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After more than 25 years, the founder of Danoffice IT passes the baton. Steen Nielsen takes the final bow after having built a completely unique company. A unique organization and culture which from its very beginning has been looking out into the great big world with a specific focus on the hotspots where people need help.
We need to turn the clock back to 1995 when Steen Nielsen started Danoffice on his own. He had no employees, no investors, and no showboating. On the contrary, virtues such as focus and patience were the core of everything Steen did. Steen founded Danoffice IT (which was just Danoffice back then) in 1995 simply because he needed a new job.
”I dove into the deep end in 1995, and wanted to sell office supplies globally. I did not have any degree – I am a grocer and I had my background in the shipping industry. After this, I got a job in Svendborg with a company that did business with the United Nation’s organizations (UN),” Steen says and continues: “This was the foundation for my own company. I have valuable experience from having done business with the UN and that entire arena so I went live with just three customers: UNICEF, UNHCR, and UNDP and I just knew this was the right strategy.”
”I am standing in the middle of nowhere…”
While Danoffice remained a small business, the main focus of the business was on the UN – a target which remained for several of the first years. “After about a year, I was in the middle of the dunes on the Danish tiny island of Fanø and a customer called me from the Central African Republic. I apologized and told him it was a really bad time because I was standing in the middle of nowhere. The man responded by saying: “You are standing in the middle of nowhere? - NO, I AM standing in the middle of nowhere!”
And that was really the truth. It increased my perspective to the fact that these customers have some utterly unique challenges which one cannot even imagine. It truly requires a remarkable effort,” Steen explains and leads us to the common thread that even today is the core of Danoffice IT – we take the unique needs of the customer seriously and their needs require unique handling.”
Controlled Growth
Our story has several milestones through the years and Steen’s exit is one of those. He sheds light on the shift from office supplies to IT. “In 2000, we were still rather small, but this is when we began focusing on IT and ended up cutting out the office supplies and that was the right decision,” he says.
Even though the IT industry often is an exponent for quick and explosive growth, which was never part of our journey: “We did not want to grow any faster than the organization could keep up with. We have also shown great patience in this area. We have always been serious and kept our focus on the long game. We did not open our office in the USA until 2006, and a few years later, we opened the one in Switzerland so the growth has been controlled.”
Certainly, it is not without a wealth of emotions for Steen to leave his life’s work. And he has great memories from the early days: ”In particular, I remember the 2000’s when we had maybe 20-30 employees. Those were truly some fun years with a lot of great parties. We had a party planning committee and they had their own budget. The biggest ones were the summer parties – I am very certain most will still remember those,” Steen says before he looks to the future.
Stories & news
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One Unified Brand. One identityUntil now, our organization has until operated with multiple brands. Today, we have consolidated Danoffice IT, edgemo, edgemo green, and Conecto under one single name: Danoffice IT. -
Annual Report 2023The Annual Accounting for 2023 demonstrates a continued path of growth for Danoffice IT in which the additional global expansion serves as a great milestone.
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Open in Shanghai and BangaloreOur new offices in Shanghai and Bangalore are now a reality. Lars Baun, our CEO, explains the motivation behind our expansion in Asia.
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Danoffice IT in SwitzerlandThe key to being successful with your clients and with your colleagues and partners? Alexandre Saltiel sums it up with one word only. "Decency", he says.
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Dell Technologies AwardsTogether, we can span far and obtain results to match. As a result, we appreciate the accolades given to us and our very own Channel All Star, Per Andersen.
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HPE Worldwide Marketing Partner Advisory BoardAs the first Danish representative, Mette Hylander is in HPE’s Worldwide Marketing Partner Advisory Board. This will affect our customers all over the world.
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Modern Workplace in the NewsTV2 News focused on the flexible working life in private and public workplaces. The background was a DJØF study, which points out a number of challenges.
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Agreement to Acquire ConectoDanoffice IT has entered into an agreement to acquire Conecto A/S ("Conecto"), a leading Danish IT service and consulting firm.
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Two to Three New Branches“We are aiming to open two to three new Danoffice IT branches over the course of the coming 12 months,” our CEO, Lars Baun Jensen, says in an interview.
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Annual Report 2022The report for 2022 is a story about a positive development – and a development achieved through excellent teamwork all while looking outward at the entire world.
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Leading HPE-distributor. Again.As always, HPE had created a beautiful event focused on great partnerships, development, and progress. This year we brought home three of the big ones!
