Aschaffenburg/Frankfurt/Main, April 13, 2011. Following the philosophy “The best way to predict the future is to create it” (Willy Brandt), PASS celebrated their 30-year anniversary on April 1. PASS was founded in 1981 by the former computer science student Gerhard Rienecker in Würzburg as the consulting firm PASS EDV-Beratung. He had the vision of developing an individual software program at the price of a standard software that is based on reusable components. PASS experienced strong growth in the IT and consulting business in the 1980s and 1990s. This was followed by the rapid opening of numerous branches in Germany and the USA, and development centers in Hyderabad (India) and Würzburg in the beginning of this century.
Another milestone at the beginning of the new millennium was the foundation of the partner network Global Consulting Alliance by PASS. Today, this serves as a platform connecting more than 25,000 consultants all over the world. The network replaces the opening of additional branches, but existing offices will continue to remain, however. At the same time, PASS was ready to treat itself to a New Profile. This new approach also meant the opening of the additional lines of business Research, Software, and Service. This way, the previous line of business Project received congenial support through the upstream and downstream activities of the company innovation process.
The focus is on the constant expansion of the existing customer base into new industry sectors: PASS can offer business units designed for the specific, individual needs of banks and insurance companies. The new business units are travel/tourism, logistics, telecommunications, government, and IT. PASS’ core competency is the automation of company processes (PASS signifies Process Automation System Concepts & Solutions). The high-level requirements of time-to-market have led PASS to the automation of their own core processes of software development. PASS also created a new development paradigm, which is software production. The traditional phases starting with the analysis through to testing are being automated in the sense of a factory-based process. Using this factory approach, which is known under the term Virtual Software Factory, PASS not only sends out a clear signal regarding their software quality but also the productivity with regard to their range of applications offered.
Today, PASS employs a staff of 675 at a sales volume of 114 million euro and sees itself as the market leader when it comes to development productivity.
The future of PASS is called “Agenda 2025” or: Only those who change stay true to themselves.
As the company founder Rienecker sees it, the ability to understand the world, markets, and customers, coupled with the ability to translate this into relevant action steps, is the key to success. Hence, this means forward looking all the time: PASS takes 30 years of software development, project management, and IT projects for large and medium-sized companies and extracts components and know-how for tomorrow’s solutions. This and the results from PASS Research as well as an actively embraced idea and innovation management create additional value for the customer.
The past 10 years especially have been a strong growth period for the PASS B2B software products market. As of today, the company holds market leadership regarding installations in the areas of core banking software and the so-called Riester-Engine (administration of pension system contracts for end customers on behalf of major banks and insurance companies). PASS technology solutions for modern travel booking systems are in use all over the world.
New markets
Thanks to an idea contest during the opening of the Frankfurt PASS Performance Center, PASS for the first time in the company history offers their services to the end consumer. The iPhone app “PASS Notfall-Hilfe” (Emergency Aid) has already had over 30,000 downloads. The free-of-charge base app can be added on with paid additional services. It seems only a logical consequence to expand the portfolio to end consumer applications. Even without the amazing success of apps it has become clear: The huge database of software components is increasingly suitable for the development of private sector applications.
Focus on employees
PASS’ personnel philosophy is assigning responsibility and succession management on all levels, offering tangible perspectives. Great emphasis is placed on a healthy mix of generations. In 2010, PASS was recognized with the “Fokus 50+ Award” for the exemplary employee development of best age personnel.
Rienecker goes for orientation: Due to the career and promotion programs, employees have a clear picture of where they are headed and in which ways they can achieve their personal goals.
Corporate Citizenship
“One cannot separate leading a company from making a contribution to society”, says Rienecker. Starting with the first job, PASS has always included social projects in their success, be it in less developed countries or in the immediate community. Today, PASS donates approx. 60,000 euro per year to charities, projects, and other volunteer activities.
Success calls for celebration:
Skyparty in the PASS Performance Center Frankfurt
The entire staff celebrated the company’s 30th anniversary in the PASS Performance Center located on the 25th level of the Skyper Frankfurt. Company founder Gerhard Rienecker presented an entertaining information journey with images, videos, and stories showing the development of PASS from a student’s idea to the present international consulting and software firm. Guests went on a time journey with multimedia presentations of the 1980s, 1990s, the current century, and all the associated political, economic, scientific, cultural, and artistic events. At the same time, they were able to follow the growth of PASS as film and animation. The future room was an invitation to the guests to experiment with new technologies and to sketch their own ideas of their personal and professional future.
(The exhibition in the PASS Performance Center featuring 30 years of PASS is still open until the end of May.)
More detailed information regarding 30 years of PASS can be found at www.pass-consulting.com/30J_PASS/index.html.