25 persons. The Polish branch was established in 2009 in Mierzyn near Szczecin and employs 20 persons. Object Connect is planning to open a branch in Berlin and build new headquarters in Szczecin.

Szczecinbiznes.pl: What does Object Connect do?

We develop solutions dedicated to large companies.

Which means…

We develop software for particular companies. Fore example, ERP, which are systems used to manage all aspects of a company’s operations, which, in short, are tailored solutions. We visit the company, carry out an analysis and optimize business processes. Based on all that we create software. The user takes part in development of the application. This way we avoid a situation in which we meet, talk and then meet again in six month to give the user something else than they ordered. The model is very popular in the West, and we are happy that it is becoming more and more common in Poland.

When in 2009 the company’s branch in Szczecin was established we noticed a niche - it turned out that such applications are very expensive. The basic idea was to create a service that would enable small and medium enterprises to generate savings. This is why we created the Naserwerze.pl service, bases on the SaaS model.

What is it?

Software as a Service. This means that software can be bought as a subscription. If a company pays PLN 200 thousand and up for the workflow, we offer such service for PLN 30 a month. This way no investments in software are necessary. The only thing that is needed is an Internet browser. The service can be ordered and used in five minutes.

An enterprise portal may be created to serve as the company’s nervous system. This way we can exchange documents and work on them, allocate tasks, assess employees, control the project and check whether the budget has not been exceeded.

If I had a company employing ten, twenty and especially 50 persons, and chose traditional software, I would need to buy hardware for over PLN 100 thousand, workflow licences for over PLN 200 thousand and hire an administrator who would take care of it. The SaaS model can be easily started and easily abandoned.

Who are your clients?

The Polish market is only beginning. In the West we work for large clients. For Panasonic, we developed an assembly line management system and a business process management system. We created real-time booking systems for large shipowners in Hamburg. For NATO - a system which can compress audio data by a factor of 59 with no loss of quality. We hope that in 2010 it will become standard communication of NATO armoured forces.

What is your range of operations in Poland?

Our goal is to expand all over Poland. The Naserwerze.pl service is used by several hundred clients. At present, we are operating in the West Pomerania region. We have won a contract to manage the grey area in the hospital in Zdunowo. Let’s not forget it is 2010 and we started in 2009.

The grey market?

It turns out that in hospitals, the white area is the one which deals with the patient and the administration is called the grey area. We are preparing software to manage the workflow and the naserwerze.pl service.

The workflow, invoice or project management-related software has been used by Polish companies for some time. Where’s the innovation?

We may say that cars have been available for some time, but we keep getting cooler and more modern ones. Our technology aims at ensuring safety and total reliability. Generally, the IT industry is changing very fast and only a complete amateur does not understand the changes.

Well, what innovation can surprise an amateur?

This year we will create a multimedia centre based on Microsoft Surface. Do you know this technology?

No.

It’s a sort of a table with a 30-inch multitouch display on the surface  and a computer inside. The display covered with thick glass lets us move various elements. The movement is detected by cameras inside the table. The technology attracts wide interest. For example, in a car showroom we may use the table to create a virtual car and view its specific parts. At a restaurant, we may put a phone on the table and photos will “spill out” of the phone onto the screen. Next, we may send selected photos to a different phone which lies on the same table. When we put a cup of coffee or a glass of wine on the table, a virtual coaster will be displayed with information about the product and the calorie content. Another example is the possibility to work at the table, e.g. a local crisis centre can be provided with current information. The city hall may use it to present digital maps. The technology dates back to 2007, but is still unknown in Poland.

How do you want to make money on it?

Our multimedia centre, which we will open in Szczecin, will be a place where anyone will be able to sit down at one of seven such tables, order coffee and explore the tool. This way the technology will be available to every resident of our region. But we want to go a step further - we want to buy 30 tables and sell them in the SaaS model. We will also organize training.

Will you be the first in Poland to introduce the technology?

Yes, we will be the first in Poland. We hope to come to an agreement with Microsoft and get a licence to provide the service all over the country.

It’s good that you asked the question. I’ve just remembered an interview which I read at the end of September last year. It was a conversation with a man who saw the technology in Las Vegas. He said: “It will be a long time before it comes to Poland” Well, he did not realize how fast we are here in Szczecin!

By the way, why did you decide to open your first branch in Szczecin and not in Warsaw?

Before we started business in Szczecin, we visited the city hall and we were given tangible support, e.g. business contacts. We established really good relationships with other companies. What is more, this is where Michał Sobotkiewicz, the founder of Object Connect, is from. Another factor is good connection between Hamburg and Szczecin. If you take the motorway with no speed limit and drive really fast, you can get there in 3.5 hours.

Szczecin authorities create an image of an IT friendly industry. Is it a fact or just PR?

I hope these are not just empty words and that the support will develop and not decline in some time. Szczecin came a cropper on heavy industry. I hope the authorities learnt from it. It will not be an easy task to make Szczecin a silicon valley. The point is to provide the IT industry, which is not as thriving as we would wish it to be, with actual help. We are still lagging behind other cities. It is difficult to find specialists, there are problems with office space, etc. But the situation is changing and we are of good heart. Right now we are not thinking of moving to Wrocław or Poznań.

Recently, the city has organized a trip to Berlin where we could meet with German companies. We got to know great people. The city also held a couple of meetings with representatives of large companies providing outsourcing services.

How do you rate the Szczecin labour market in the IT industry?

The education is of high quality, but I’m not really sure whether it’s moving in the right direction. It’s difficult to find people who would know the web 2.0 application or the Sharepoint platform which we use a lot. We signed an agreement with the University of Szczecin - 150 students of the University branch in Piła will be trained on the Naserwerze.pl service. We want to implement the idea also in Szczecin. This way, we will show to the near graduates how to use the technology in business and where the money is.
We also want to train 240 programmers in the Sharepoint technology. We hope to employ the smartest ones.

What do the talks with the Szczecin higher education facilities look like?

They require a lot of patience. We need to visit them, reintroduce ourselves, send e-mails and hope to attract their interest, even though our business is transparent and we do not take a penny from them.

The first thing I noticed when I came to your company was a foosball table…

When we cannot reach an agreement about something we play foosball and the winner gets their way. Just kidding. In fact, IT specialists are often stressed and they sometimes need to relax.

Thank you for the interview.

Interview by Michał Abkowicz