ISBN 978 3 86638 1667
© axel dielmann – verlag
Kommanditgesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main, 2012
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Wir weisen gerne auf den vorhergehenden Band
Helden für den Mittelstand/Business Heroes in SMBs
hin (176 Seiten, 18 Euro, ISBN 978 - 3 - 86638 - 145 - 2), der zehn IT-Berater im deutschen Mittelstand zu Wort kommen lässt – ein begeisternder Band mit liebevoll erzählten Lebensläufen und Karrieren, welcher neben der zweisprachig deutschenglischen Ausgabe auch ins Japanische übersetzt wurde.
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Preface by Dieter Schoon
Head of Human Resources itelligence AG
Herbert Vogel
Chairman of the Board of itelligence AG
Juan Carlos Endo Mugica, Spain
Jean-Yves Popovich, Canada
Alexander Gebhard, Malaysia
Reiko Miyajima, Japan
Tom Saeys, Netherlands
Ina Baum, Germany
Krzysztof Witczak, Poland
David Cairat, France
Armin Frei, Switzerland
Toru Yamashita, Japan
President and CEO of NTT DATA Group
Hans Schlegel, Germany
Jennifer Roach, USA
Xiaodong Liam Song, China
Rajmund Pavla, Czech Republic
Thomas Stig Nielsen, Denmark
Roman Peresypkin, Russia
Alexander Baev, Russia
Leanne Gregson, United Kingdom
Robert Leitner, Austria
István Pótsa, Hungary
This book has been gathered
from the employees of itelligence AG
and is dedicated to all go-betweens
amongst the cultures of our world.
Preface by Dieter Schoon
Head of Human Resources itelligence AG
Communication does play such a major role for all of us in everyday life as well as in business life – since we take this fact for granted, we tend to forget about it:
But communication will not work well, unless we have thoroughly understood our business partners’ attitude. Only if we are willing to understand each other more and more while communicating, we will truly be able to talk to each other.
Communication can neither be dealt with on the surface only – nor superficially.
Only if communication is applied with intensity, it will lead everyone concerned towards the same path and reach a certain depth and lasting effect.
IT-consultants strive daily to fulfil this goal – in more than one way. On the one hand we are craftsmen and know the techniques and instruments of communication by heart – that is, hardware and software. AND on the other hand we have to be able to understand our business partners’ values and attitudes – otherwise we will not be able to suit their structures of communication, their data flow, their systems of information to their actual needs to keep everything moving smoothly.
If you will not cooperate right from the start, you will talk nonsense. If you do not listen to each other, you will not be able to hear the truth. Itelligence and our staff therefore provide a real treasure chest of communication. We can communicate with very different people and business cultures, we at itelligence are masters of this art!
That was our reason for publishing our first book „Helden für den Mittelstand“ in 2010. In this book we cast an image of ourselves. It was a real presentation of the exceptionable culture of itelligence and their staff – experts in the matter of exchange and communication.
People who know how to listen to others and who are used to express their opinion as consultants, made contributions to this book, writing about their work and their lives, they constructed a human frame for the business of consulting. That was a lot of work, but also a pleasant task for everyone who participated.
While we were working on this first book, we were already wondering about questions like: What is it like in all the other countries? What is business life like, what kind of life do the employees lead abroad – wherever itelligence is working on new and foreign ground? How do we deal with these tasks: listening and comparing, emphasizing und responding, if we have to work as consultants with international colleagues and clients?
On top of these questions we were faced with the keen interest of the colleagues and branches abroad, who had received our bilingual book with a certain amount of curiosity.
Finally our business associates from Japan showed their interest in paying for the right to download the English parts of our book. They wanted to make it available to their employees – and even more than that: they were planning to publish the stories in a special Japanese edition. This was the moment when we realised that we had started a much bigger project than we had bargained for originally.
All of a sudden we had to collect those stories from different countries and different cultures, which for the first volume we had recorded for Germany only.
Now we felt more and more that it would be a great idea to capture the whole range of consultants’ worlds – ranging from Malaysia to France, from Holland to China, from the USA to Czech. We wanted to show the wide range of the different worlds of consulting and forms of communication, the approach and the attitudes towards life, the values and goals. For this was the reason why the Japanese colleagues thought our book so intriguing and this was the matter that does reveal so much about our entire business life.
The Japanese wanted to see how itelligence deals with issues of integration, how we build bridges between different cultures, how we connect (and use these connections) between company cultures and philosophies which at first might seem peculiar. In a nutshell, they wanted to learn about and understand our basis of communication. Our book provided a sort of manual of cooperation for many readers.
The „Business Heroes“ book was a little primer of working together, of consulting in general. From this primer one could gain information about integration and cooperation – and first and foremost about emotions and motivation behind the networking.
At the same time our first book showed that in consulting we had developed a new formula and extended it so that we would be able to adapt to the future.
For capturing a story, one has to listen to others – to others telling their stories, which someone else will be writing down – someone, who is willing to hand them on, who talks about these stories as about his very own experiences and journeys through life. Here, only those who do basic consulting will succeed; those people who will connect the personal to the general in a confidential sort of atmosphere.
Of all people, the secluded, allegedly introverted IT consultants, who frequently had been ridiculed as „nerds“, were supposed to reveal their innermost secrets and personal experiences? This would never have worked but for the fact that they were working in a company culture based on exchange. Probably we understood some basic truth about the consulting job while working on the first volume of „Business Heroes“: Asa consultant you want to be self-relying, yet at the same time you are dependent on your clients and mixed up in their schedules and needs.
Therefore one is always under the obligation to watch and to listen, to play a rather more passive part, yet at the same time to give directions and to steer the affairs of others, to work for the mutual success.
This image of a consultant as someone who delves deeply into matter, who keeps an eye on the whole picture, who will move between restraint and impulse – this image was something special which we wanted to explore.
So we went for the international league. By publishing another volume, we wanted to produce a sequel, but at the same time, leaving borders of country and culture behind, we wanted to explore how to overcome boundaries and differences in general.
„The conquest of America“, written from the view of Herbert Vogel, the managing director of itelligence himself, presented one of those stories – a riveting story about itelligence’s first journey into a seemingly well-known, yet very different sort of business culture. This of course would make a great story for the second volume.
But never mind, we are not talking about hierarchy, but about story-telling! And telling stories means more than anything: to be curious while exploring the world and regarding connections, to be interested in interfering here and there, in optimising; it means to give directions, to be willing to work – and that is the perfect job description for every consultant.
It applies to the managing director of a consulting company as well as to the „newbie“ on the consulting team. This rule applies to all topics concerned, it applies to the mega-university that has been conjured up out of nothing as a highesttech-location in the Saudi-Arabian desert. There we implemented SAP software, so already over the next ten years several tens of thousands of students and professors will be able to study and teach there. The rule also applies to the boss ofa medium-sized company employing a few hundreds of employees in a quiet little town in the Swiss Alps. It applies to the old hand who has worked for itelligence in different countries for about fifteen years as to the newbie on the worldwide team who has been working for six months in cosy Austria (though having had more than twenty years of wide-awake experience in other IT areas.)
When we started our work on the second volume, we would never have dreamed that Hans Schlegel, the former managing director of SAP and our great co-founder and forerunner of itelligence Swizzerland Armin Frei contributed to our book with great retrospectives and visions of the future.
In this second volume we were able to show that „consultant“ is a mental image of the global player: everyone who believes himself a global player has to learn all the features of cooperation, of building bridges, of crossing borders and merging cultures by heart. For „global“ does not just mean „as big as the globe“. It means that one has to be trans-continental, metacultural and able to connect one’s mind to others – on a professional level.
„Global“ then does not have to mean big and confusing. It should stand for an open approach. A „global“ approach should be open-minded about various ways of living and working and curious about ways of communicating and thinking – and yet at the same time it should stay alert and active, able to transfer information and to interfere.
With this in mind, crossing the borderlines of IT consulting, we would like to rephrase the old saying „Think global, act local“ in our second book. On one hand to bear in mind the big picture with all the different aspects – but on the other hand to stay alert and prepared for exchange with your local partners while remaining ready to act.
In my view the portmanteau „glocal“ contains it all: the glo-bal big picture, the lo-cal exchange and consulting cooperation.
With this in mind, I would like to add my „glocal“ regards and best wishes to this book.
Herbert Vogel
Chairman of the Board of itelligence AG
When Columbus lost his way in the year of 1492 and landed not in India but on the American continent, disappointment at first was huge. The man from the Old World didn’t sense yet how powerfully and independently his discovery would develop itself.
Columbus fought all his life against the realization that he didn’t discover a sea route to the Indianos, as he called them, with their fabled treasures of spices and silk, but instead just added another unknown white spot to the globe. But it did not take long for his false discovery to pay off. American gold became the most important source of European wealth and formed the basis of the influence of European thinking. Following this, some centuries later, another enormous chapter in the economic, scientific and cultural history began with the United States.
Several gold miner sentiments have since then repeatedly made their way from Europe to America, full of promise. But when in the 80’s and 90’s some IT-companies, experiencing their heyday and start-up boom, went to the USA, there was nothing to discover in America anymore by Going West. Or was there?
What glittered like gold in the end of the 80’s and drew me to the USA on a first trip in 1992 was a totally different temptation. In January 1992 I was on holiday in the USA, and of course I wanted to meet, along the way, the American president of SAP. First contacts with SAP in Philadelphia were already made, which intensified during the meetings, and I wouldn’t be an entrepreneur if in the back of my mind the question didn’t arise if it would be possible to work for SAP in the land of endless possibilities.
It seemed increasingly promising to sell licenses and projects here. There was also the search for an additional implementation partner in parts of the USA. Then I learned that one of our colleagues at itelligence was happy to go from Germany to the USA. Ralf Sürken was a born decision maker, one of those people that would just put on his backpack one day and go out – to enter adventurous new territory, to test his limits, to escape from the known and the ordinary, to exchange his old world for a new one. That could be a start, with him a foundation could be laid in America. And didn’t I also sense this desire to explore myself?
That much was clear on my first visit: the dream of limitless freedom that we know in Europe as a myth and movie cliché is still palpable. It can be felt. The days of rising from rags to riches were gone, for sure, but someone who would bring in solid knowledge and skills into a niche of the economy could achieve something different, far higher living standards for himself then was possible in Germany after the times of the economic miracle.
It seemed courageous to us, but also completely understandable, that Ralf would go to the USA. If he could gaina foothold in the industry it would certainly make his fortune. American SAP consultants, as people were saying, were not just highly-paid people – their daily rates seemed almost astronomically high from a German perspective.
Should we perhaps only support it? Wasn’t there in fact a middle way?
Apart from this I was very much aware of the fact that the old tag of being „Made in Germany“ stood for the quality of German engineering since the days before the first World War, not only in Great Britain but also in the USA – where German products were, and still are, valued. Technical, but also logistical expertise is highly esteemed and valued in 21th century America. Clearly this was advantageous for the company from Walldorf when they started up SAP America. And wasn’t this vicinity of SAP, and the „Made in Germany“, or even better the „Thought and engineered in Germany“ a huge bonus for itelligence In the US?
Suddenly a fascinating potential customer moved into focus: Procter & Gamble, with its headquarters in Cincinnati! – I grabbed a stack of business cards, and was on my way! We were with 40 people at that time in Bielefeld – a solid base – but was it sufficient for the journey across the Atlantic? It cannot exactly be identified anymore, but there certainly was a mix of pioneering spirit and overconfidence at play here. But why not?
Immediately a series of very concrete questions presented themselves: What were the legal forms in this country? How much starting capital should be invested? How do we deal with a situation in which you only get a green card for3 months? – Yes, an office with 400 people that today makes about 100 million dollars in sales in the United States was at that time a daunting prospect.
Immediately we noticed more cultural differences. A company of German origin came to America: Some of the first employees moved over from Germany in the truest sense of the word, they were proud to work there. About 10 to 15 % of the German employees ended up working at the new location. This certainly was due to the fact that the net earnings were noticeably higher, but America, the land and the idea, hada completely different draw than the beautiful Switzerland, where from the then 100 German employees, only one or two moved over. In the branch in Malaysia, almost all employees were sourced locally at the time of start-up, and hardly any German made the move with Alexander Gebhard to the South Seas to develop itelligence Malaysia. Our attraction as itelligence USA however was strong – it was the attraction of America!
This was true the other way round however; we were just as attractive for our American colleagues. They immediately saw a serious difference with US employers because we were nota hire & fire company, like so many in America, there were better social benefits, boss and employees worked side by side, and so all were directly in contact with each other. It helped that after a short time, our landmark projectP & G turned out to be a first class reference in the new market. We managed a highly successful execution with a good profit. We had opened our office in downtown Cincinnati. And it went on. A second, then third, then fourth customer was added. In 1997, we received official status as an SAP partner; we became more global and then became Gold Partner of SAP. When in 1999 we announced the acquisition of Missana Co. in Chicago, we were firmly in the saddle. For a short while we dreamed the dream of a second office in Atlanta – but then came the financial crisis of 2000, and we closed again and focused on our headquarters in Cincinnati. And it was good that way. We had to deal with the two to three-year decline of the stock market and economy to survive, but in the years 2000 and 2001, when the going got really tough in Germany, business in the United States was strong, and yes, America even served as an example and strengthened the home base. Today we make about 100 million dollars in our own building with its own computer center.
Could we really say that the culture and its differences were ultimately just as alluring as the business opportunities? That it was easy going? We could!
To afford a house in America was, of course, easy going! The tax conditions were shown to be extremely friendly … easy going!
Whoever had an open mind, looked around and knew how to take his chances, was still able to find paradise. Easy going!
This has fundamentally shaped our business – after the third and fourth customer we targeted and won over the American middle class. And learned a lot of other, more deep-seated differences in dealing with business and personal matters.
A single customer was (and is) given full-time care in America. This is not really so „easy going“, and is based partly on the large distances that are covered in this vast country. While in Europe a consultant usually has two, three or four customers in his area he can support, this is rather rare on the U.S. market, where one usually has to focus and limit oneself to one customer because of the long distances. The geography here affects the way of life quite directly: travelling to the customer on a Monday, three or four days there working on site advising, sleeping in a hotel or apartment building, and late Thursday or early Friday back home. By plane, of course, because the distances are so great. A work situation that seems fantastic: taking a flight to work …
Of course, this impacts family life, private life and social life, and overall this formulates a cultural difference, which concerns the whole of life and work. If you are out at one of your customers for up to five days you are not visiting the office or headquarters in between. This creates completely different, namely thinner colleague contacts and ties to the company. These contacts are handled differently in the USA. Employee days are extremely important, and act as a bind between colleagues, team leaders and employers. All internal communication is different, and needs other bonds and connections. The daily gossip at the water cooler is no community here – and that could quickly lead to a questionable anonymity of the consultants. An annual and international employee day with 90 percent of employees in attendance in Germany would be hard to imagine. In Cincinnati, the employee day is a 2 day get-together for all 400 people that isn’t only easy-going, but necessary because the staff and consultants see each other there. This is where they focus their exchange, confirm their commitment, and reaffirm their links. – Let someone say again that cultural differences are not important. The impact of cultural factors is of eminent importance!
There are also moments that describe the development opportunities. There is the customer structure: itelligence had only large customers until 1999. Through the acquisition of Missana we developed a middle class customer base. A business model that over time began to show overlap between USA and Germany, and includes both small and mediumsized enterprises and large clients. The sale of licenses, implementations and the full range of services and trade, maintenance, application management and hosting is still at its center. But in the USA, customers are 30 to 40 % larger compared than in Germany.
In addition, customer behavior is slightly different: The IT budgets are a little higher and there is more money spent in general. People are turned away, but there is more reliance on externals – people do not want to do everything themselves in the U.S., as is the case at home according to the go-live tradition. Long-term contracts are more common, which is alsoa mentality thing, just like the do-everything-yourself attitude in Germany. The customer relationships are more stable, the length of stay is longer, stretching sometimes to ten, even 15 years. On the other hand the new-customer acquisition in the U.S. market is characterised by tremendously intense competition.
SAP in the U.S. is not as well established as in Europe, so one has to deal a lot more with competing products of competitors. There is Oracle, there is MS Axapta, while in Europe a quick decision for anything in the SAP environment is made. This is better described as different, not easy going!
One difference that I personally enjoyed very much, was that as a founder AND member of the board, one is viewed in the U.S. market quite differently than in Europe. In the United States this creates a popular myth. This is not about me being vain, but about the communicative impact of it on our business and the company. I am also very PROUD of that reputation, because it is still something special to be the Head of an „American Company“, who is also a German co-founder. You are regarded as a Pioneer, and this gives the company a good, reputable status.
In a sense, this feedback in turn inspired the „home“ business and had an effect on the whole firm. Originally, I didn’t place the „American Daughter“ of itelligence so much in the foreground in Germany. Because, for a long time not many people knew me at home in Bielefeld as an entrepreneur, with the exception of industrial and business clubs and a few other institutions. Gradually, however, the buildings did grow, along with the wiring looms and hard drives – and this started to attract attention. We managed for instance to finish second place in the most beautiful building in Bielefeld contest with our chic new building.
And so slowly it became appropriate to strengthen our branding. In addition to our longstanding handball commitment we also had our itelligence racing catamaran Elli, who recently won the 91st Cento Miglia, the great regatta on Lake Garda which lasts for eight and a half hours. The boat is now docked again in its home port of Travemünde, but like the logo on the sails of the catamaran, which sails significantly faster than the caravel of Christopher Columbus once sailed, the name itelligence shall be seen and read more often. In the U.S the power of imaging is in the legend. The image of a pioneer, as an American company with roots in good old Germany. A subsidiary in the USA did not belong to the „vision“ of the establishment, if it was even present in those early days. It was more fun to take this step than chance. It was about the joy of own courage and the exploration of what was possible. It was a step towards the continuous building and expansion of the company, to the order of, say 100 million in sales. Until then, everything went reasonably smoothly and was being developed in stages. But from 200 million turnover on, one must think strategically, and consider how in the various lines of development a unity can be found, whilst thinking ahead about aspects that are valid for all countries.
There, on the one hand, the individual, personal presence of the American years gains a very different importance. But even that great subject, namely the different cultures and their impact on the whole, gets new momentum. The independent life of the country offices with their own cultures is of the utmost importance in the mesh of the entire corporate culture. This is the next challenge, the upcoming Go West!