Explained: How was 2022 for codafish?

How would you sum up 2022 for codafish in one word?

Andreas: In just one word? Growth! We’ve taken on new staff, expanded our range and gained new customers. The growth has come from various sources.

In which area have you expanded your offer?

Andreas: We completely took off with Zoho in 2022. It’s a comprehensive software package with more than 40 apps that can be used to digitize and network all business processes. As a full-service agency, it’s always been important to us to have several different business footholds. We not only program web applications for our customers, but also work with them to develop a comprehensive digital strategy.

Timo: With our Zoho support and the wide range of applications offered by this software package, we can now support our clients even more effectively in their digital transformation. We help them replace existing software solutions with suitable Zoho apps, create designs for templates used in Zoho, and train staff in how to use Zoho. To expand this offering even further, we launched a Zoho website in 2022, where we present the most important Zoho apps and bundles in detail.

Timo: Absolutely! We started in 2020 with Zoho CRM and this year we switched everything completely to Zoho. In other words, we said goodbye to all the software solutions we used before and now work with Zoho apps on all levels. We know Zoho from our daily work, acquire new experiences with Zoho every day and are happy to pass this knowledge on to our customers.

Andreas: We’re totally blown away by how intelligently Zoho apps can interact with each other. Communication between apps is one of Zoho’s great strengths. This allows many processes not only to be digitized, but also automated and optimized. This saves a lot of time and money!

Timo: Different stand-alone solutions are time-consuming when it comes to training. The implementation and maintenance of these solutions is often complicated, for example, by the need to create a new account for each new employee in each software product. With Zoho one account is enough for everything. With their account, the member of staff can then use all the Zoho apps they want to use. With their account, the member of staff can then use all the Zoho apps they want to use.

Andreas: Furthermore, all Zoho products are cloud-based. This means that you don’t have to download the software but can use it in your browser. This way, all data is always synchronized. You never have to update cloud-based software, because you always automatically have access to the latest version.

Timo: And on top of that, the Zoho One software package is also cheaper than buying the equivalent licenses for multiple apps from different providers.

Andreas: Most of our customers are looking for a competent and powerful CRM solution software for their customer relationship management. Since we’re totally convinced by Zoho CRM ourselves, we naturally recommend it to our customers as well. Some then want to gradually add more Zoho apps, while others opt for the complete Zoho One package – and bid farewell to all their previous software solutions.

Andreas: At codafish we are still very active in the area of web development with open source software like Pimcore, Drupal and WordPress. This business segment also became stronger in 2022. We have hired two new employees to take care of Pimcore and WordPress. Currently, we have 11 permanent employees and several freelancers.

Timo: Of course! We want to further expand both of these business segments – web development and software support with Zoho. And we are looking to grow internationally – especially in the Spanish market.

Andreas: This is something that is also reflected in our team. All of our team members speak at least two languages fluently, so we can communicate with our clients in German, Spanish and English.

Timo: There’s no such thing as a dream candidate. Each person is individual and possesses certain skills that can help us advance as a company and, above all, as a team. Of course, it’s always ideal when someone with 20 years of industry expertise comes along and is on the same level right from the start. But we also value candidates who are still at the start of their exciting Web Developer career and are open to learning quickly. Moreover, newbies always bring fresh knowledge and can teach old hands like us something new.

Andreas: For sure! In the past, we also had team members who joined us as lateral entry staff and who have developed with us.

Timo: We fundamentally trust the ability of our colleagues to flow, because we offer, among other things, flexible working hours and the possibility to work from home. We are constantly exchanging ideas and helping each other through our coffee break chat, which we have set up in Zoho Cliq. First and foremost, we want our colleagues to feel good about working for us and to be able to take responsibility for various projects independently. We support them in this wherever we can.

Andreas: The bottom line is that there’s no such thing as a dream candidate! We would advise everyone to apply for jobs if you have the desire to do so, even if you don’t meet every item on an ad’s list of requirements. Because there are only a few things in life that cannot be learned!

Andreas: First of all, you need fast channels of communication. We work in Hamburg, Berlin, Athens, Madrid and on Fuerteventura so communicate mostly only digitally. For this digital exchange we use Zoho Cliq, as previously mentioned. We make audio and video calls, exchange information in chat or store info in the channels that are connected with Zoho Connect, our intranet tool. We only need the traditional telephone in exceptional cases. And when it comes to internal communication, emails have also had their day. Other important tools for remote working include powerful project management software (Zoho Projects) and a cloud-based server where we can store our data (Zoho WorkDrive).

Timo: We very much value our remote working model. That said, we still make sure that we meet for real once or twice a year and spend a few days together. Last year the team came to stay at my place on Fuerteventura. And in winter we’re off to Madrid. At these meetings we combine work and leisure time. In Madrid for example, we will use a whole day to work on our strategy for the near future.

Andreas: We invested a lot of time in Zoho in 2022 – on the one hand, because we completely switched to Zoho ourselves and, on the other hand, because we expanded our Zoho business segment. Maybe you could put it this way: 2022 was the year we built our home – and in 2023 we want to settle in and enjoy living there!

Timo: Exactly! And “enjoy” means in a figurative sense that we want to become one of the leading Zoho agencies in Germany and Spain!