The appointment of WITRON CEO Johannes Meißner, an IT professional and a company veteran, to the management board at the beginning of 2020 could indicate a shift in its strategy from hardware to software.
Meißner believes that IT is not an end-in-itself and added that the company is still in the middle of the realignment of its IT structure.
He explained, "This means that we are working on new user interfaces, investing in usability, using web applications, building platforms, and using cloud services. It is important that we do this together with our customers."
He added that many companies lose customer focus and therefore it is important to understand the purpose of developing applications.
Commenting on the future of IT and control technology, he said, "The borders between these worlds are fading. The controller sends data into a cloud. IT, office, and shop floor are mutually dependent on each other, which is why high-level languages will also gain importance."
WITRON plans to open up applications to the outside world through additional connectivity.
Meißner added, "In the future, we want to make Micro Services available to the stores, for example, which will also make our work in the logistics centre easier."
He identified the tendency of some customers to add extra functions to the middleware, as a challenge in developing interfaces.
He explained, "Many users then have to maintain three systems – our system, the competitor system, and the middleware.
"My experience taught me: If you run several systems together, even via a lean middleware, the user will still not get the most out of the system."
In the next few years, WITRON plans to introduce open interfaces and systems and also allow partial access to applications from the supply chain.
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