They are celebrating a milestone anniversary this year: Compeso has been developing software solutions for cinema for 40 years…
We haven’t been doing this for quite so long. I originally started with tax consultant software, which I developed myself.
And why software solutions for the cinema of all things?
Datev was a major competitor and market leader in the tax consultancy sector. I then looked for an industry in which you can become the market leader with innovative ideas, even as a small but ambitious company at the time. That’s how we got into CINEMA. In addition, cinema is incredibly interesting and we saw that you can constantly develop new solutions here. Our first order in the cinema sector came from Reiss Filmtheaterbetriebe. This was the first cinema chain that wanted to create a nationwide network. The software came from Bildstein at the time, we did the networking. All data could be collected and the cinemas controlled from a central location. It was based on Novell Netware and was very innovative at the time. Those were the beginnings, the Internet didn’t even exist at that time.
Did you offer ticketing solutions right from the start?
As I said, the first job was networking. We got to know Bildstein’s ticket system and were told that we could do better. In addition, we liked the industry, and of course I was always faced with the question of how to acquire the best employees, because competition for good IT staff has always been fierce. If you can work for an interesting industry, it also attracts employees. Cinema is very attractive and in any case more exciting than working for tax consultants. We had already flirted with other sectors, such as doctors or painters. There were a few excursions. Cinema turned out to be the ideal industry for us because the challenges are varied and we were able to develop innovative offers. We then managed to become the market leader quite quickly.
What innovation or achievement stands out for you in all these years?
Oh, there are a few. At the moment, it is probably the massive trend towards online ticketing. This is the biggest step in all these years. It looks like we are gradually moving away from the cash registers. That is already a huge change. The cash registers have been with us for much longer than we thought. In many industries, it has long been common practice to work differently. This step is now taking place in the movie theater.
Text: Ulrich Höcherl
