The Hamburg-based start-up Sirum has set out to solve a fundamental problem in the logistics sector. Only a few companies can afford modern IT solutions, and only larger companies can afford to use digital Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP, which controls, monitors and optimizes all processes along the supply chain. Sirum wants to make these capabilities available to smaller companies, too.
Sirum was founded in 2016 and its founders, Dennis Uhlemann and Georg Notter, have known each other since their school days. After completing his studies, Uhlemann went into logistics and asked Notter for help with one of his projects. At the time, Notter was worked as a freelancer on ERP systems. Previously, he had been working for Siemens on industrial production monitoring systems. The two initially developed the Sirum application together, with the other two founders Michael Hötte and Bennet Block joining later.
Sirum runs a browser-based software as a service solution. Customers can access their applications from their PC, laptop or smartphone. The system has a modular structure with each customer accessing the modules he has booked. This could be transport management, fleet management, human resources, master data administration or a combination thereof. The system runs on Sirum servers in Germany, but customers can also install it on their own system.
The software is based on an open source solution and is therefore constantly being improved by a community of developers. The core ERP is a product of the open source community, while Sirum developed the transport module itself and integrated it into the ERP. Their close relationship with the open source community enables them to react quickly to customer requests.
What is your motivation? What is the problem you want to solve?
We want to solve a central problem in the logistics industry. Small and medium-sized companies have high IT costs and have to work with partners who often use completely different products that cannot communicate with their applications. Established systems are expensive and often have outdated architectures. In addition, isolated solutions dominate individual areas such as transport management, scheduling, accounting and finance, warehouse management or human resources. These individual systems must be able to talk to each other. However, this is often problematic. Sirum offers all this from a single source. We are a web-based, all-in-one solution.
What is the biggest obstacle you had to overcome or have to overcome?
Market entry was easy because demand came from the market.
What is the best moment you had with the launch?
We were at the Transport and Logistics Fair in Munich at the beginning of June. Through the mediation of the Deutsche Verkehrszeitung and Blue Rocket, we had a presence at the Start.Hub stand. We were pleased to receive a lot of positive feedback and new customer contacts.
What can we expect from you in the coming year?
We are planning to scale up and have carried out a version change of our software. We hope to see a further increase in customer numbers.
What is your ultimate goal?
In the long run, we want to set a new industry standard.
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