Five guys, one tent, and a power plant

The story of a global company built on total customer dedication

In 1983 five students at Linköping University shared not only the same kitchen, but also a dream. A dream of not becoming part of a large, faceless corporation, but of building something of their own. Of creating something completely new.

There was just one problem—they did not know what. One thing they did know, however, was that they were willing to go a long way to convince clients of their total dedication.“While working for a Swedish nuclear power plant, two of us even camped right outside the main entrance to save costs and be able to work double shifts,” says Ulf Stern, one of the founders. It turned out to be good advertising too. After a few weeks everybody knew who those crazy guys were.At another nuclear power plant, Forsmark, IFS was given the task of improving administration routines during the annual overhaul. Apart from becoming expert filers the work gave the IFS guys extensive knowledge of the structure of maintenance systems and a growing idea of how to improve them. The first piece of the IFS puzzle was laid.
The next one came when another student, Johan Linder, came knocking, all excited over an amazing software product he had found, which had been created by a small American company called Oracle. While Johan tried hard to explain the advantages of relational databases, the others soon started to see the possibilities.
“None of us five was particularly interested in computers, but we were really excited by what could be done with them. With the knowledge we had gotten from our customers and the power of the Oracle database we knew we could make a difference,” Stern continues.And the rest, as they say, is history.Today, more than 20 years later, the dream of those five young men has grown into a global company with thousands of customers all over the world. “A lot has changed, but the spirit of IFS is very much the same,” says Stern, who concludes, “The essence of IFS still lies in always taking the customer’s perspective, in boldness when it comes to technology choices…and in providing a real alternative.”