Institute of Science and Technology Austria

“We’re getting away from long offline lists that were cumbersome to edit, decentralized and also prone to errors. Now we can filter and search everywhere and there is also a time line for each contact. The effective and continuous cooperation with COSMO CONSULT helped us greatly during implementation."

Thomas Zauner, Event Manager at IST Austria

Company profile

The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) is a multidisciplinary research institute with the right to award doctorates, dedicated to cutting-edge research in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science and life sciences. IST Austria was founded in 2006 by the Austrian federal government and the province of Lower Austria, and in 2009 the campus in Klosterneuburg near Vienna was opened.

  • More than 800 employees from 70 different countries
  • 67 research groups
  • More than 3,000 scientific publications

IST Austria campus from the sky Video

Campus Tour around IST Austria Video

Unique Selling Points

  • IST Austria promotes interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists.
  • The Institute makes a successful contribution to the international research community, to European research, to Austrian higher education, and to society as a whole.
  • It is a young international institute dedicated to basic science research and postgraduate education.

Software Requirements

Source: IST Austria

Good networking is an essential success factor to enable an international orientation, research activities in different fields, and the exploitation of IST Austria’s data. This is why IST Austria is increasingly focusing on communication. This starts with conferences, colloquiums and seminars in the scientific field and extends to events for families in which children are encouraged to do research. The huge amount of contacts have to be maintained and managed and a contact database had been developed in the past especially for IST Austria specifically for this purpose. The rapid growth of the institution meant that a professional CRM solution had to be purchased. The former solution lacked a number of key features such as customer journey tracking. The goal of the system change was to be able to maintain contacts efficiently.

The COSMO CONSULT solution

Source: IST Austria

After a lengthy selection process, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM was determined to be the right solution for managing customer data. COSMO CONSULT was commissioned to carry out the implementation and change process. Implementation started with a workshop to define the specifications. The experts from COSMO CONSULT then imported existing data from the old system and were also available on an ongoing basis as contacts for questions with the aim of building up internal knowledge at IST Austria. A manual for users and administrators has been created on the internal wiki to help all users understand the most important steps easily and quickly. Individual training sessions were also held in small groups.

Resulting benefits and successes

The teams have already experienced many benefits of the CRM solution with step-by-step learning during the migration. The marketing module helps to achieve more efficiency and qualified leads. On the one hand, this allows events to be handled automatically, and on the other hand, participants can be contacted in a targeted way. Other features include interested parties now being able to subscribe or unsubscribe themselves to the newsletter and event invitations. These features save valuable time for the IST Austria staff and the customer journey can be traced in detail for each step. Data on all contacts is collected centrally in Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. Employees can easily access it and storage of personal data of contacts is GDPR-compliant.

Goals Achieved

  • Step-by-step traceability of the customer journey
  • Efficient processes and central data management
  • Qualified leads

The success story

Company milestones — the history

IST Austria was founded in 2006 by the Austrian federal government and the province of Lower Austria, and in 2009 the campus in Klosterneuburg near Vienna was opened. IST Austria’s goal is to conduct world-class research at a world-class level. By 2026, up to 90 research groups will be conducting research there in an international and state-of-the-art environment.

Requirements due to growth

The IST Austria research institute has grown into a relevant player in the world of science in just a few years. High-quality contacts with research and industry are a key success factor. It became difficult and confusing to maintain contacts due to decentralized lists, so a central CRM system with extensive functions was required.

The project process

Implementation began with a workshop to define the specifications. The experts from COSMO CONSULT then imported the data from the old system and were also available as contacts for ongoing questions with the aim of building up internal knowledge at IST Austria. Thomas Zauner, Event Manager at IST Austria, who is also the central technical point of contact for the CRM in-house, explains his approach: “I act as a bridge between what this comprehensive CRM system can do and what we specifically need. I created an internal manual and wiki. Users can easily and quickly find how to set up an event here.” Individual training sessions were also held in small groups.

The most Important steps in the change process

“Many users were familiar with the old system which—although inefficient—had fewer features and was far less complex. Rediscovering the familiarity factor again was an important factor for acceptance of the new CRM system. We took this into account by first adopting the old data like for like. Users can only give feedback and express new wishes when they see the new system,” says Zauner, describing the procedure for the changeover. This path might sound unorthodox at first sight, but it was successful. It gave the teams time to see what the new solution could do. The learning curve increased gradually, meanwhile contacts were categorized, new data fields were added and those that were no longer needed were removed.

Specific benefits and resulting benefits

The Event Team uses MS Dynamics for sending out invitations, registrations and reminders for events. The Office of the President primarily manages contacts with stakeholders in academia and government. The Technology Transfer Office cultivates its contacts from industry to implement ideas from basic research. The Academic Affairs team uses this to advertise PhD positions or scientific positions to the appropriate target groups.

The most important benefits are the efficiency and traceability of the processes and the central data storage. The CRM solution is meant not only to save time and costs, but also serve well in establishing and maintaining contacts in order to achieve IST Austria’s growth target.

Cooperation with COSMO CONSULT

The effective and continuous cooperation with COSMO CONSULT was very helpful during implementation. COSMO CONSULT’s expertise will also be used for the next expansion stages. For example, it is planned to focus more on lead generation, because the right contacts are needed for technology transfer to industry. IST Austria is growing and expects to break through the 1,000 employee barrier by 2026.

Contact Us!

Cosmo Consult

COSMO CONSULT International

COSMO CONSULT SI GmbH
Lothringerstraße 14
1030 Wien
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Chile
COSMO CONSULT CHILE SaP
Mardoqueo Fernández 181
Providencia - Santiago de Chile
+562 2382 8050
E-Mail
COSMO CONSULT COLOMBIA SAS
We Work - Calle 26 # 92-32, Oficina 3-131
Bogotá - Colombia
+57 3004846267
E-Mail
Contact Costa Rica
COSMO CONSULT COSTA RICA
Calle 37, Avda 14 Edf. Grupo Jurídico, Pl 3 Ofc. 1 3
San José
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Ecuador
COSMO CONSULT Business S.L
Checoslovaquia E10-105 y Eloy Alfaro
Quito, Ecuador
‪+593 99 608 4180
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in France
COSMO CONSULT
201 rue Carnot
94120 Fontenay-sous-Bois
+33 1 83010360
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Germany
COSMO CONSULT
Schoenebergerstr. 15
10963 Berlin
+49 30 343815-0
+49 30 343815-111
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Hungary
COSMO CONSULT KFT.
Rétköz utca 5. 1118 Budapest Magyarország
+36 1 899 9000
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Mexico
SOLUCIONES EMPRESARIALES COSMO CONSULT MÉXICO S.A.P.I de C.V
Arquímedes 15, Col. Polanco V Sección
Delegación Miguel Hidalgo
Ciudad de México C.P 11560
+521 55 83109660
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Panama
COSMO CONSULT PANAMA & CENTRO AMERICA S.A.
Trump Tower, Piso 2, Oficina 210
Punta Pacífica
Ciudad de Panamá, República de Panamá
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Peru
COSMO CONSULT PERÚ SAC
Avenida Javier Prado Oeste 757
Magdalena del Mar - Lima, Perú
+51940225294​​​​​​​
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Romania
COSMO CONSULT Business Solutions SRL
59, Petru Maior St., 1st District, RO-011261, Bucharest
+40 21 224 5516
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Sweden
COSMO CONSULT AB
Ralambsvaegen 17
11259 Stockholm
+46 8 7998660
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Barcelona, Spain
COSMO CONSULT SPAIN, S.A.U.
Vallespir, 19 4ª Módulo 2
08173 Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
+34 902820242
E-Mail
Cosmo Consult in Switzerland
COSMO CONSULT
Ruetistrasse 13
8952 Schlieren
+41 44 8306465
E-Mail