Sovereign cloud basis for content services applications

In this article you will read

• why d.velop offers its SaaS service from the Open Telekom Cloud,
• the advantages for content services customers, and
• how the Open Telekom Cloud enables sovereign cloud deployment.

d.velop AG, based in Gescher (Münsterland), is the leading provider of content services applications in the German-speaking market. Trustworthiness and sovereignty of the provided services are the benchmark for their business. To ensure that their customers can meet all compliance requirements, especially in regulated markets, d.velop provides its software from the Open Telekom Cloud.

More than three million people use solutions from d.velop AG every day. With over 1,000 employees, the software company is anything but a start-up: it is one of the largest German ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) and a leader in the German-speaking market for content services software. Its history dates back to 1992, but in the more than 30 years of its existence, the business model has changed and the portfolio and partner network have expanded considerably. What has remained is the company's mission: to enable organizations to securely digitize, intelligently organize, and transfer information from various data sources into knowledge, making it easily accessible and efficiently usable for all users and private people. More than 13,000 business customers have already been won over by d.velop's products.

“We recognized very early on that our future does not lie in the on-premises world, but in SaaS – Software as a Service,” explains Nico Bäumer, CTO of d.velop. “We wanted to offer our software elegantly, simply and scalably from the cloud”. The SaaS offering has been provided on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform for several years.

The company serves a wide range of companies and organizations from various industries: from automotive to insurance. Among d.velop's customers are well-known brands such as Zentis, Hipp, Warsteiner and ThyssenKrupp, as well as organizations that work in a regulated environment: for example, DAK-Gesundheit as a health insurance company, the city of Wuppertal as a public institution and the Saarland University Hospital.

“Time and again, customers from sensitive industries raised compliance issues such as: Where is our data stored? Who has access to it? How can we enforce monitoring obligations? Are the framework conditions also sufficient for use by professional secrecy holders?” These questions can be easily answered with an on-premises solution from a German software provider, but a few questions remain unanswered when deploying from a US hyperscaler platform.  

“We therefore decided to create an opportunity to implement maximum data sovereignty for our customers,” reports André Westerbarkey, Strategic Alliances Manager at d.velop, “after being in loose contact with the Open Telekom Cloud since 2020, we decided to enter into a strategic partnership in 2023”. The Open Telekom Cloud combines the flexibility of a public cloud with comprehensive data sovereignty.

Find out more about how d.velop benefits from the Open Telekom Cloud. Watch the interview with Rainer Hehmann, CEO of d.velop, Eva-Maria Würz, Vice President Health & Care, and Michele Schönherr, COO Partner Management & Platform Economy.

In concrete terms, this means that SaaS customers of d.velop will in future also be provided with services from the sovereign Open Telekom Cloud on request. “We have made a start with d.velop sign, the digital signature. This service is already available as SaaS from the Open Telekom Cloud. We are currently converting other services to be cloud-agnostic so that we can also provide these to our customers with a single click on the Open Telekom Cloud,” explains Bäumer, CTO at d.velop and also responsible for IT strategy. In the future, e-files, payroll accounting and document recognition will also be provided as SaaS offerings on the Open Telekom Cloud in addition to digital signatures.

But why the Open Telekom Cloud? “We have been working with Deutsche Telekom for a long time. And we value the strength of Magenta. Our claim is no more and no less than that of a trusted advisor,” explains Westerbarkey. And what distinguishes the Open Telekom Cloud as a partner? “Our exchange is intensive and at eye level. We experience a very strong commitment from the Open Telekom Cloud,” summarizes Bäumer. This is the basis for a long-term partnership and business relationship.

“We don't see our involvement in the Open Telekom Cloud as a sprint, but as a marathon – we want to grow together in the long term,” summarizes Westerbarkey. This also includes AI-based services that make d.velop's services even easier to use. Innovation plus sovereignty is thus the combination with which d.velop will position itself even more strongly with its customers in the future.