In 2001, the world looked completely different: Wikipedia was founded, George W. Bush took office as President of the USA and the attack on the World Trade Center shook the world in ways that still affect us today. TecCom, founded the year before at Automechanika 2000, was in its infancy, as the idea of establishing a joint platform for electronic order processing between parts manufacturers and dealers in the automotive aftermarket had yet to prove itself in the market.
But Alexander Bresslau, who today is Sales Lead of TecCom, showed his belief in its success by joining the young start-up on 1 February 2001. In this interview, he reports on the changes over the years and explains why he is still passionate about the company after twenty years.
You’ve been working at TecAlliance for twenty years now. Could you have imagined that when you first joined the company?
I didn’t think about that at the beginning. But looking back, there are of course many good reasons why I have.
It must be said that my area of responsibility has changed again and again over the years. I have also been able to develop continuously – otherwise I would certainly not have stayed for such a long time. I started as a sales manager for wholesale in the south of the DACH region. After many different stations, I am now Sales Lead of the Order Manager Business Unit. In that time a lot has changed – in the market, in our corporate structure and culture and also in our style of working.
Today, we work in an agile manner and rely on “Objectives and Key Results” (OKR) as a management system. In addition to my sales responsibility, I am also responsible for quality assurance, software development, operations, and implementation and consulting. This holistic approach is the basis for delivering optimal results to our customers now and in the future.
Let’s face it, what we do at TecAlliance IS exciting. As a company, we are in the middle of the market, we are a hub for information, we bring all the market participants together and enable them to work together as efficiently as possible. Everyone knows TecAlliance. We have always developed in the course of the years, from a small project in Germany to a real global player.
This began with the long-awaited synergistic merger of TecCom and TecDoc and continued with the integration of the products and competences of Headline, AuDaCon, OptiCat and JNPSoft. We have continued to make sensible additions to our portfolio so that today we can offer a globally unique combination of data, know-how and process support for the independent aftermarket. Our global expansion with the establishment of subsidiaries in all strategically important markets has changed us a lot and prepared us well for the megatrend of globalisation in the automotive aftermarket.
What were the special highlights for you?
The get-together events after the merger of TecCom and TecDoc and after the acquisition of AuDaCon were real highlights for me. It is not a matter of course that a company makes such events possible. It was very exciting to see all our colleagues from all locations gathered in one place. It greatly improved our sense of community and had a strong positive influence on our cooperation.
The foundation was laid then. Today we are going one step further and together developing something really new from our diverse portfolio. We bundle our know-how from all locations to create innovative, unique offerings for the digital aftermarket of the future.
How do you assess the current market situation for TecAlliance and in the automotive aftermarket in general?
We have a very important position in the automotive aftermarket and can be proud of it. But of course we are not resting on our industry solutions that have been successful for years. We benefit from technological developments to prepare ourselves for the challenges that are already changing the market. The tempo of change will only increase in the coming years. The challenges we face include globalisation, digitisation, market consolidation in Europe, changes in sales structures, the balance of power between OEMs and IAMs, and alternative drive types.
We are now able to draw on our decades of know-how in the industry and our established data and solutions. We are working hard to combine these with the latest technologies and innovative ideas to ensure the future viability of TecAlliance and the independent automotive aftermarket. I am greatly looking forward to the years to come!
