CONTACT is the leading vendor of software for the product engineering process and the digital transformation. Companies become faster and teams collaborate better.
Karl Heinz Zachries
Founder and CEO

Objectives

CONTACT Software was founded in 1990 by Karl Heinz Zachries. His objectives from those early days remain our objectives of today: making complex product data more accessible and connecting employees across technical and organizational boundaries.

Pioneering spirit

CONTACT is a pioneer of innovative operating concepts and, with CIM Database, has set standards for a new generation of PDM/PLM systems. Of AgileRules, a methodology for development projects that allows objectives to be achieved more reliably. And of CONTACT Workspaces for more efficient collaboration between teams and companies.

DNA

This pioneering spirit, our independence and open technologies form the very DNA of our company. These roots, together with deeply committed employees, customers and partners, have made CONTACT the world's leading independent vendor of standard software for the product engineering process and its digital transformation.

We connect people, teams and companies

Our mission: Energizing great minds, Instead of rigid systems, we create a working world in which employees can concentrate their skills on providing better products and services. Where collaboration runs more smoothly, processes become more efficient and routine work becomes easier. And where a guiding framework provides both the security and freedom that allows agile interaction between individuals and teams in complex projects.

Our Code of Conduct

Responsibility, integrity, and respect shape our daily actions. With our Code of Conduct, we have established clear principles that apply to all employees, partners, and customers. It defines how we work together, make decisions, and interact with our business partners—transparently, fairly, and sustainably. In this way, we build trust and connect people, teams, and companies on a shared foundation of values.

Download Code of Conduct

What drives us

Create together

Our roots are in Bremen, in northern Germany. The Bremen Town Musicians, whose remarkable story tells us about the benefits of collaboration, also come from there. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. This also applies to how we work and achieve goals as a team. Within our company and together with our customers and partners.

Open software is better

Our culture of openness and cooperation is reflected in our products. Their architecture combines the benefits of commercial solutions, such as efficiency, reliability and customer focus, with those of open software, such as flexibility and extensibility. That is why we were one of the initiators of the important global Code of PLM Openness.

Advice from equals

We listen and then we advise and implement. What is important is knowing what makes a company what it is and helps carry it forward. We believe that we truly understand our customers. What drives us are results that work in the real world of day-to-day business and which truly make companies more efficient and users more effective. We have fulfilled our mission when everything works as planned.

Fast is better than slow

Speed is the sign of our times. Our customers are driven by the markets and they expect us to provide them with fast yet reliable solutions. We put our faith in pragmatism and the highest possible level of professionalism rather than in superfluous bureaucracy. We always prefer the shortest routes and, with our open, modular architecture, offer standards and a reliable platform for companies that want to be agile as they face the future.

Better and better

Good, better, even better: Our guiding principle is continuous improvement. Helping our customers to develop innovations with our expertise and our software is a privilege. Is there anything more challenging? That is why we set ourselves ambitious goals and work with passion every day to make the better the enemy of the good. And sometimes we think that if we can't do it, then nobody can!

A Retrospective on 30 Years of CONTACT Software

CONTACT Software celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2020. Founder and CEO Karl Heinz Zachries looks back on the early years, the biggest hurdles and key milestones and reveals what has shaped the CONTACT spirit.

We help agile companies achieve their objectives faster

We live in a world of innovative companies that are working on the products of the future each and every day. And which are putting the digital transformation to smarter products into motion. But existing monolithic systems are cumbersome. Our customers expect us to deliver open, modular architectures. That is why we developed CONTACT Elements as the platform for our standard products. So that you can make faster use of the solution appropriate for your company and respond more flexibly to new challenges.

Our customers are champions

Our customers enjoy success throughout the world with their innovative products because they nurture and develop their own special skills. They therefore expect advice from their equals. We focus on what is really important to our customers and helps carry them forward. We believe that we truly understand our customers. Our objective is to enable customers to fully exploit their potential by means of standards and best practices for their industry.

Learn more about our customers