time4you

What it is

time4you is a German e-learning company, time4you GmbH communication & learning in Karlsruhe, and the maker of the IBT SERVER software. IBT SERVER is an integrated platform with four parts: an AI learning platform that works as both LMS and LXP, an AI authoring tool called IBT LCM, seminar management, and talent management tools. The company sells it to three kinds of customers: companies, education providers and public authorities. It has been in the field since 1999, says customers have used IBT SERVER "national und international" (in Germany and abroad) for more than 25 years, and reports more than 400 successful projects and more than 4 million users worldwide since 1999.

Around the software, time4you also produces custom e-learning content and, since 2024, sells off-the-shelf courses through its time2know Content Library. So one supplier covers the platform, the content and the services.

What you get

The LMS and LXP. In the IBT SERVER learning platform, organizations run digital learning and knowledge in one place. The home page says users value the learning experience for its recommendations, adaptive learning and social learning. The platform supports curricula such as learning paths, apprenticeship and training programs, courses and event packages made up of different formats. Gamification options include badges and leaderboards, likes and recommendations, learning games and quizzes. Administration runs on workflows, live figures, analytics and to-do lists for the team.

Each role gets its own workspace with a dashboard and the tools it needs. The FAQ lists typical roles as learners, trainers, admins, office staff, authors, HR development, product management, training management and line managers, plus a personal learning environment for every user, and all roles and workspaces can be configured to fit an organization's workflows.

AI throughout. time4you says the whole system is AI-driven and counts more than 100 AI use cases. Four it names are AI-assisted scheduling that optimizes the booking of trainers and rooms, an Intelligent Tutor that answers learners' questions about the content, adaptive learning logic that controls access to content, and a 1-Click Generator for courses and quizzes.

The authoring tool, IBT LCM. For the course authoring reader, IBT LCM is a browser-based tool for building WBTs, microlearning, learning nuggets, wikis and online courses. The authoring page says a short microlearning module takes only 1-2 hours to build, and that PowerPoint slides can be turned into an interactive e-learning at the press of a button. The home page lists 200+ interactive page designs, automated voice-over and an image database with more than 500,000 images. That database, AI Stock Images, has semantic search and styles from photorealistic and 3D art to clip art, illustration and comic.

The AI assistant suggests titles, units, page titles, texts, images and icons, shortens or extends texts, offers versions in plain language, and proposes exercises matched to the content; the author decides how much of it to use. A KI-Companion structures a microlearning or a full WBT into title, chapters and pages in a few minutes. The "One-Click" content feature goes further: the author sets a topic, a target group and a few keywords, and the AI generates knowledge content such as a blog, wiki and glossary, picks images, structures the material and builds the pages "in wenigen Sekunden bis Minuten" (in a few seconds to minutes), ready for fine-tuning before it goes live.

Authoring is built for teams. Several people can work on the same project at the same time from different locations, workflows track status, editing, approval and publication, and access rights control who can do what. Work can be saved as a PDF or Word document for review. Every course gets an automatic table of contents with a "footprint" of pages visited, learners can set bookmarks and keep notes on each page, and the tool builds and maintains a glossary linked from the text. Content is produced to SCORM and xAPI, so it runs in IBT SERVER and on any other learning platform that supports those standards.

The content library. For the training library reader, the time2know Content Library holds more than 2,400 online courses in 8 categories for workplace learning, described as "Guter Content für alle zu einem fairen Preis" (good content for everyone at a fair price). time4you also builds custom e-learning to order.

Seminar and talent management. The seminar management module, IBT TAS in one customer quote, manages classroom, digital and hybrid offerings in one system, with AI-supported planning and reporting. The talent management tools cover onboarding, upskilling and recruiting.

Formats, integrations and operation

The FAQ says IBT SERVER works with "allen gängigen Formaten" (all common formats): WBTs and microlearning, learning games, video conferences, SCORM and xAPI content, CSV, PDF and HTML5 files, audio and video, and DOC, XLS and PPT documents. External content from LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, Udacity and other providers is connected through interfaces. For live sessions it supports alfaview, BigBlueButton, GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, Jitsi, Microsoft Teams, Vitero, Webex, Whereby and Zoom. HR systems connect through interfaces too, with SAP, Sage, Personio, Lexware and Datev given as examples, and existing learning-progress data from another tool can be imported.

IBT SERVER is responsive on desktops, tablets, laptops and smartphones. It always comes in German and English, with further languages including Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Polish. The FAQ says the software and its hosting are GDPR compliant ("DSGVO-konform") and that the platform is accessible ("barrierefrei"), which some customers chose it for.

Most customers rent licenses for cloud operation, and time4you installs the system in a certified data center in Germany or another country of the customer's choice, with time4you support handling configuration and administration. From 1000 users, IBT SERVER can also run on-premises in the customer's own infrastructure. A standard system with the customer's logo and colors is set up in 2-3 hours, more customization usually takes 1 to 5 days, and a large system with many specific workflows is run as a project of 1 to 4 months.

Licensing, size and support

Prices are on a separate page, but the FAQ explains the two license models. With a fixed number of users, the license count is everyone with their own password who can use the platform at any time, best for organizations whose user numbers are stable. With Flex-User licensing, the count is the people who actually used the platform in a month, measured by reports at month end and billed accordingly, which the company says suits education providers in particular.

Customers range from 50 users to organizations with over 100,000 users a year, and most installations have 1,000 to 50,000 users. Support is offered in German, English and French, with a ticket system, and the company advertises short response times. Customer stories on the home page include the City of Stuttgart's digital campus, the City of Heidelberg, Freenet Group, R+V Versicherung, Stiftung Würth and REVIDERM.

Who it suits

time4you fits organizations that want one integrated system for learning, seminars and talent development, with a vendor that also produces content and can host in Germany or on premises. Public authorities and cities appear prominently among its customers, as do insurers and education providers, and the Flex-User model gives academies and training institutes a way to pay for actual monthly use. Teams that author a lot of their own content get a capable SCORM and xAPI tool in the same package.

The breadth is also the caveat. IBT SERVER is a configurable platform rather than a sign-up-and-go tool, larger rollouts run as projects of several months, and a buyer comparing costs needs a quote based on the license model that fits.