The 6 core competencies of our BIO FRIENDLY IT services
Independence
What do we do?
Independent from Third Parties
Unlike many other IT service providers, you can rest assured that BIO FRIENDLY IT remains 100% independent of third-party vendors, because we do not enter into partnerships with third-party vendors. That would result in us being tied to third-party products. We want you as a customer to benefit from our independence when it comes to consulting and inventory. However, this is not about us, but about your independence. We therefore analyze all your partnerships with third-party IT providers and the partnerships of your IT service providers with other third-party IT providers for potential conflicts of interest that could compromise the independence of your company.
We warn against partnerships with third-party providers who restrictively allow only their own or prescribed software / hardware. The use of competing products is thereby contractually excluded, e.g. "Windows 10" installations on new PC hardware instead of Linux. Cooperation with third-party vendors may result in financial benefits for the third-party vendors that are not in your interest as our customer. For example, IT vendors certified with Microsoft could lose most of their work if you, as a customer, were to break free from dependency on Microsoft. From our perspective, better solutions come into consideration that make you more independent and require less effort. For example, even IBM switched from Windows to the Apple operating system - which some IT people don't like to talk about. We recommend avoiding partnerships that are the result of political lobbying. Such influence can undermine fair competition and work against your best interests. One example is the city of Munich, upon which political pressure was exerted to switch from Linux to Windows.
Independent from Investors
We therefore remain independent of investors in order to operate free of the widespread pressure to generate returns. The quality of our products takes precedence over pure profitability in our decisions. However, it is first and foremost about your independence. We suggest that you make your IT decisions independent of the wishes of your investors. This way you remain free in your decisions to keep your independence in choosing your IT solutions.
We warn against investors who determine which IT solutions you may use. If you are only allowed to use products from large software manufacturers, these products will cause you an unnecessary amount of work and sometimes even problems. Likewise, we warn if your investor determines which IT service provider you are allowed to use. Preference is given to IT service providers that cooperate with the investor or are even directly involved in the investor's business model. In any case, you will incur unnecessary additional costs, possibly even IT solutions that are not optimal for your needs.
Independent from Translations
In order to be independent of translations / "IT foreign languages", we rely on comprehensive yet compact English documentation of all our services to make our work understandable. This enables us to communicate and act internationally for you. This way you can benefit from the experience of international teams.
At your request, we can review your complete IT systems. We check the English texts of your documentation for completeness and correctness. These are your drawings, protocols, version histories, instructions for use, labels or comments. If necessary, we will create new documentation for you or translate your existing documentation.
If there are codes or characters within your IT systems that are different from those commonly used in English, we will translate them for you. Examples are German source codes, variables, fields, scripts or function and table names.
Why is this interesting for you?
We want you to be independent of third party providers who primarily pursue their own interests, and we also want you to be free from the profit interests of any inverstors. Only in this way we can build an optimal solution for you. Through consistent English documentation of all work steps and processes, we make you independent of translations. This is an important building block, which together with the other building blocks makes up the concept of our BIO FRIENDLY IT.
Open Source ⇄ Independence: If you want to be independent of large software manufacturers, you must use open-source software.
Closed-source products tie your company to the software manufacturer, products/services, or a specific provider in the long term. Because of switching costs, technical barriers, ownership of data, and other barriers to switching, it is difficult to change the product or vendor (vendor lock-in).
With open-source software, on the other hand, license fees are often only incurred in the enterprise sector. Integration, adaptation and further development can be carried out by internal teams or freely selectable IT service providers. Companies are not tied to individual manufacturers or service providers.
Independence ⇄ IT Footprint: More independence allows us to reduce your IT footprint as best as possible. A free choice of hardware, operating system and software, and the possibility to virtualize multiple servers on one server allow us to proceed optimally here. Possible restrictions by software partners, hardware partners or investors are minimized.
Conversely, by reducing hardware and software, it is also less conceivable to become dependent on suppliers and investors.
Independence ⇄ IT Security: More independence from third party vendors and investors allows us to design your IT security as we see fit. We are not limited to only preset
solutions. Of course, fewer partnerships with third-party vendors also means less potential for security breaches.
Independence ⇄ Privacy: More independence from third-party providers also means that less data falls out of its own protection. Nowadays it can easily happen that your data - without your consent - ends up on the servers of Microsoft or stored in China. Our goal is to protect your data as good as possible.
How do we do it? Our own BIO-certification
Independent from Third Parties
We analyze all of your partnerships with third-party IT providers and the partnerships of your IT service providers with other third-party IT providers for potential conflicts of interest that could compromise the independence of your company.
BIO I3 Cl1 OK: You are independent in your partnership with a specific third-party provider, as far as can be determined.
BIO I3 Cl2 FAIL RES: Partnering with a specific third party vendor restrictively allows only the sale of that third party vendor's software or hardware products. This contractually excludes the sale or use of competing products, e.g. "Windows 10" installations on new PC hardware instead of Linux.
BIO I3 Cl3 FAIL FIN: Cooperation with third-party vendors may result in financial benefits for the third-party vendors that are not in your interest or in the interest of the end users. For example, IT vendors certified with Microsoft could lose most of their work if you, the customer, were to break free from dependency on Microsoft. From our point of view, better solutions come into consideration that make you more independent and require less effort. For example, even IBM switched from Windows to the Apple operating system - which some IT people don't like to talk about.
BIO I3 Cl4 FAIL LOB: The partnership came about through political lobbying. Such influence can undermine fair competition and oppose the common good. One example is the city of Munich, which has been subjected to political pressure to switch from Linux to Windows. However, the city of Munich will be using Linux again from May 2020.
Independent from Investors
We suggest that you make your IT decisions independent of the wishes of your investors. In this way, you will remain free from decisions that are detrimental to the quality of their products. We analyze your potential funders to see if they grant you independence in your IT solutions:
BIO II Cl1 OK: Your investor grants you 100% freedom as far as your IT decisions are concerned.
BIO II Cl2 FAIL QU: Your investor determines which IT assets you may use. Only products from major software vendors may be used, even though these products create much more hassle and problems than they solve.
BIO II Cl2 FAIL AS: Your investor determines which IT service provider you may use. Preference is given to IT service providers that cooperate with the investor or are even directly involved in the investor's business model.
Independent from Translations
We check your complete IT documentation for completeness and correctness. If these are not available in English, we translate them.
BIO IL Cl1 OK: The texts and source codes are completely available in English.
BIO IL Cl2 FAIL SYM: Inside your IT assets there are other codes or characters than usual in English. Examples are German source codes, variables, fields, scripts or function and table names.
BIO IL Cl3 FAIL DESC: User manuals, drawings, version histories, logs or comments describing your IT systems are not available in English. Instructions for use for end users may of course be available in the respective national language.