censhare: a Universal, Smart Content Management platform engaging global brands and their audiences

Whether you are handling a diverse selection of content or other content-related challenges, a content management system (CMS) is an essential tool if you want to work more efficiently and effectively. 

The ideal CMS stores content only once whilst allowing it to be used in a multitude of manageable and trackable ways, facilitating smarter and more powerful content. A collaborative user interface allows this activity to be seen and shared globally, creating an end to end digital content experience for all teams which furthers a consistent and collaborative approach, and strengthens branded communications. 

censhare AG has created a product which does just that…and more. First introduced to the world in 2001, its best of breed Universal, Smart Content Management platform is aimed at empowering the digital experience for organizations by pooling marketing and communications resources into one information-centric system under a consistent user interface. 

The strength of this software has allowed censhare AG to grown organically over the past 15 years and it is now recognized as a leader in its field. TheUniversal, Smart Content Management platform is now used by more than 150 companies across the globe such as Dyson, GoPro, Hearst, Kohl’s, Serviceplan, Migros, Rewe, Swiss Re and Vitra. 

In conversation with Dieter Reichert, CEO

Why and when was the company established?

censhare was established 15 years ago out of a desire to help companies take charge of their digital experience. It was clear to us from the beginning that unique information had to be separated from its output format to allow all digital assets to become easily manageable and trackable in one system. Whilst print has always been very important to us, websites soon became a focal point for the client and the philosophy behind our software allowed an easy switch to this. We believe that when the power of information is unlocked, there is no limitation on what it can do or where it can take us. The use of content has developed from print, through to screens, the internet and now virtual reality, and it is my earnest belief that the next step will see content flowing through our bodies. 

What services do you render?

The Universal, Smart Content Management platformis a content and marketing system which allows the user to deliver personalized content across multiple channels, devices and languages.

Main features include: 

Digital Asset Management: manages and relates every type of digital content within a central system, seamlessly integrating it into all content processes. 

Web Content Management: enables thedelivery oflocalized and globalized content to all web channels, managing the complexities of being a global business from on one simple interface and extensive platform. 

Product Information Management: connects master product data with all relevant information and media for production and output across all channels. 

Marketing Resource Management: managing all marketing activities, from brief to creative to production in one central system. 

What was the reason behind the expansion of expanding the company and its offerings?

Our company has grown organically from the start, funded by revenue earned purely through our ability to satisfy client needs and we wish this to continue. With very little marketing our company grew internationally through recommendations and repeat businessto being named a ‘Fastest Growing’ company here.

Our initial publishing engine has therefore developed into an exceptionally robust Digital Asset Management (DAM), Product Information Management (PIM), Web Content Management (WCM) and MRM (Marketing Resource Management) system that we call a Universal Smart Content Platform. It is a a product which wasn’t assembled according to some industry analyst’s view of what a content management product should look like. It has instead been proven in the field and continues to develop through solving clients’ real world problems. 

What tussles have you had to cope with over the years?

Probably the same as you will find in any enterprise implementing asoftware solutions like ours;the implementation of enterprise software is not just about software itself but also about the changes needed in the organization wanting to use it. 

censhare software and services normally form part of a larger program. The implementation of a digital transformation or customer experience project, for example, would require the program to cut across traditional corporate silos which can only begin to happen if the organization, its people and it processes are ready to change. 

Only when these challenges have been overcome can an organization deliver its customers and digital audiences with what they really want: thoughtful, high quality content. 

What are your biggest assets in the organization?

• A common creative vision and goals
• Engineering excellence - we made exceptional decisions from day one which still inform the foundations of censhare technology today, making it highly performant and allowing us to quickly expand the capabilities of the product.
• And last but not least, great people! In fact, this should be asset #1, as without great people, we wouldn’t be great engineers. 

Greet the ace 

Dieter Reichert is CEO and co-founder of censhare AG. censhare was founded on his vision of collaboration, the power of information and the relationships it builds combined with a passion to create tools which help companies to connect internally and externally.

As a trained typesetter with extensive life experience, he set up several successful media-specific IT companies. In 1992, he founded Vision GmbH, a company which quickly became the leading system integrator for newspaper and magazine publishers in German-speaking countries and was sold to Quark Inc. Reichert has been responsible for the strategic direction of censhare since 2001.

“Client success is the lifeblood of our company’s success to date, we grew organically based on successful client projects and not on marketing or hype. Customer success is in our DNA, not just a department.”