„Corporate culture is becoming a lifestyle,“ Michal Uhlíř is pleased. How does he assess 2022?

The year 2022 was more than a fruitful one for the coalfamily. The merger of coalsoft and coalios, a new identity, new projects, new employees, well, there was a lot. And it was not only about this that CEO Michal Uhlíř talked about in the balance sheet interview.

02.01.2023

The coalfamily brand exactly describes where my business is heading.

Michal, 2022 is behind us. How do you evaluate it from the position of CEO of coalsoft and managing director of coalios? Was it a challenging year from your perspective? And are you proud of the coalfamily team?

It's been an incredible ride. New partners, new company, new colleagues, new premises, new products. No one on the team stopped the whole year. We set very ambitious goals and we worked hard to achieve them. Unfortunately, not everything worked out exactly as I had hoped, but the right "commander" can never be completely satisfied, right? (smile) However, we managed to fight most of the obstacles and that always pushed us a little bit further. So at the end of the year, we are still a few steps further than I ever imagined. That's all thanks to every member of our team.

Can you tell the readers and describe why the new identity of coalfamily was created in the first place? In the first question we already gave everyone a hint as to what the name coalfamily might mean, but how do you personally perceive the brand?

For me personally, the coalfamily brand describes exactly where my business is going and what I want to build in the long term. It's a combination of great people who love work, do it to the fullest and spend their free time together outside of work. With this brand, we want to make our mark as an interesting employer in the East Bohemia region and in Brno. Right from the beginning we have tried out the fact that our people can work on projects for one company one day and for another company the next day. However, we have to keep the coalsoft and coalios brands, as each targets a different customer segment. In 2021, we boasted office space in the centre of Brno. This year we renovated a building for offices in Letohrad and I am very happy that our people are using it to the fullest, as our slogan says.

Challenge! That's the word I hear.

Our group in the coalfamily grows year by year. But let's focus on coalsoft, which has been in business for 4 years. Do you rate 2022 as a successful year?

We have set as our main goal to stabilize, which mainly consists of expanding our customer base in coalosft. We have undoubtedly succeeded in fulfilling this beyond expectations and have started a lot of new, interesting cooperations from which we want to start building long-term partnerships in the coming year. I am very happy that we are being heard more and more in the SAP world. Not only because of the growing interest in cloud products, which is our greatest know-how, but also because of the footprint we leave on the projects we work on. I feel this is our biggest commitment for the year ahead - to be able to guarantee quality and well done work and to confirm that we can work on the biggest implementation projects and that our partners or customers can rely on us. I'm glad that we've also been able to launch an internal initiative for the personal development of our developers. The first result is the Tape Me mobile app (link to apple and android store). I believe you will hear a lot more about this app - follow it on social media Facebook and Instagram.

A year ago, you and your colleagues founded another company coalios s. r. o. What led you The idea of setting up coalios was very spontaneous at a time when we were figuring out how to expand our operations. The challenge! And that's the word I hear. At the beginning of the year we managed to perfectly assemble a team that was ready for implementation projects. Then, unfortunately, there was a slight sobering up when we had been underperforming in sales for a long time and were happy to get work in the form of subcontracting. Unfortunately, the uncertain times stretched our wait for our first customers into the fall. I am very glad that we did not get discouraged, and on the contrary, we strengthened our team even more and started e-commerce, and currently we have a ready solution for a comprehensive connection between HELIOS and e-shops, and we are also a Shoptet partner. We have also made it clear that we are moving in the direction of future years. Next year we will embark on further implementation projects and strengthen our consultant base.

The message at the end? After the balance sheet, draw a thick line and come into the new year on full COAL!

Coalfamily, it's not just a slogan. You focus a lot on team stability and leisure events. Do you believe that these activities bring the team together in the right way and do you intend to continue them together?

Our company culture is becoming a way of life for us. By the very nature of our work, it is important to build long-term relationships not only with our customers, but also within our team. Every new person is a big investment of time and money for us and I care about making sure they fit in with the team. The functioning of the coalfamily is based on the values we have put together and we return to them often. We will definitely continue our activities. We've changed the concept a bit, where everyone in the company has the opportunity to organize an activity for the others. Therefore, I believe that our activities will also become more and more diverse thanks to the newly formed marketing team, which has done an excellent job in 2022 and I believe will continue to do so. Their energy and ideas just fit into our party. (smile)

And what to say in conclusion?

I have a challenge for everyone who has read to the end. If you didn't have time during Christmas to stop for a moment and take stock of 2022, do it! Name what went well. Name what went wrong. But then draw a thick line and focus on the year ahead. May you live it the way we do in the coalfamily! And if you are interested in what's new with us - follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Michal Uhlíř will definitely not be lazy next year and is looking forward to more activities. You can follow him on Facebook and Instagram.If you are interested in what the life of a CEO is like, be sure to follow Michal. He's not only a leader of our coalfamily, but also a great friend, motivator and a normal person like the rest of us. Thanks Michal!

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