Startup Difucon digitizes the construction industry

Many trade businesses still have some catching up to do when it comes to digitalization. Sometimes there is a lack of time for the overdue modernization of internal communication structures, sometimes the right IT for the respective industry.
In the loose series #HandwerkDigitalKA, karlsruhe.digital presents pioneers from Karlsruhe, the numerous possibilities for networking analogue trades and digital applications and Karlsruhe initiatives relating to digitalization in the trades. Today with the startup Difucon.

Denis Üstün is just as at home in the analog world of a construction site as he is in front of the computer for digital construction planning. As a child, the Karlsruhe-based entrepreneur was already working on large construction sites with his father, and after studying industrial engineering with a specialization in construction, he worked for two years as a site manager at a medium-sized company.

Passing on knowledge

Üstün now wants to pass on his knowledge and support construction companies and trade businesses with digitalization. To this end, he founded the start-up Difucon in March 2021. “In the skilled trades or construction industry, there is a lack of time and know-how to implement a digitalization strategy,” emphasizes the company founder. Curiously, the current construction boom is even a stumbling block for innovation. “When the order books are full, there is a lack of capacity for projects outside of the core business,” Üstün knows from his own experience. “This is then often put on the back burner.”

Digitization saves time and money

A mistake, as the engineer emphasizes, because digitalization can save time above all. And in booming industries, having more time not only means hard cash, but also a significant increase in the quality of life for management and employees. When it comes to optimizing internal processes, Denis Üstün relies on better data management. “A lot of data is simply not used in the skilled trades,” says Üstün. Quotations could be calculated much more efficiently by digitally evaluating fluctuating material prices.

Individual data-based models

Üstün promises his customers a noiseless implementation of modern organizational structures. Data-based models are created individually and made to work during day-to-day business. “And it’s not just about digitizing analogue processes and saving paper, for example,” the Difucon founder clarifies. Digitization involves putting all internal processes to the test and simplifying them.

Karlsruhe is a good location for spin-offs

Denis Üstün feels at home in Karlsruhe. The high level of IT expertise at Karlsruhe’s universities and in the local economy play into the founder’s hands, as do the existing networks for young entrepreneurs. He took the first steps in founding Difucon alone, but in future he wants to work more closely with other start-ups and establish his own network via the high-tech entrepreneur network CyberForum.

Attractive for young employees

For Üstün, a nice side effect of digitalization is the increased attractiveness of a company as an employer. “Young people today also want to be digitally active in their professional lives,” says Üstün. That’s why a contemporary image is an important tool in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers. Although he has good arguments for a rethink, Denis Üstün still has a lot of convincing to do. “The construction industry and trades are still hostile to technology,” he says. Quite a few tradespeople carry all their customer data around with them in worn-out address books.