IT is the backbone of every business – and when neglected, the results can be catastrophic. The founders behind Berlin-based IT startup deeploi understand this, which is why they’ve built their ‘IT-as-a-service’ platform.
“What we want to do is IT-as-a-service as a completely new category, creating the possibility for smaller and medium companies to get affordable, secure and convenient IT,” says Julian Lübke, cofounder at deeploi. “This has previously only been possible for large organisations or enterprises who can afford their own team with modern tools and a whole tech stack.”
Deeploi is on a mission to bring businesses’ approach to IT into the modern day. Lübke says competitor websites are really technical and it’s difficult to know what they actually do – he jokes, kind of like they’re ‘stuck in the 90s’. Deeploi wants to do IT differently and be transparent, easy, welcoming and approachable.
“That's the whole idea behind IT-as-a-service – you have transparent pricing and transparent service with no hidden costs,” adds Lübke.
“We do on and off boarding of employees, procurement, subscription and software. We also have some optional features, like cybersecurity or backup solutions. The reason we have this combination of SaaS and service is to provide maximum value to the customer right from the start.”
The outsourcing route
A recent report published by Bitkom found that by 2040, there will be a shortage of 663,000 IT specialists in Germany. This talent shortfall will significantly impact businesses who persist with hiring in-house IT support only. Adopting new IT software with expert partners now can help prevent such future challenges.
“With IT, there are so many things you need to do like cybersecurity, patch management, networking and access,” says Philipp Hoffmann, cofounder at deeploi. “If you don't have the expertise in it, it's overwhelming to do.
“You could find two or three people to hire internally, which is very expensive – and if you have only one person, you have a single point of failure. What are you going to do when this person is sick, on vacation or overwhelmed with other tasks? That's why outsourcing makes a lot of sense.”
With its service, deeploi is targeting companies that are cloud first or cloud native, and client tech stack is important since the startup’s offering is highly automated and standardised. For example, deeploi customers use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and are remote first or remote only.
“We connect to [customer] systems and workspace, and then import the data into our platform,” explains Hoffman. “When it comes to support, we always have our IT support team sitting here. We have first, second and third level support.
“We also always have somebody answering the phone. We don't use chatbots because it’s non-IT people that have questions, so you need somebody that can explain it and who can support. We also provide remote access to the devices if something needs to be fixed by us.”
Building on feedback
Deeploi customers have two entry points – the first is the online platform for the person responsible for IT at a company. That individual can go into deeploi’s platform and see all connected devices to check if they're secure, encrypted, and the software patch status on the devices. They can also install software through this route.
The second entry point is for the rest of the team, who can reach out for IT support from deeploi via a ticketing system. They can also call or email for support and get a response within 30 minutes.
“Our service gives us direct feedback from the customer,” says Lübke. “If a customer, for example, thinks that our platform is not intuitive enough and doesn't understand the information, we hear that – and I think in this early stage of the company, it's super valuable.”
“If IT works, you don't see it – but if it doesn’t work, then it becomes a problem,” concludes Hoffman. “Whether you're a consultancy or an agency, you’ll have IT infrastructure that needs to be maintained.
“We want to make it more approachable and understandable for our customers. That's also why our platform translates certain terms so a normal user that does not work with IT every day does understand what we mean.”
Julian Lübke and Philipp Hoffmann are the cofounders of deeploi.
