Dusseldorf Stefan Grieben has already seen everything at Novomind: He was a software developer, then he did sales and headed business areas, then he joined the board and was most recently technical director. The offer to take over the management of the Hamburg AI developer came as hardly a surprise, because he knows his way around.
At the turn of the year, the medium-sized company and developer of customer services for online shops, Novomind, announced the change in leadership. After 20 years of management by the founder Peter Samuelsen, Stefan Grieben, who was also employed from the start, takes up the position of CEO. The computer scientist takes the lead at a time when more and more people are shopping online, but the competition and the channels are becoming more and more complex.
According to a study by Bitkom, a third of consumers buy online several times a week. Those who shop online can not only call the shop personally, but usually also write to a chatbot based on artificial intelligence, or sometimes even shop with a virtual assistant.
The software company has made this business area its own right from the start. In 1999, the company began developing chatbots for online sales and then expanded the product range to include customer services in social networks.
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On the one hand, Novomind offers chatbots, virtual assistance and digital applications for customer loyalty in online sales outlets. On the other hand, there is also customer service, for example over the phone or social networks such as WhatsApp or Facebook.
Artificial intelligence is included everywhere
Artificial intelligence, says Grieben, is part of all products. The company automates processes in online shops, creates avatars that are trained to be able to answer customer questions, or offer shop employees suggested answers.
The new CEO also started his first job at Novomind 20 years ago. Like his predecessor, he studied computer science in Wedel near Hamburg, then he took up his position as a software developer. One of the biggest challenges for greaves will be the expansion into Asia and South Africa. “In Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia we see strong demand for digital sales opportunities, for example via WhatsApp, Line or other messengers,” says Grieben.
He also wants to set up call centers in South Africa, as the infrastructure there is well developed and many people speak both English and German. Another challenge for greaves is to get people in this country more enthusiastic about digital shopping assistance and chatbots. “In Dubai, for example, the affinity to virtual counseling is higher, even in hospitals you can book appointments via WhatsApp,” says Grieben. “Mentally, we are not yet ready for this in Germany.”
In Germany live chat rather than chatbot
A current study with 1000 people by the Swiss AI company aiaibot together with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) shows: More than half of the respondents rarely use chatbots, and they most often rate poor response quality and impersonal communication as negative the lack of clarity about what happens to your own data. “In Germany we often advise our customers that they can use WhatsApp customer service,” says Grieben.
In the case without a chatbot, he says, rather in live chat with a customer advisor in order to avoid telephone queues. Martin Groß-Albenhausen, deputy managing director at the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order, sees the advantage of Novomind in the fact that they offer different interfaces for sales in online shops. “On the one hand they build their own shop systems, on the other hand call center interfaces,” says Groß-Albenhausen.
Founder Peter Samuelsen remains the company’s main shareholder and wants to support Grieben and the rest of the team in an advisory capacity. “Novomind is expected to grow in double figures on average every year and generate over 50 percent of sales abroad in ten years,” says the former CEO.
More than 500 employees work for the technology company. This year, the workforce is to be increased by around 50 people, says Grieben. Customers include the Otto Group, Müller and C&A in the field of digital sales, and Volkswagen in the field of digital customer service. Grieben also wants to push the company’s results. “We are planning sales growth of 15 to 20 percent for 2022,” says the new boss.
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