Christian Riege, the company’s former CTO, is taking over the leadership of the logistics software provider from his brother Tobias Riege. In his new role as CEO, his primary goal is to expand the Scope community and further develop the software from a transport management system into a network. Riege Software remains a family-owned business: Five second-generation siblings jointly lead the company, which was founded four decades ago.
Christian Riege has been in charge of Scope since its initial release in 2006 and, in close collaboration with his father Johannes and brother Tobias, has built up Riege’s software product from day one. Today, more than 750 companies in 52 countries use the cloud-based transport management system for air freight, ocean freight, and customs.
Creating communicate networks
As Riege Software’s new CEO, he aims to further develop Scope beyond its current functionality by broadening its use. His focus is on better connecting the Scope community, something that previously happened mainly at industry gatherings. Instead, Riege Software is now moving onto a digital platform where freight forwarders working with Scope can directly exchange data and business information. Provided both partners agree, this should be possible with just one click. “We are currently working on this system expansion. So far, the process has been handled through us, and the technical configuration of the process took about two weeks – which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Thanks to this planned innovation, the system – which is currently based on bilateral relationships – will evolve into a network, and we will lay the foundation for a global logistics community.”
CEO Christian Riege emphasizes that this does not represent a break with Riege Software’s previous approach, as the family continues to make fundamental business decisions collectively, as before.
A new role for the outgoing CEO
Going forward, outgoing CEO Tobias Riege will take responsibility for the company-wide data strategy. His focus is on making data reliably available and increasing its value for customers, employees, and the company. “In logistics, many decisions are still made on experience and gut feeling. That has taken us a long way, but for global trade of this complexity it is no longer enough. We have the data to finally put these decisions on a solid footing,” states Dr. Tobias Riege.
Riege Software is led by five siblings. Alongside Christian as CEO and Tobias as CDO, Benjamin Riege is responsible for marketing and sales, Anna Riege for people and culture, and Johannes Riege Jr. for finance and controlling.
From Procars to Scope
The digital manager of transport systems was founded in 1985 by Johannes Riege. He combined his university-level programming skills with an understanding of the need for a software solution to standardize logistics processes, and created a cross-industry system called Procars (Professional Carriage System). As the logistics industry advanced, so did the demand for a digital solution in the form of a holistic transport management system combining state-of-the-art technology with the industry’s growing requirements. The result is Scope, a tool which automates processes, communicates with third-party providers and portals, and has evolved into a digital manager of supply chains from beginning to end.
