Cloudogu and Materna: Working together as equals

Braunschweig-based Cloudogu GmbH and Dortmund IT service provider Materna have been working together successfully for several years. The secret behind it: Shared values, great IT expertise, and a customer-centric approach.

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” The catchy formula from American industrialist Henry Ford still holds true in the digital age. At Materna, one of the leading German IT service providers, and Cloudogu, success has been achieved. With over 2,300 employees, Materna generates revenues of more than 320 million euros.

In Cloudogu, we have a partner on an equal footing who shares our corporate values. Matthias Schwellenberg, Manager “Application Lifecycle Management” at Materna.

Lean and flexible

Starting in 2014, Materna has been using SCM-Manager for repository management, which has been maintained by Cloudogu for some time. At Materna, the open source tool is used in development to manage Git and Subversion repositories. a lean, flexible tool, SCM-Manager replaced the solution of a large corporation, which proved to be less than optimal for daily needs. “The version management tool being used before was too unwieldy for the majority of projects,” summarizes Matthias Schwellenberg, Manager Application Lifecycle Management at Materna. In addition, communication between Materna and the solution provider was not on the same level; suggestions and feedback were not being taken seriously. What was needed was the right tool for Materna. One from a provider who, like Cloudogu, has a high level of expertise in software development.

The fact that the tool is provided under an open source license is a good fit for Materna: The Dortmund-based IT service provider actively contributes to the ongoing development of SCM-Manager with its own plugins. Minor and major feature requests were submitted to Cloudogu and integrated into the tool. The open source approach makes them available to all users.

Expanded cooperation

The cooperation that began with SCM-Manager has since expanded to other areas: In addition to SCM-Manager, Materna has for some time now also been using the Cloudogu EcoSystem, which is also based on open source technologies, in customer projects. The Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) platform has proven effective in a public-sector mobility project, for example, as a toolchain that can be rapidly deployed. The Cloudogu EcoSystem can also be easily and flexibly customized to meet specific customer requirements and can, therefore, be used in very different projects and even by Materna’s customers themselves. Schwellenberg attests to the well thought-out, forward-looking approach of the Cloudogu solutions, in which architecture and design are from a single source.

Materna and Cloudogu have the same basic attitude. Both focus on the customer. It’s all about finding solutions based on extensive know-how in specific sectors, to solve customers’ problems in a sustainable and future-proof way. We look forward to maintaining a long-term and trusting relationship with Materna. Thomas Grosser, CEO of Cloudogu

Customers in focus

The fact that Materna uses the Cloudogu EcoSystem in customer projects is an advantage for everyone involved. Materna is able to provide its customers with a powerful, innovative ALM platform that can be flexibly customized to meet the specific requirements. And Cloudogu benefits from Maternas’ strong market position. Customer feedback from a wide range of industries also helps to continuously improve the Cloudogu EcoSystem. For this to work as well as possible, there is direct contact between Materna and the platform developers.

In addition to the solutions SCM-Manager and Cloudogu EcoSystem, the Braunschweig-based IT company also conducts training courses (in the container technology Kubernetes, for example) for Materna employees. The response has been consistently positive, with Schwellenberg praising the high practical relevance and smooth implementation in particular: “There is no organizational effort whatsoever on our side, and complex course content is prepared and presented in a very hands-on manner. Comprehensive attention is also given to individual needs.”

“We look forward to maintaining a long-term and trusting relationship with Materna.” explains Thomas Grosser, CEO of Cloudogu. Both companies intend to continue it in the future.