For us at CheMondis – as a software development company – data security and the security of our marketplace are essential. Therefore, it is self-explanatory for us to ensure that we fulfill our safety standards anytime. To do so, team engineering is from now on performing so called “fire-drills”.
What Is Behind a “Fire Drill”?
The literal meaning of a fire drill is an exercise to prepare for a fire or other emergencies in a building. People prepare by doing whatever they would in a situation of fire – evacuating a building, grabbing a fire extinguisher, etc. as if an emergency had occurred.
Within the context of software development, a fire drill has the goal to prepare for emergency situations like hardware fails, major bugs, hacker attacks etc. – basically for the case we face problems within our code, the heart of the marketplace, without knowing the reason.
*Fingers crossed* that such a “fire” will never occur.
The Scenario.
On the day of the fire drill our engineering team had a meeting in the morning and our Head of Engineering Max Kugland (the initiator of the fire drill) explained the exercises for the rest of the day.
To make sure we do not create any real problems during this exercise and our marketplace survives the fire drill safely, we created a separate completely isolated environment. In this environment they could let the chaos monkey loose.
Max and a taskforce designed a couple of scenarios in which the marketplace service gets severely disrupted.
networking problems in the cluster (slow network, dropped packages, domain name system resolution failure)
sub-system outage (failure of a sub-system, system shuts down, can’t be restarted, disk full…)
partial data loss (deleted database tables, database goes down, automatic failover)
We Follow the DevOps Approach.
That means we do not have a dedicated operations team. DevOps is just a set of practices which a team follows to not only produce and test code but also build, package and release the code and operate the underlying infrastructure. Basically, the whole cycle. This means every (backend) developer does not only write code, but also possesses in-depth knowledge about the infrastructure the code runs on and the interactions of the various systems involved.
Why Did We Focus on Infrastructure?
Parts of the exercise were to…
figure out if something is wrong
to pinpoint and analyze what is wrong and which systems are affected
to contain the failure and protect other systems
to develop and deploy countermeasures
to learn from the failure, increase system resiliency and fault tolerance
The Engineering Team Was on Fire.
The team successfully spent the day on solving these issues.
Based on the learnings of the fire drill, we improved and extended our system runbooks, so we not only practiced for the emergency, but also have an easy to follow step-by-step guide what to do in case something blows up.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure.
We extend the catalogue of failure on a regular basis and intend to perform a fire drill quarterly, so we are prepared when lightning strikes.
So, there are many more fire drills to come…
Interested in Becoming Part of the Engineering Team?
Apply now via the following button to become part of #teamchemondis.
When we set the theme for this blog, it was clear that there is one person in our company who is an expert in this field. Our Office & Community Manager Alina. Within this article, she will give you more insights into how we developed our start-up culture, what challenges we faced over the past 2 years, and what makes our culture unique.
Thank you, Alina, and enjoy reading, everyone!
What is Behind a “Start-up Culture” in General?
“Start-up culture” is a relatively new type of work culture that aims to break down the barriers of growth that more established companies might have. It is known for and aims at giving space to be creative, agile, and passion-driven.
Back in 2018, we started our journey with five employees and a rough idea on how we want to shape our company culture in the future. The good thing was that we had it in our own hands.
We were equipped with a modern office in the heart of Cologne and a constantly growing international team consisting of the best people from the tech, commercial & chemical industry.
Work Environment is Not Synonymous with Company Culture.
CheMondis is a young and dynamic start-up. Founded in 2018, we are working on our mission to create the global professional network for the chemical industry and while growing an international team.
We have a lot of features which make working at CheMondis very pleasant. However, providing free snacks, the most modern equipment, and an office dog is not sufficient to create a great company culture. Of course, it was defining our work environment, though, which is a strong contributor, yet not synonymous with a company’s culture.
What we needed was to align on shared values – values that appeal to each and everybody in the company and that build the pillars to our company culture and our future growth.
So, in January 2019 we started our first values workshops. We used the “9-Levels analysis”- tool to make our team’s value system visible and thereby useable. Often it was eye-opening for every individual to learn about their personal values and drivers. During a two-day offsite workshop at the beautiful Marienburg in Monheim, we evaluated our personal 9-levels surveys and brought them together to a team level. A lot of discussions, active listening to each other and intensive group work resulted in the definition of five company values. (Click here for more information)
– Responsibility – Personal Development – Multi-perspectivity – Collaboration – Vision-driven orientation
With a constantly growing team, our culture develops permanently. Every new joiner shapes our company. That is why we held a second 9-levels workshop a few months later to ensure that everybody aligns on our values and has the same understanding of what’s behind them. Doing so, we realized that something was missing. We had been looking at ourselves and our way of collaborating, but we had not given one particular person an explicit seat at the table yet. Our customer. We, therefore, implemented a sixth value: customer-centricity. This progress clearly shows that our company culture is developing in the way our team develops.
Taking Time for Each Other Means Caring for Each Other – Personally and Professionally.
In my position as a community manager, I am ensuring that we are living our start-up culture on a daily basis. I organize and host interesting meet-ups in our office to engage with the local tech and start-up community. Also, organizing team offsites and regular stand-ups to push the collaboration between our teams and to give room to strengthen our team spirit is part of my job.
Besides that, the so-called “Donut-Bot” within our communication tool Slack supports us to boost collaboration across all teams. Every second Monday our employees get paired up with each other to go on a “Donut-Date”. A Donut Date usually leads to sharing great food, great conversations, and learning about each others’ jobs.
What Makes us Realize That our Company Culture Makes us Successful?
Our team spirit and the vibe in the office make us come to the office every day with a bright smile. We give each other a hand whenever it’s needed and live an open and direct feedback culture. This way we ensure that we learn quickly from each other and get better and better every day. For our customer, and for each other.
Our Plan for The Future?
We will keep on working on our values and our company culture. It is what makes us unique and it is also what will lead to building a successful company and product for our customers. We have split the team into six working groups, one per value. Each of the teams constantly comes up with ideas and measures to make sure the values are embedded in our core DNA and are brought to life in our daily behavior. We have launched learning lunches, movie nights, chemical workshops, and much more.
Furthermore, we just launched a competency model that is based on our six values – it aims at the personal and professional development of every employee.
Thanks for taking the time to read the CheMondis Blog.
On June 16th, 2020 we hosted our 1st CheMondis Digital Paints & Coatings Summit. Our vision was to connect big and small industry players from the Paints & Coatings industry in Europe and to match them with digital players. This vision turned out into the idea of hosting a fully digital event.
During the summit, we hosted three different streams where participants could listen to short & crisp talks from industry leaders about:
1. Industry Innovations from Paints & Coatings 2. Digitization in the chemical industry 3. CheMondis Marketplace
You are now wondering which speakers we won for this event? Check the agenda slides below.
Next to attending talks about innovations in the industry, the most critical part of any fair is to get in touch with your potential and existing business partners. Therefore, we provided all participants with the opportunity of “matchmaking”.
Participants were able to make appointments with other registered participants, for them to meet privately in a separate video call session (technically facilitated by us) and talk about business. We ended the day with a round-table-session about “Marketplaces as a Mean of Digitalization for Paints & Coatings – 3 Examples”.
By the end of the day, we had 180 attendees and more than 40 1:1 appointments scheduled. This is more than we had anticipated, and we are very happy that so many of you joined.
Moreover, based on our post-summit-survey, every attendee was keen to attend such an event again in 2021. So stay tuned as we are already thinking of something for you!
From the feedback we received, we learned that it was the right format.
Based on the analysis of our survey, we noticed that most of the attendees rated the amount of new information they learned as excellent. This showed us that the content proposed by the speakers was the right one.
Data also revealed that many attendees liked the opportunity to choose between different talks at the same time. Even when one of the talks was not of interest, there was a chance to switch to another stream.
Furthermore, the networking opportunity was highly appreciated by many attendees, as the chance to find potential new suppliers, buyers, or products was high.
Of course, we also had our lessons learned and we will improve a few things in the future.
Unfortunately, as many of you requested right after each session, we did not receive the consent from all speakers to share the presentation afterwards. We hope that you do understand.
In case you are still interested in one of the presentations, please reach out to us and we will get in contact with the individual speakers to check whether we can share this presentation with you.
For future events, we will aim sharing at least one handout per presentation with you, if it is not possible to share the entire presentation.
We will also work on getting a balanced ratio of producers and raw material suppliers as we believe it is the key to the success of such an event.
Regarding the matchmaking functionality, we also received the feedback that more filters like “Interested in” and “Being a provider of” would improve the quality of your matches tremendously. Of course, this is something we will also take into consideration in the future.
To sum it up, for us as Chemondis, the entire event was a pleasure and lots of fun.
Still not convinced? Watch the video below to get a pick at the behind-the-scene.
What do you think?
If you would like to help us to improve this kind of event for the future, please send us your feedback at: cpc-summit@chemondis. We highly appreciate any kind of feedback, so please do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us.
Thanks for taking the time to read the CheMondis Blog.
As promised, we recently deployed two additional filters to the search functionality on CheMondis.
Both, the quantity and package filters improve the experience for all CheMondis customers – buyers and suppliers. These two opportunities lead to an even better experience for all CheMondis Customers, buyers, and suppliers.
These are the quantity and package filters for Buyers.
We know that the desired quantity and package type of the product are an important factor for you when sourcing any chemical. With CheMondis you can now filter quantities and packages suppliers offer by filtering within our product search. Doing this before quoting saves you a lot of time due to fewer communication needs.
Use the product search and then find all filter on the left-hand.
Search for products with our search bar or browse product groups and industries
Add as many packages as you like on the left-hand side
The filter applies automatically after clicking adding ticks to boxes
These are the quantity and package filters for Suppliers.
Now we offer you the opportunity to provide more information for all your products to any potential buyer. This will help you to receive more relevant and fitting quotes and order requests. You can provide the information about offered quantities and packages on company level for all products at once.
By default all packages are pre-selected and no maximum or minimum is applied for the quantities. We describe below how to set them up.
Set Quantities as Supplier
Set the generally offered quantity on company level (all products at once)
Select those packages that apply. This will be the default value for all products.
What do you think?
Do you have any questions about the filters? Did you already try them out? What are your first experiences? We appreciate any feedback in order to improve our product every day. Leave a comment below or contact us.
With our latest deployment, we introduced the Incoterm filter to our search functionality on CheMondis. It improves the experience for all CheMondis customers – buyers and suppliers.
By using the Incoterm filter, you as a buyer can filter any product on CheMondis by the desired Incoterm. The Incoterm filter in combination with the delivery country filter makes it easier for you, as a buyer to find the right offer. The filter also helps you, as a supplier to only receive quotes and orders they can execute.
What are Incoterms?
The delivery on CheMondis is fulfilled in accordance with the Incoterm, that you have agreed on with the supplier.
Incoterms® (International Commercial Terms) are predefined commercial conditions used in international trade. They help to understand tasks, costs, and risks of the parties with respect to the transportation of goods. Currently, we have Incoterms® 2010 applicable on CheMondis.
This is the incoterm for buyers.
You want to have products delivered or rather want to pick them up yourself? With CheMondis you can now find the desired Incoterms the suppliers offer by filtering within our product search. Doing this before quoting saves you a lot of time.
Use the product search and find the Incoterm filter on the left-hand side next to industry, product group and country filters.
This is the incoterm filter for suppliers.
Now provide the Incoterm information for all your products to any potential buyer. This will help you to receive more relevant and fitting quotes and order requests. You can provide the information on company level for all products at once. Then you can choose different Incoterms for particular products in a second way. We describe below how this works.
Set the generally offered Incoterms on company level.
Select the Product and select the Incoterms that apply for this particular product.
Stay tuned: More filters to come.
We will even further develop the filter functions with introducing more filters that improve your CheMondis experience as a buyer or supplier. Soon we will explain our packaging and quantity filters – stay tuned!
What do you think?
Do you have any questions around the Incoterm filter? Did you already try them out? What are your first experiences? We appreciate any feedback in order to improve our product every day. Leave a comment below or contact us.
Thanks for taking the time to read the CheMondis Blog.
During three sessions, we guided more than 30 participants through our first webinar series on “How to Buy Chemicals Online – Quick & Easy”. We are happy to report that it was a great success for both us and all participants.
Next to learning how to use CheMondis in the best possible way, attendees had the chance to ask all the questions they had. At the end of each session, we had exciting discussions on several topics with our Key Account Manager David who has more than 14 years of experience in Marketing & Sales of chemical products.
All attendees joined the webinar remotely – even the staff.
When we planned the webinars, we had some concerns that it might be technically difficult to bring so many people together in a virtual place. Especially, because our team was holding the webinars from home as well. Does everything work with the process? Does the Internet remain stable? Will someone ask a question in the discussion part? Of course, we were prepared for all these cases in advance. And fortunately, things could not have gone better.
Participants were excited about the new format.
Asking attendees how they liked this webinar, we received very good feedback. It makes us proud that rated our first webinar series with 91/100 points. And we were even more excited that 95% would come back for another webinar in the future.
This encourages us to expand this program and to develop more sessions on other interesting topics. As soon as we have developed these concepts and scheduled the next sessions you will of course be the first to know about it. You can expect the dates to be released this summer.
A webinar premiere for Chemondis – how did our team experience it? We asked them.
I have done many 1:1 demos with our customers over the past years, so I am used to the process. Not being able to see a reaction from my “audience” felt weird during the first webinar. Sometimes I thought to myself “Are they still there? Does this make sense to them? I hope I am not too fast…“.
During the Q&A session at the end, with many questions being asked I was reassured that people were following closely and that made me very happy and much more confident in subsequent webinars. The fantastic preparation by Daria and Caroline also helped tremendously, really great team effort!
Many customers became active on our platform just a few minutes after the webinar closed and that shows me how effective this tool is. I am looking forward to the next rounds!
It was definitely a great experience! Personally, I enjoyed both the preparation and the webinars themselves. It is an interactive way to show all the most important features of the marketplace and how procurement managers in the chemical industry can benefit from the platform use.
After the session, we had the Q&A, which was really helpful as we got direct feedback from the attendees. Thank you all for coming and giving your input!
Honestly, I was a little nervous before our first webinar. You put so much work and effort into it that you want everything to go smoothly in the end. I wanted our attendees to be able to take out what we had put in over the previous weeks.
When I noticed that the participants followed with great interest and sent many questions, the tension slowly subsided. I was really pleased to see how customers were able to profit from our webinar and how they could put their learnings to action on the marketplace immediately after the webinar.
It seems that both our customers and the webinar team agree that this new format works very well, and we will certainly see each other more often in sessions in the future!
What do you think?
Did you attend one of the sessions? Do you share the view on the feedback we received? Do you have any wishes on potential topics we should discuss in a webinar? Leave us a comment below and let us know.
Thanks for taking the time to read the CheMondis blog.
We are happy to announce that registered suppliers of every size can now create their own Brand Shop on CheMondis. This is a big step forward digitalizing the chemical industry.
Buyers can find each Brand Shop within the product description page or by a unique link the supplier promotes.
Advertise your entire portfolio online
CheMondis Brand Shops help you to sell your products online without the effort of developing or maintaining an own online shop. Your Brand Shop on CheMondis will profit from the wide range of already registered companies and will therefore ensure a high relevance from the very beginning. CheMondis is also helping with online advertising efforts to acquire buyers for the listed products.
As a supplier, you will receive a unique link (URL) for your own Brand Shop, through which your shop on CheMondis can be accessed directly. Either by you or by dedicated buyers of yours which you want to redirect to your brand-new shop. You can, for example, add the link to your e-mail signature or can promote it on your website. Existing and new customers will immediately be forwarded to your Brand Shop, like to a usual online shop.
It is very easy to create your own Brand shop on CheMondis
To create your own Brand Shop you need to be a registered and verified supplier on CheMondis. Please find following link to register for free if you want to join our marketplace as a supplier.
The creation of a Brand Shop is very simple and contains only 3 steps:
Add your company logo to your company profile within the account settings.
Prepare a banner image for the top of the page in the dimension of 1440 pixels x 200 pixels.
Prepare a description text of your company (Not more then 50-70 Signs).
Then, please contact your personal Business Development Manager who will create the Brand Shop for you or reach out to us via phone, email, or our chat. We are very happy to assist creating and adjusting your Brand Shop.
We will activate the Brand Shop-feature for your account. With a couple of clicks, you can enter and upload the prepared information and you are good to go. After the activation of your Brand Shop, you can add and adjust your description and images yourself – of course, we are also very happy to assist here.
The Brand Shop will show all active products that you have uploaded on CheMondis. Your products will appear in alphabetical order. Customers can apply different filters to find the product they are looking for faster.
Brand shops on CheMondis can easily be found and promoted
The search functionality on CheMondis is specifically designed to find the right products. So how do potential customers find your Brand Shop? There are two options.
On every product detail page of one of your products, customers or interested buyers will find a button “Visit Brand Shop” and will be forwarded to your Brand Shop.
Your Brand Shop will have a unique Link (URL), that you can share on your website or by any other channel with your customers.
Check out our already existing Brand Shops and start with your own. Register on CheMondis for free and get in touch with us to set it up.
Thanks for taking the time to read the CheMondis Blog.
You are a registered buyer on CheMondis or an interested buyer of chemicals and would like to learn more about how to use the marketplace in the best possible way? So that you benefit from it most? You are on the right way.
Due to the international crisis around COVID-19 almost all events, fairs and congresses had to be postponed or even canceled. As a fully digital player in the chemical industry, we are ready to go the complete digital way, that’s why we decided to offer webinars. In today’s blog article we would like to give you all the relevant information you need on the webinars we are planning.
If you are more interested in selling chemicals online, there is no reason to be disappointed. We are planning more Webinars in the next couple of weeks!
Your advantages in joining our webinar.
During our webinars, we would like to offer you an additional opportunity that helps you to get a better understanding of a digital sales solution for chemical buyers and the features we are offering.
Why we have chosen the channel of webinars? Because there is no better way to provide you with information in a maximum flexible and non-binding way. You have no effort to join the session, just register via the provided link and you are in.
What to expect from a session?
You will learn about all the “must-knows” when using CheMondis.
During a live demo, you will see how to use our most relevant features with just a few clicks.
You can send us your questions via chat and we will answer immediately through our speaker.
You will be able to see and hear us, but not the other way round.
How to register?
We’ve planned three sessions on “How to buy chemicals online -quick & easy”, one in German and two in English for May. To register for a session click here.
In a nutshell
In times like these, digital opportunities like Webinars are a perfect solution to discuss a topic short and crisp. Therefore we offer three Webinars on “How to buy chemicals online – quick & easy” to all interested buyers within the chemical industry end of May.
Now it is up to you
What are your experiences with participating or hosting webinars? Do you have any tips you would like to share with our community? Do you have more questions? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Thanks for taking the time to read the CheMondis Blog.
During the past months, many of our users have asked for the opportunity to send out multiple requests to different suppliers at the same time, with only a couple of clicks. We have worked continuously on this wish during the recent weeks and are happy to provide you, our customers, with a new feature on our marketplace: the Multiple-Quote-Request (MQR).
Within this article, we’d like to give you a short overview of the new functionality and provide you a 6-step-quick-guide on how to send multiple quote requests.
Multiple Quote Request – what’s that?
If you’re a buyer of chemical products, as of now you have the chance to request multiple offers from different suppliers (or also all from the same supplier) in one single step!
We know that when you are looking for a new supplier, you want to be able to compare. Therefore, you are always going to request several offers. Instead of sending out individual requests to each supplier, re-stating what you are looking for in terms of price, volume, etc., you send out one request to multiple suppliers.
Our Multiple-Quote-Request-Feature automatically applies the same terms to all of your quote requests. For the follow-ups CheMondis offers you a clear and structured dashboard which allows you to see the current status of your requests at a glance.
You’re concerned about various restrictions on the supplied products? We solved this issue by implementing standard quote units (kg, l, t) and standard currencies (€ and $) that are set to all products.
When you request products on CheMondis you can request with these units and currencies consistently across the platform. No more dealing with supplier-specific requirements on request details. On negotiating an offer, you can still request a broad variety of different currencies and units in which you negotiate your deal.
Is this feature interesting for my company?
We have designed this Multiple-Quote-Request-Feature especially for all buyers who want to compare offers from different suppliers, but who do not want to double, triple or even tenfold the time, which they need to invest for this. If you feel the same, this feature will definitely help you out!
What does it look like? A 6-Step-Quick-Guide
To give you an idea of how the multiple quote request works, we prepared the following guide for you. As you will see, it works quick and easy and it will be a real time-saver for you! For a more detailed description, we also prepared a tutorial for you, which you’ll find in the help center of our marketplace.
Step 1: Go to www.chemondis.com/marketplace, login into your account, and enter the product you’re looking for in the search bar.
Step 2: Add the products by clicking on the ‘Add to requests’ button from the suppliers of your choice to the request by using the checkbox.
Step 3: Decide whether you’d like to send a quote or an agreement request. A short explanation: A quote request is a request for a single order. An agreement request leads to multiple orders over a defined period of time (e.g. 6 months) at a negotiated price.
Step 4: Fill in the form by entering the parameters you’d like to request for the selected products and suppliers.
Step 5: You’re receiving only one confirmation e-mail summing all of your requests. Furthermore, you can see an overview of your requests on your personal dashboard.
Step 6: As soon as the suppliers are sending you their offers, you can negotiate every quote or agreement individually as you are used to it already.
In a nutshell
Our new feature allows you, as a buyer, to request products from multiple suppliers at once. We are convinced that the Multiple-Quote- Request-Feature improves your experience when using CheMondis significantly.
Try it and convince yourself. In case of questions, you can always reach out to us via the chat function on the marketplace, your business development contact person or via our social media channels. Or check out the tutorial, we prepared for you here.
Now it is up to you
What are your first experiences with the Multiple Quote Request? Do you have any questions about the new functionality?
