Christopher Z.-Senior Advisor for Structure & Decision-Making – Moderation and Management of Complex Business & IT Transformations

Further development & digitalization of key sales and application processes in a regulated banking environment, including requirements structuring, roadmap development and AI-supported use case assessment

Responsibilities & Impact:

• Management of existing digital products to ensure stable operations (Keep the lights on) amid growing regulatory complexity
• Product vision and development of a consistent, implementable roadmap
• Strategic backlog prioritization based on business goals, dependencies and technical feasibility
• Coordination of release planning, backlog, quality assurance and go-live readiness with business departments, IT, implementation teams and management
• Identification, structuring and assessment of AI-supported use cases at the interface of business departments, IT and the regulatory environment
• Analysis, structuring and translation of complex business requirements into epics and user stories
• Facilitation of team, stakeholder & alignment formats to ensure clarity of objectives, collaboration and decision-making ability
• Transparency on capacities, dependencies, delivery status and KPI/status aspects as a basis for product & management decisions
• Compliance with transparent structures and documentation (LeanIX, application profiles, runbooks)

Contribution to results:

Stabilization and further development of key financial processes under high regulatory and technical complexity. Improved transparency, decision-making ability and implementability through structured requirements, auditable documentation and AI-supported ways of working.

Introduction of MS Dynamics 365 with several external service providers and agencies. The goal was the business integration of the business areas and the establishment of a hybrid implementation model.

Responsibilities & Impact:

• Structuring the business target vision and clarifying scope, user needs, CRM processes, responsibilities and organizational implications of the tool change
• Establishment and further development of a hybrid implementation model combining agile product logic, classic project management and ongoing coordination with internal business stakeholders
• Preparation and facilitation of coordination meetings, workshops and decision-making formats with business departments and IT service providers
• Management and follow-up of key work packages, open points, dependencies, implementation status and quality requirements

Contribution to results:

Creation of the organizational foundations for the introduction of a new CRM system in a newly established department. Structured requirements work, stakeholder clarification and consistent follow-up significantly improved the implementation capability of all areas involved.

Introduction of a new voice- and video-based communication solution for digital and personal customer advice as part of a group-wide transformation program at a major German bank.

Responsibilities & Impact:

• Takeover, stabilization and completion of a digitalization project for a new digital customer and advisory channel
• Management of the technical & organizational introduction of the voice/video communication solution at customer service locations
• Analysis and assessment of customer service, user and process requirements as well as execution of business and practical tests
• Coordination of the extended test phase with business departments, IT, user groups, customer service units and the works council

Contribution to results:

Successful introduction of a new digital voice/video customer service channel in the banking environment. Ensuring business usability, user readiness and stable operational handover through structured test coordination, close coordination between customer service, business departments and IT, and consistent follow-up of rollout-critical topics.

• Management of the functional and operational implementation of a hardware replacement involving several specialist departments
• Hardware replacement with a budget of 12 M€
• Coordination of requirements and dependencies between Technology, Operations, Retail, Logistics, Service and IT
• Structuring of processes related to provisioning, storage locations, replacement logic, rollout and operational handover
• Translation of functional requirements into prioritized backlogs, user stories and concrete implementation steps
• Moderation of coordination meetings and clarification of open issues

I structured the initiative hands-on, made operational dependencies visible and stabilized collaboration between Technology, Retail, Operations and IT. Particularly relevant was the combination of agile product work and real physical process chains.

Introduction of loyalty & campaign management software

Digital transformation during the merger of major banks

Development of a consistent process for preventing cancellations