Kai Z.-Enterprise Program & Transformation Management Governance • Delivery • Business & Technology Alignment

The program supports the comprehensive realignment of the German Consumer Panel Services business. It combines a significant panel boost with the reprocessing of historical data and the integration of new receipt data. By significantly expanding and stabilizing the panel with the involvement of external partners, the aim is to improve the validity of the data base and create a reliable foundation for methodology, weighting and customer reporting. At the same time, historically grown processes for data delivery, OCR, matching, item QC, methodology and reporting are being harmonized, further developed technologically and reorganized. The goal is a scalable end-to-end landscape with higher data quality, clear responsibilities, reliable governance and sustainably manageable operational processes.

• Overall management of the restatement program, including the integrated roadmap as well as milestones, dependencies, risks and management decisions.
• Coordination of the panel boost and alignment of the required data deliveries, quality requirements and prerequisites for methodology, weighting and reporting.
• Alignment of business, product, data science, technology, operations and external partners around a shared target picture, aligned priorities and an integrated approach.
• Design of the organizational change triggered by the fundamental realignment of the data base, methodology and management logic, which has a lasting impact on established decision-making and collaboration patterns.
• Establishment and further development of governance, reporting and escalation structures as well as program-wide monitoring and operational processes for reliable management and sustainable handover.
• Management of critical data, technology and provider dependencies, including reprocessing, OCR transition and the timely synchronization of delivery, testing, methodology and reporting.
• Orchestration of international collaboration with teams and stakeholders in Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Romania, as well as with external suppliers in Germany and Austria.

Impact Areas and Expertise: Program & Delivery Leadership, Business & Technology Alignment, Organization & Transformation, Governance & Sustainable Operations, Strategy & Target, Methodic Leadership, Transformation & Change Leadership, Executive Advisory

The internationally oriented NextGen Checkout program was intended to modernize historically grown store applications for POS and merchandise management and replace the existing in-house development with Toshiba’s standard Visual Store solution.

Several previous modernization approaches had failed; at the beginning of the mandate, project and product management were largely at a standstill. At the same time, business benefits, budget and management commitment had to be repeatedly secured against the prioritization of the still functional legacy system. The aim was to restore the product management function’s ability to act, restructure content and responsibilities along a reliable software product lifecycle, and lead the solution through a successful POC and initial pilot operation. For the first time, real sales transactions could be processed through Toshiba Visual Store and on to SAP FI. This also created the basis for introducing SAP Retail and SAP-CAR and for gradually reducing further development of the legacy system.

• Reactivation and restructuring of product management and restoration of reliable project, planning and decision-making structures for NextGen Checkout.
• Assumption of functional product responsibility for cash register and self-checkout, including product vision, roadmap, backlog, refinements, piloting, and release and change management.
• Structuring of product and project content through big pictures, story maps, use cases, capabilities, epics and user stories, partly with AI support, as well as introduction of binding quality gates, maturity assessments, Definition of Ready and Definition of Done.
• Successful execution of the POC and processing of real sales transactions through Toshiba Visual Store via downstream processes to SAP FI.
• Management of international teams and cross-product dependencies in Germany, Benelux, Spain, Italy and Romania, as well as coordination with Loyalty, Promotions & Couponing, POSA, merchandise management, SAP FI, tax and fiscalization services and other products.
• Positioning of NextGen Checkout as a functional and technology enabler for SAP Retail and SAP-CAR, and preparation of the required POS, merchandise management and integration structures.
• Development of an integrated delivery and operating model with structures for DevOps, ITSM, testing, security, environments and reporting, as well as collaboration with test and security management to automate and secure scalable release and operating processes.

The 2022 Census was one of the largest and most politically visible digitalization programs in the German public administration. The aim was to provide reliable data on the population, households, buildings and housing conditions on time, securely and consistently nationwide within the European reporting framework. The particular challenge lay in coordinating parallel functional, technical and operational delivery streams across the EU level, federal government, 16 states, specialist authorities and numerous service providers. At the same time, high requirements for data quality, confidentiality, BSI compliance and traceability had to be met through the statutory census reference date and subsequent processing of the results.

• Multi-project management and progress tracking across central IT service, development, testing, operations and rollout areas, including assessment of time, budget, quality, risks and delivery capability by the statutory census reference date.
• Participation in leading the IT service cluster, with responsibility for software development, architecture, quality assurance, configuration management, infrastructure, integration, and release and rollout.
• Management of security-critical releases and dependencies to comply with BSI and ISO 27001 requirements, including JBoss patching and Log4j.
• Establishment of cross-cluster risk, escalation and task force management, as well as preparation of options for action and decision requirements for IT and overall project management.
• Definition of service, change and operations structures, including service catalog, OLAs, monitoring, system documentation and handover structures for regular operations.
• Management of central IT service providers, process owners and organizational units, including ITZBund, PwC, Capgemini, Werum and the Bavarian State Office for Statistics.
• Organizational and methodical realignment of selected IT service areas through Scrum@Scale, Communities of Practice, adapted workflows, resource planning and automated reporting.

The IT staffing provider realigned sales and recruiting under difficult economic conditions. The Salegile management method I developed was introduced as an integrated management model for this purpose. The goal was to increase transparency, set priorities more effectively, and achieve business goals reliably.

• Introduced and coached the sales organization according to Salegile using OKRs, Lean, Scrum, and Kanban.
• Restructured target customer analysis, sales backlogs, and reviews, and developed integrated sales and recruiting processes, including funnel, opportunity, and risk management.
• Supported organizational change and coached managers and employees on effective collaboration and continuous improvement.

As a strategic IT service provider, LPS was responsible for central customer loyalty and bonus systems for BahnCard and BahnBonus. The assignment combined the agile transformation of the development and requirements organization with the further development of the loyalty systems landscape and preparation of a future cloud infrastructure. The existing waterfall-oriented delivery organization was transformed into a scalable SAFe model with four Scrum and three Kanban teams. At the same time, cross-program dependencies with DB Vertrieb and other DB initiatives were managed, and an EU tender followed by a proof of concept for IaaS use in the DB Enterprise Cloud based on AWS and Microsoft Azure was conducted.

• Developed and introduced a SAFe-oriented requirements and delivery model, from epics and features through user stories and quality gates to sprints, releases, and cross-team planning conferences.
• Took on the roles of Chief Product Owner and Release Train Engineer on an interim basis and managed four Scrum and three Kanban teams, including backlog refinement, reviews, retrospectives, and release planning.
• Provided agile coaching and mentoring to Scrum Masters, Product Owners, development teams, and business stakeholders, and established a Community of Practice to sustainably embed the new delivery model.
• Managed the EU tender and proof of concept for the future IaaS operation of BahnCard and BahnBonus, including the business case, feasibility analysis, project planning, licensing models, and load and performance tests, while assessing AWS and Microsoft Azure scenarios.
• Managed cross-program dependencies with DB Vertrieb and Vendo, including resource planning, documentation and governance structures, and reporting to management and the steering committee.
• This created a scalable requirements and delivery model, clear cross-team management structures, and a reliable basis for decisions on the future cloud infrastructure.

Following the acquisition of DV-RATIO AG by Cloud7 and the subsequent merger of both companies into VOQUZ IT Solutions, sales, recruiting, and service processes were harmonized, the Central region was developed, and the service portfolio was further expanded. At the same time, new structures for IT services, project management, and partner management were established, along with a competence center for hybrid project methods.

• Established and managed the Frankfurt branch, including sales management, forecasting, target achievement, and acquisition of new key accounts.
• Reorganized sales and recruiting processes, including demand prioritization, interview procedures, applicant management, and team coaching in Frankfurt and Ismaning.
• Developed business plans for new services and IT offerings and established a competence center for agile, hybrid, and classic project management methods.
• Managed customer and IT projects across time, budget, scope, resources, and risks, including escalation management in ongoing engagements.
• Established and managed partner networks and bidding consortia to expand delivery capacity, conducted public tenders, and managed the tender process.
• Sold solutions for SAP license management, software asset management, and security, and advised on MSP and VMS models.