Founded in 1999 in Potsdam, Germany, Derdack provides enterprise-class mobile alerting and incident management solutions. It helps companies and organizations to automate and centralize alert notification processes, allowing them to respond to critical incidents and emergency situations before they can impact business continuity. With customers in over 50 countries and a growing footprint in Switzerland, Derdack has recently decided to set up a sales and technical service office in Bern. “Switzerland is the third most important market for us after Germany and the United States. That's why we are heavily interested in expanding our market presence here, and we believe that the best way to do so is through a local subsidiary,” explains Matthes Derdack, co-founder and CEO of the eponymous company. Derdack Switzerland AG is the company’s second office abroad after the United States.
Going local
Derdack can already count on a cohort of prestigious clients within Switzerland in manufacturing, banking, IT services as well as federal and cantonal authorities. “Thanks to our new Swiss presence, we will be able to accelerate our growth in this high-potential market, and to nurture our existing network of local clients and partners,” Derdack says.
The company offers two products : an on-premises solution, and a plug & play cloud solution. The former runs through the client’s data center and is designed for global enterprises and organizations with high security and data privacy requirements, while the latter addresses the needs of smaller customers. “Our goal in Switzerland is two-fold. First and foremost, we plan to expand our client base in both areas. We are also considering opening a local data center for our cloud solution at a later stage,” adds the CEO.
As a cashflow driven company, Derdack is focused on organic growth. Hiring sales resources in Switzerland will be an essential first step, but the company also intends to tap into the local technical services and engineering talent pool. “We expect to deploy the full range of positions in Bern, hopefully sooner rather than later. Our aim is to integrate within the local ecosystem and to rapidly become a native company with Swiss employees,” Derdack stresses.
A smooth set up
Derdack has benefitted from the support of GGBa and the Bern Economic Development Agency throughout its investment journey. The company was in an internationalization phase and looking at different locations in Europe, when it was approached by GGBa: “The contact with GGBa definitely tipped the scales in favor of Switzerland. The support we received, ranging from information about the process, to legal advice over tax issues, was exactly what we needed. It was a phenomenal experience.”
