Bitwerft – AI Strategy Workshop and Roadmap for a Software Company

Starting point

For 17 years, Bitwerft has been developing software for school development planning: 10 employees, loyal B2G customers, no VC pressure. Two attempts to introduce AI with external providers had failed because the providers were hardly ahead of the team. At the same time, pressure is growing from vibe coding and citizen development: why buy a license if AI can build it too?

On top of that came a clear operational bottleneck:

Solution

A tailored workshop day in Hamburg, geared to Bitwerft’s business model and development processes: processes analyzed, AI use cases identified and prioritized, an actionable roadmap developed. The key insights:

• Knowledge base before tools: structure 17 years of domain knowledge before AI tools build on it
• Start small: one PoC after another. How to get from PoC to production is covered in our post on AI implementation (German)
• Shift to value-based pricing in the company’s own business model

As a deliverable, the team received a customized AI strategy playbook. How to recognize an implementation partner with a real head start is covered in AI agency: how to find the right one (German).

Technology stack

• AI use case analysis & prioritization framework
• AI-assisted SDLC (software development lifecycle)
• Knowledge base strategy as the foundation for AI tools
• Roadmap: AI-assisted data import, prototyping, internal products

Result & Impact

• Prioritized AI roadmap: a revised SDLC, a first prototype, AI-assisted data import as the first internal product
• Clear first lever: AI-assisted data import directly targets the time-consuming data preparation
• Another use case: build tender monitoring in-house instead of paying for an expensive external lead service
• AI strategy playbook as a lasting working document