Today 20 years ago MondayCoffee was founded. The company’s mission is more important than ever: MondayCoffee supports companies in establishing a digital way of working.
A conversation with Reto Meneghini, CEO & founder of MondayCoffee, about the changes of the last 20 years, the opportunities of the current digitalization push and what they themselves have learned
Reto, in the founding year of MondayCoffee the dotcom bubble burst. In its 20th anniversary year a pandemic causes far-reaching consequences for society and economy. How was the time in between?
At half time there was also the financial crisis...It was quite an eventful time and I do believe that things will not slow down.
When I think back to the dotcom bubble, where many people thought that the money, we could make with the Internet was pure imagination, then we have to admit to today that the opposite has happened. We have moved into the Internet era much faster than we thought.
Especially IT – with the cloud. When Microsoft Office 365 was launched, we were among the first partners in Switzerland to sell the product. At first, we didn't know what to do with it – because the cloud was intended to help SMEs professionalize their IT in a cost-effective way. For our customer segment, the larger companies, the cloud was not on the agenda. Their attitude at the time was that they could do it better themselves and would never give their data into the hands of Microsoft. Today we have enough proof that the cloud works. In Switzerland, the Swiss Cloud cleared one last hurdle.
Were there other paradigm shifts over the last few years?
Oh yes. IT was a necessary evil 20 years ago. An expensive piece of infrastructure. A classic cost center. Today, IT is a success driver. CTOs and CDOs now sit on the executive boards. Many business models would not be possible without IT.
“We used to sell our knowledge - from techies to techies - on an hourly basis as a classic service provider. Today, we are a service provider and a software vendor at the same time.”
What was the impact on MondayCoffee? How is MondayCoffee different today than 20 years ago when you started your business?
We used to sell our knowledge - from techies to techies - on an hourly basis as a classic service provider. Today, we are a service provider and a software vendor at the same time. In 2010 we launched the first version of CoffeeNet. Instead of doing everything from scratch for each company with the same result, we developed an out-of-the-box software that ensures an optimal configuration of Microsoft 365 and improves the user experience.
The discussion shifted to the end user and from the technology itself to what the technology can do. Today adoption is on everyone's lips. But 10 years ago, it was very unusual for a technology vendor to talk to end users. Suddenly, we were no longer just sitting at the table with IT, but were invited by communications managers, HR managers and COOs to help them establish a digital way of working.
In the year 2017 the Office in Munich was opened
20 years ago, we were only operating in Switzerland. Since then, we have opened an office in Germany and also serve German and Austrian companies. We have sales partners in other European countries and are able to acquire new customers around the globe. The cloud takes us everywhere and I am convinced that MondayCoffee will become even more international.
Speaking of MondayCoffee: How many times have you been asked what is behind this name? What does coffee have to do with working digitally?
I can count on my hand how many times I haven't been asked. BlackWidow21 and other exotic names were on the whiteboard at that time, when we were looking for names over beer and bratwurst. MondayCoffee was the one we liked best. If ever I made a good marketing decision, it was the choice of name. Exactly because the name is misleading, everyone remembers - that we are different from the others.
“If ever I made a good marketing decision, it was the choice of name. Exactly because the name is misleading, everyone remembers - that we are different from the others. ”
What makes MondayCoffee different?
We are real experts and users of Microsoft products. But we don’t talk to customers about the products or the technology, but what they can do with them. We don't go for the classic feature talk when we present our product but show how we work with it and what the advantages are for the end users. Because they are often overwhelmed by the variety of Microsoft tools. We simplify their life with CoffeeNet 365 and by providing with use cases they can choose from leaving the configuration of Microsoft tools to the algorithms.
We often hear you say: digitization starts with the employees. Have all employees now become digital overnight because they had to work digitally out of necessity?
Collaboration still too often happens over e-mail, with a file server and a telephone. Although technologies to make teamwork more flexible, more efficient and easier have been around for 20 years. Companies are simply overwhelmed. They want to become more digital, but then they realize that the adoption of a digital way of working is more complex and it is easier to stay the same.
In recent weeks, however, familiar patterns have had to be abandoned. Suddenly, everyone switches on their camera when talking over Microsoft Teams. Technologies for video conferencing have been around for over 10 years, and it was Corona that really made us aware of the added value.
For example, we recently conducted training sessions on Microsoft Teams for a customer. Originally it was planned that we would concentrate the training on one or two days and hold it physically. Because we also always thought that was better. It turns out that several but shorter training sessions via video are even better received. The same applies to contract negotiations. I was always the first to say that you have to be on site for negotiations. Being able to look the buyer in the eye. The last few weeks have taught me the opposite. If this challenging time has had one positive effect, it is that myths have been dispelled and entrenched processes have been changed for the better, even for us.
“If this challenging time has had one positive effect, it is that myths have been dispelled and entrenched processes have been changed for the better, even for us. ”
What about the impact of this digitalization push on other companies?
In times of need, we had to, or rather were allowed to, concentrate on the real added value of digitization. All of a sudden it became clear how important digitization is for our economy. For ourselves. Many will invest even more in digitization in the future.
What I am personally very pleased about, as a long-standing advocate, is that the potential for home office for service countries (such as Switzerland and also Germany) is now finally being addressed. Many companies and employees will have noticed that home office is a good alternative. A taboo has been broken.
What shall we do now to make sure this push for digitization does not fizzle out?
Many people now know how video conferencing over Microsoft Teams works. But digital collaboration goes far beyond that. How and where do we store data so that it can be retrieved even after a long time? How do we plan tasks, work together on confidential documents? Every work scenario must be analyzed, and the best possible use of Microsoft tools understood and implemented.
Let’s have a look into the crystal ball. How do you see the celebrations of MondayCoffee's 30th birthday?
If I had looked into the crystal ball 20 years ago and seen where we stand today, I would have said "Never". I'd rather concentrate with the team on today. We have plenty of work to do, because there is still an incredible amount of potential out there.
Change will come. And I am happy that even at 20 years old we still feel young, dynamic and eager for change.
