We asked Stefan Töpfer, WinWeb‘s Founder, CEO & Chairman, a few questions about his company and view of the markets they serve.
GetApp: Who are you and what is your role in the company?
I am WinWeb’s Founder, CEO & Chairman – with offices on three continents I am forever travelling between them, trying to understand how we can service our clients better and reduce business mortality among micro-business and SMEs/SMBs.
GetApp: Can you briefly present your management team?
My top management team are Göran Thorell, who is my CFO and Neil Sandelance, my Customer Care and Technical Director. Both have been with me since the 90′s and have been instrumental in the success of WinWeb.
GetApp: Are you a Cloud or a Software-as-a-Service company?
Both really.
GetApp:. How do you use and promote usage of Cloud Computing?
Most of our clients come to us via word-of-mouth. They understand the need for an integrated cloud-solution to free up time and money in order to focus on their business goals. I publish The Small Business Blog (sme-blog.com) and have a column at the NASDAQ in New York – on both I talk about Cloud Computing and virtualization.
GetApp: What are the points of difference of your solutions?
The main difference may be that we see ourselves not as a “Tech” company, but as a service provider. Our aim is to help business owners and managers to stay focused on their business goals. We Create Financially Sustainable Enterprise – in the SME/SMB sector – by delivering a truly highly integrated software solution in the cloud combined with business process virtualization. Reducing overheads, increasing profitability and dramatically lowering business failure rates in the process.
GetApp: How would you like to be evaluated by a prospect?
We would like to be evaluated by the business goals we help our clients to achieve, not by some arbitrary IT goal.
Business cloud-computing is not like accessorizing for a party – files here, bookkeeping there, CRM in another place, supply chain over there and none of it working together, none of it customizable.
This all damages business, we provide an integrated solution that will help you to focus on your business, not your I.T. or admin.
You run your business, we run your office.
GetApp: Why do your customers buy from you?
Our customers are business professionals who understand that anything that stops them from focusing on their business goals makes them less successful and puts their business at risk.
I.T., websites, admin, etc. are all problem areas that distract from the core business objectives. This negative effect can be mitigated by using our fully integrated BusinessCloud – back-office cloud computing, web- & e-commerce services and virtualization services.
GetApp: Can you mention some of your key clients?
We service most business sectors in over 90 countries. Our clients range from one person businesses to internationally operating organizations and charities with hundreds of million turnover. Among our clients are ITV, Löfbergs Coffee, Brain Tumor Trust, TradePMR, and more.
GetApp: What do you see as the key trend emerging in the industry?
The trend will go to more highly integrated cloud computing solutions for business – as the single solutions produce more challenges and downtime for users. The integrations via APIs are unreliable at best in my opinion. Vendors need to develop expertise in all areas of business and stop being ‘one-trick-ponies’!
GetApp: What is THE most important message you feel you should get across to someone considering buying your solutions?
Having to change business I.T. is a pain in the best of times. Use a vendor who can provide you with all you need today and all you need tomorrow. Measure your I.T. by how it allows you to achieve your business goals. Ask yourself “How much time have I spend on sales today?” or have you been busy sorting your I.T. or annoying business admin tasks. Be mindful to create a financially sustainable business.
