Swissness in Software Development

Openness paired with determination are the basis for innovation

Since the start of our blog series "What's Swiss about Schaerer" at the beginning of 2021, Schaerer employees from very different departments have told us which virtues they consider to be typically Swiss and how they are practised in our company. "Swiss people are reliable, but also detail-oriented". "We like to look at things from different perspectives before we make a decision". "Switzerland stands for precision, safety and quality." Formulated somewhat differently, these statements were echoed in all the interviews. Georg Berger, Telemetry Software Product Owner, can only emphasise this. In his view, the Swiss are also characterised by two other qualities: Openness and determination. In his daily work, both are essential in order to harmonise customer and market requirements with software technology possibilities.

Georg Berger, Telemetry Software Product Owner

What do you and your department do at Schaerer? What are you responsible for, what are your tasks?

At Schaerer, we work according to the motto "We love it your way", and I think this perfectly summarises our core idea. Our strength is to fulfil individual customer wishes with regard to the equipment of the machine. In the area of software programming, for example, it's all about designing the touch display to optimise the user experience and meet the customer's design requirements. In addition, the networking of coffee machines is at the top of the wish list for more and more of our customers.

From wish to reality

My tasks include recording requirements, defining a product together with product management and passing this on to the development team. I also liaise closely with both sides throughout the entire development process, present initial results and pass on any requests for adjustments. The principles of agile software development allow us to react flexibly until we have a solution that perfectly matches the customer's specific requirements.

What is "typically Swiss" for you and how is this reflected in your work?

For me, openness and determination are two typical Swiss characteristics that can also be found at Schaerer. In order to succeed in transforming individual customer wishes into a software solution that, in the best case, is even useful and profitable for the entire industry, these two qualities are crucial in addition to technical expertise: openness to customer needs - you could also say a feeling for "where the shoe pinches" - and the will to achieve the jointly set goal. For us at Schaerer, openness also means recognising new trends at an early stage and using them to develop forward-looking, market-defining products.

Pioneer in digital solutions

It is no coincidence that we are among the pioneers in the industry when it comes to the digitalisation of the coffee machine business. The Schaerer Coffee Link digital platform is an impressive example of this. Since the market launch of the first version of the digital platform five years ago, we have continuously developed it further, taking into account individual customer requirements, new trends and industry needs. Today, our range of services also includes solutions for mobile payment and remote customisation of the coffee machine display. The latter supports our customers with various services - for example, the drinks menu of all networked machines can be customised centrally. This reduces costs for personnel and vehicle deployment and therefore makes economic and ecological sense.

Secure, fast and flexible

Our latest development, the flexibly customisable API (application programming interface) Schaerer Prisma, also fulfils a key customer need and shows where the trend is heading: in contrast to cloud-based APIs, as mentioned above, Schaerer Prisma as a local connection enables particularly secure and significantly faster data transfer between the coffee machine and the customer system. In addition, the direct connection to customer-specific apps, software solutions and systems (e.g. CRM or ERP) opens up an even wider range of possibilities - from linking with apps for the ordering and payment process, the implementation of loyalty programmes to the operation of coffee machines in "unmanned convenience stores".