It is truly impressive which companies operate successfully under the radar of the general public. They are called hidden champions for a reason. Commend, based in Salzburg, is one such company. Spaceports, prisons and museums such as the Louvre in Abu Dhabi rely on Commend's intercom technology. We spoke to Christian Schmid, Managing Director of Commend Austria, about the company, the challenges in the financial sector and the importance of Cash position in general.
Mr. Schmid, you are the Managing Director of Commend Österreich GmbH. "Security and Communication" is written on the website. What exactly is behind that?
Behind these buzzwords lies a versatile range of intercom products, right up to complex, integrated security solutions. We are specialists who offer and implement the complete technical intercom equipment in infrastructure and industrial projects, such as metros, airports, steelworks, buildings, Safe City systems and many more. Emergency call equipment, evacuation topics, announcements, video recordings, etc. are connected to a control centre and "married" with each other there. A complete system integration, if you will.
We serve different industries. They are usually always larger to large complexes in every industry you can think of. I am talking about refineries, the pharmaceutical industry, prisons, hospitals, logistics centres etc. Always with the same need: different trades are to be integrated into one security control centre. For example, we recently equipped a space port in Russia with our technology.
But this means that Commend's sphere of influence extends beyond Austria. Which countries do you currently cover?
Definitely. Commend has a production facility in Salzburg, where our products and solutions are developed, which are then subsequently distributed in 26 countries worldwide through our own sales companies. We have been active in the market for decades and are the technological world market leader in our sector. We are often referred to as a hidden champion.
Very impressive! If I understand correctly, you focus mainly on B2B. So do you handle classic project business?
Absolutely. Our projects last from a few months to several years. Of course, this is highly dependent on the order volume and the complexity of the overall project.
What challenge does this business model pose to you as a managing director?
As Managing Director of Commend Austria, I am responsible not only for Austria but also for a total of 12 countries, including Russia. Depending on their complexity and duration, the projects are a challenge in terms of financing and ultimately also for Cash position.
In the project business, you have different forms of cash flows. We are active in B2B and have customers like Skidata, Siemens, etc.. These are customers where you can reliably expect incoming payments according to the payment conditions. But as soon as you look at other countries, concepts such as advance payments are not known or enforceable. Payment flows there are becoming longer and more volatile.
Does this mean that Cash position is becoming more important?
Correct. It can happen that there is a lack of cash flow because of deliveries that have already been made and preparatory work that has been done in a considerable amount and further delays in payments. We have also started to move towards multi-channel distribution in some countries and that increases our risks and also changes our cash flows, makes them more volatile. There can definitely be bottlenecks. We could not have foreseen this in this form with our existing accounting systems.
What advantages do you see for Commend through the use of COMMITLY?
In order to better understand the impact of cash flow delays and also to sharpen our thinking in this direction, we are now using COMMITLY as a first step in Austria. It helps us to think a little differently here, not only in terms of project successes.
I am always happy when I find innovative solutions. I have never seen cash flow management like COMMITLY on the market.
Of course we are very happy to hear that! Thank you very much for your time!
Credits: Photo by Commend
