Christopher (M.) Zulauf-Senior Consultant for Structure & Decision-Making – Moderation and Steering of Complex Business & IT Transformations

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

Responsibilities & impact:

• Support of existing digital products in the sense of stable operations (keep the lights on) amid growing regulatory complexity
• Product vision and derivation of a consistent, feasible roadmap
• Identification, structuring, and evaluation of AI-supported use cases at the interface of business, IT, and the regulatory environment
• Analysis, structuring, and translation of complex business requirements into epics and user stories
• Moderation of team, stakeholder, and alignment formats to ensure clarity of goals, collaboration, and decision-making
• Maintenance of 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, and implementability through structured requirements, reviewable documentation, and AI-supported ways of working.

Introduction of MS Dynamics 365 with several external service providers and agencies. The goal was to integrate the business units functionally and establish a hybrid delivery model.

Responsibilities & impact:

• Structuring the business target picture and clarifying scope, user needs, CRM processes, responsibilities, and the organizational impact of the system change
• Building and further developing a hybrid delivery model between agile product logic, classic project steering, and ongoing coordination with internal business stakeholders
• Preparing and moderating alignment sessions, workshops, and decision-making formats with business units and IT service providers
• Steering and tracking key work packages, open points, dependencies, implementation status, and quality requirements

Contribution to results:

Created the organizational basis for the introduction of a new CRM system in a newly built department. Through structured requirements work, stakeholder clarification, and follow-up, the implementation capability of all involved areas was clearly improved.

Introduction of a new voice- and video-based communication solution for digital and in-person customer advisory services as part of a group-wide transformation program at a large German bank.

Responsibilities & impact:

• Taking over, stabilizing, and closing a digitalization project for a new digital customer and advisory channel
• Steering the technical & organizational rollout of the voice/video communication solution at customer service locations
• Analysis and evaluation of customer service, user, and process requirements as well as execution of business and practical tests
• Coordination of the extended test phase with business units, IT, user groups, customer service units, and the works council

Contribution to results:

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

• Steering the functional and operational implementation of a hardware replacement with several involved departments
• Aligning requirements and dependencies between technology, operations, sales, logistics, service, and IT
• Structuring processes around provisioning, storage locations, exchange logic, rollout, and operational handover
• Translating business requirements into prioritized backlogs, user stories, and concrete implementation steps
• Moderating alignments and clarifying open points

I structured the initiative hands-on, made operational dependencies visible, and stabilized collaboration between technology, sales, operations, and IT. Especially relevant was the combination of agile product work and real physical process chains.

Introduction of loyalty and campaign management software

Digital transformation during the merger of major banks

Building a unified process for churn prevention