An eventful 2024 and the first working days of the new year are behind us. And while others are still nursing a post-new-year hangover, the good news that reached us in December is carrying us through the cold winter days with fresh energy.
Perhaps the most formative event of the year was our move to agile development with Scrum. With a motivating and instructive workshop led by Anke Lütjohann, we fired the starting gun on Scrum in February. As in any company, the change took time before every team member had settled into the new roles and routines. Looking back, though, we can say: it was worth it. Scrum lets us make the development process more transparent and focus on the sprint goal. A success across the board.
In February, the accompanying phase of Prof. Dr. Herzog's technology ethics course came to an end, producing illuminating results from the students. In small groups they examined questions about the ethical use of AI. For Splitbot the question was whether our software should be used in staff selection procedures.
The tourism association's barcamp in Kiel was another highlight of the first quarter. Under Eric Horster's splendid moderation we spent an exciting day at the Sparkassen-Arena. Countless workshops and discussion rounds, all designed by the participants themselves, examined “AI in the tourism industry” from every angle.
And we received another electrifying piece of news in March: our application for the accelerator programme of the AI.Startup.Hub Hamburg was accepted. That began a six-month journey that advanced our personal development, and the company's, in enormous strides. An intense time on every level.
The IT4B Digital Summit in June was a huge, impressive event we were also able to take part in. Tadeusz was a hit as a speaker, and at our stand we were able to make contact with numerous interested visitors.
July brought our annual summer party, which this time was decidedly sporty. Both on the water and on two wheels, we were able to prove that we can achieve a thing or two away from our desks. July also brought far-reaching changes. For various reasons it became necessary to realign Splitbot. Since then our focus has been on developing and selling our chatbot KOSMO. That realignment meant saying goodbye to some much-liked colleagues.
After the summer holidays we pushed ahead with fresh energy and drive towards the launch of the KOSMO app, presenting it to a broad audience at Nordish.digital in Flensburg on 18 September.
The last big event of 2024 for us was the AI.Startup.Hub graduation day, which took place at the Astor cinema lounge and gave us the unique opportunity to present the KOSMO app to more than 200 guests.
And that was not all. In the final stretch of the year we put our foot down once more and were rewarded for our efforts with funding approval. 2025 therefore starts busy and exciting for us, with a project to develop a chatbot for non-profit associations.
Our thanks to all team members, colleagues and customers, and to everyone who accompanied us on our way in 2024. Here's to the next twelve months.
