Jubilee: 20 Years of S&N

This year, S&N is able to look back on 20 years of successful business. The company has expanded from having seven employees when it first began, to more than 150 exceptionally well-trained and skilled employees. S&N aims, and will continue, to be an important part of the IT centre that is Paderborn.

It is now exactly 20 years ago, on 1st April 1991, that S&N was established. We re-member it well: following successful years of growth for Nixdorf Computer, maintaining a market position and business in general was becoming increasingly difficult for NCAG in the mid-80s. As a result, Nixdorf was then acquired by Siemens in 1990 and amalga-mated with the Data and Information Security Division of Siemens , to form Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems (SNI).

It was against this backdrop that Klaus Beverungen and Josef Tillmann, at the time both active in positions of responsibility in the field of software development for SNI banking systems, decided to form a company themselves, which provided IT consultation and software development for German and European financial services providers, acting independently and without ties to a specific manufacturer. Alongside the continuation of the key competencies of the original Nixdorf Computer AG, it was intended that a little of the culture and mentality of NCAG would live on in this new company.

As of 1st April 1991, S&N; a limited company specialising in software development and system integration was founded, starting off with 7 employees. IT projects and IT-based process optimisations for financial services providers, i.e. banks, leasing companies, and insurance brokers, were the initial fields of activity for the new company, and to this day they continue to form a susbtantial part of S&N’s core business.

Following sustained growth, in 1999 S&N was transformed from a limited company into an unlisted public company – having expanded to incorporate 150 highly trained and competent employees and with an annual turnover of more than 20 million euros. Lead by a five-person Board of Directors under Board Member and CEO Josef Tillmann, the company’s headquarters are today located in Paderborn, with the company also repre-sented in Frankfurt, Munich, Parsberg (near Nuremberg) and Berlin.

As before, S&N is an IT company with a clear focus on the financial management sec-tor. Furthermore, the technological and banking-related core competencies are also be-ing successfully applied in other market segments. Its client base includes several noteworthy banks, leasing companies and insurance brokers, as well as the Civil Ser-vice and leading companies from the telecommunications sector, industry and trade.

During the company’s first few years, the professional application of information tech-nology, i.e. classical software development and IT consultation, stood firmly in the fore-ground, and since then S&N’s activity in the fields of process optimisation and specialist consultation has strengthened and expanded. This applies particularly with regard to financial institutions, for which S&N have, for example, designed and optimised credit decision-making processes, implemented the Basel II regulations or introduced the legal reporting procedure for banks and leasing companies, which has significantly expanded during this time.

However, in addition to all of this, S&N has successfully applied its sector-specific ex-pertise to many other target markets. A typical example of this is one of the company’s central focuses; Cash Solutions. In collaboration with the leading manufacturers of ATMs (for deposits and withdrawals), above all, of course, Wincor Nixdorf AG, S&N optimises the handling of cash not only in banks, but anywhere where cash plays a cen-tral – and frequently a security-vulnerable and cost-intensive – role.

S&N was founded in Paderborn, which remains the site of the company headquarters. Even if company growth is occurring at a quicker rate in other regions in which potential customers are based, Paderborn remains an important location. Paderborn is infor-mation technology - and S&N is a part of that. The diverse range of educational oppor-tunities in the IT field, e.g. with the b.i.b International College, the Technical Economics College and the University, with its Software Quality Lab, create the ideal conditions for producing exceptionally well-trained employees for the exciting tasks taking place here in Paderborn, and in other locations.

The roots of IT in Paderborn were essentially planted and grown by Nixdorf Computer and company founder Heinz Nixdorf. Numerous companies of differing sizes and col-ours, including S&N, have grown out of this environment and are today successfully ex-tending their business from Paderborn, across the region and to the whole of Europe and the world. This creates not only attractive jobs, but also clearly defines the image of the city as one of Germany’s leading IT locations.

In the future S&N aims, and will continue, to be an important part of the IT centre that is Paderborn, and from here will generate further growth - thus further establishing its posi-tions as the leading IT consultancy company in the financial management sector.