Live: Watching Bureaucracy Being Born
It came to pass in the cold January of 2026 in Berlin that the power went out. A district of 48,000 inhabitants was cut off from the electricity grid for several days. According to a claim of responsibility, this was thanks to an attack by a left-wing extremist group – which, of course, only wanted to hit the power companies and by no means the citizens. As a minor side note, the Lord Mayor was caught playing tennis instead of attending the crisis task force. But hey, I digress.
Political response: Critical infrastructure in Germany must be protected better, IMMEDIATELY. Police, cameras and other suitable measures.
What happens next: A working group is convened to consider how this can be implemented in the long term. Initial outcome: questionnaires are to be sent to all »important« companies in Germany, asking them to explain how they protect themselves and how their infrastructure is to be safeguarded.
Well then, please make some popcorn and watch to see whether my prediction of what follows comes true:
- The questionnaire will be five pages long.
- The working group will become a commission.
- This commission will then become an authority.
- The group of people receiving the questionnaires will be expanded significantly. Failure to complete the questionnaire will be punishable by fines and, in the most serious cases, imprisonment for company directors.
- The whole thing will be cast into law.
- The questionnaire will grow to ten pages.
- Next, a certification will be introduced: »Infrastructure-resilient enterprise«.
- These certifications will be carried out by monopoly bodies within the German economy, i.e. TÜV (Technical Inspection Association) or the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK).
- This certification will become mandatory and will also be part of the scope of statutory audits.
- Every company with ten or more employees will be required to appoint an Infrastructure Officer, who will have to attend regular training courses.
- Funding for concrete measures will, of course, come from the special fund »National Defence«.
Completely wild imagination:
- Private households will be required to stockpile specific amounts of food and water. Those unable to afford this will receive a state subsidy (from the special fund).
- This will be verified every two years, with inspectors granted extensive powers.
- Companies will also be required to stockpile certain quantities of fuel, which will naturally involve the fire safety authorities.
In practical terms, nothing will change – but if something does happen, at least we'll know what we could have done. 😊
Distribution Mechanism: Price Protection
We are currently in a phase where manufacturers are significantly increasing their prices....
We are currently in a phase where manufacturers are significantly increasing their prices. And not just once – we expect prices to rise several more times this year. They may then fall.
It has reached the point where some manufacturers only calculate once an order has been placed and then state the price at which they will accept it – the price is then valid for one day. This is somewhat reminiscent of the coronavirus period. However, there is no alternative – we must persevere. The change is clearly most significant for relevant end customers who plan rollouts of thousands of devices over months and want planning security. That is no longer possible – ordering and accepting delivery is the only solution for price security.
Of course, this often leads to the question: »You still have devices in stock that you bought at the old price. We want to get them at a discount too.« – and that is a false conclusion.
In distribution, there is a mechanism called »Price Protection«. This is supposed to protect us from price reductions: If a manufacturer lowers the price, we receive a refund for any items already in stock. »Unfortunately«, it also works the other way around: If a manufacturer increases its prices, we must pay the manufacturer extra for goods in stock. This could result in a bill amounting to several million. So, as you see, we don't have any »cheap, old goods«. Due to frequent price changes, it is also possible for a particular device in our inventory to be repriced several times. While this is a minor nightmare for our inventory management, it is ultimately fair and the only solution.
Live: Watching Bureaucracy Being Born
It came to pass in the cold January of 2026 in Berlin that the power went out....
It came to pass in the cold January of 2026 in Berlin that the power went out. A district of 48,000 inhabitants was cut off from the electricity grid for several days. According to a claim of responsibility, this was thanks to an attack by a left-wing extremist group – which, of course, only wanted to hit the power companies and by no means the citizens. As a minor side note, the Lord Mayor was caught playing tennis instead of attending the crisis task force. But hey, I digress.
Political response: Critical infrastructure in Germany must be protected better, IMMEDIATELY. Police, cameras and other suitable measures.
What happens next: A working group is convened to consider how this can be implemented in the long term. Initial outcome: questionnaires are to be sent to all »important« companies in Germany, asking them to explain how they protect themselves and how their infrastructure is to be safeguarded.
Well then, please make some popcorn and watch to see whether my prediction of what follows comes true:
- The questionnaire will be five pages long.
- The working group will become a commission.
- This commission will then become an authority.
- The group of people receiving the questionnaires will be expanded significantly. Failure to complete the questionnaire will be punishable by fines and, in the most serious cases, imprisonment for company directors.
- The whole thing will be cast into law.
- The questionnaire will grow to ten pages.
- Next, a certification will be introduced: »Infrastructure-resilient enterprise«.
- These certifications will be carried out by monopoly bodies within the German economy, i.e. TÜV (Technical Inspection Association) or the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK).
- This certification will become mandatory and will also be part of the scope of statutory audits.
- Every company with ten or more employees will be required to appoint an Infrastructure Officer, who will have to attend regular training courses.
- Funding for concrete measures will, of course, come from the special fund »National Defence«.
Completely wild imagination:
- Private households will be required to stockpile specific amounts of food and water. Those unable to afford this will receive a state subsidy (from the special fund).
- This will be verified every two years, with inspectors granted extensive powers.
- Companies will also be required to stockpile certain quantities of fuel, which will naturally involve the fire safety authorities.
In practical terms, nothing will change – but if something does happen, at least we'll know what we could have done. 😊
That was 2025!
Of course, we don't yet have a fully audited set of figures, but we already have a good idea of how 2025 has turned out.
...Of course, we don't yet have a fully audited set of figures, but we already have a good idea of how 2025 has turned out.
Despite the challenging economic climate, we are pleased to announce that we have achieved single-digit sales growth. We are profitable, as we always have been, but our performance has been sluggish in 2025. We must be honest about that. This is not good enough for us. We can do better. We have realised that certain things only happened in our company because we were spoiled by high growth rates. These are probably no longer possible in the current economic climate. Therefore, we have had to restructure some areas of the company, but we now feel that we are in an excellent position for 2026.
In addition, we plan to invest a further seven-figure sum in 2026 to automate our processes, particularly our logistics operations. This will make them faster and more efficient.
When it comes to AI, I would say that we are already among the leaders in our industry, a status befitting a company that has been managing all business processes in its own cloud since 1995. This was at a time when most major providers did not even know what the cloud was. We have also always worked with a self-developed ERP system, which gives us strength, flexibility and, above all, speed. Speed is in our DNA, as is the fact that we are an IT company that also happens to do distribution.
In 2026, we will also be entering the security and building technology sector, initially with the manufacturer Ajax Security Systems. We have high hopes for this venture and are confident that our partners will benefit greatly from it, too. You will hear much more from us about this in the coming days.
Overall, there has been a lack of business momentum this year, for example in the form of large-scale projects – or the »budget burn spending« of many large customers at the end of the year. This is understandable in the current situation. However, our belief in growth remains firm, and we have set the course for the coming year with more ambition than ever before.
In 2026, you will see a whole host of new offerings, solutions, web services and other innovations from Jarltech. This will reinforce the fact that choosing Jarltech as your partner was — and continues to be – the right decision.
I am proud of my team, which achieved extraordinary things in 2025 and pulled together in every respect.
Let’s keep it going!
Why security is now coming into focus
Security is a megatrend that concerns us everywhere in Europe and across the world.
...Security is a megatrend that concerns us everywhere in Europe and across the world.
And that is exactly why, as of 1st of January, Jarltech is entering this business. Jarltech will become a distributor – initially for Germany, Austria and Switzerland – of Ajax Security Systems. Ajax is an outstanding company from Ukraine, with production facilities in Poland, Turkey and Vietnam.
I discovered Ajax because I have an extremely expensive hard-wired alarm system at home, which I then expanded with Ajax systems – such as a light curtain, specialised cameras, gas and water detectors, and all kinds of other components. And all of this at a much lower cost. The other equipment can basically be scrapped.
The products look as if they were designed by Apple and, in my opinion, are even easier to use. No cables, no power connections. And »Made in China« cameras are not exactly in vogue either and are being replaced in many premises.
This is the first time we have held product and sales training sessions after which almost our entire sales team immediately wanted to buy the devices for their own homes.
Our underlying idea is, of course, to link this with our existing customer base. If someone is already installing Wi-Fi in a logistics warehouse, they can just as easily mount a camera next to it or install a light curtain on the outside.
Take note: the profit margins for installers of such systems are extremely high and cannot be compared at all with what we are used to in the pure IT business.
As we always want to add value, we will be setting up a completely in-house security operations centre by 1st of February at the latest. This centre will, for example, be able to carry out and document virtual inspections, even for particularly sensitive sites.
The systems themselves are not especially expensive for end users. But if, in the end, half of the turnover remains as profit with our reseller, that is finally something truly spectacular.
Naturally, sales will run exclusively through our partners, who will need to be certified for this purpose. While anyone can purchase from us, the really attractive prices are only available after completing training.
More on this at the beginning of next year – please stay tuned! This is going to be something big.
We will also be developing combinations to monitor, for example, a checkout system or an entire retail store using these devices. On top of that, there will be highly intelligent building technology that is genuinely fun to use. Fire alarm systems, of course, included.
We are all delighted about this new partnership, are currently onboarding our new specialist department, and will then really take off with Ajax next year!