Management Consultants in Cologne

AI Strategy & Enablement for SMEs Management consulting – SMEs (e.g. marketing boutique, IT & office services)

Concept and delivery of structured AI introduction and strategy workshops for small and medium-sized businesses. Result: Practical AI status assessment, prioritized use case list, and management decision template as the basis for the next steps in the company’s AI development.

Activities

• Needs analysis and individual preparation of the consulting formats
• Facilitation of a structured AI status assessment including vision, mission, and target picture
• Identification and prioritization of relevant AI use cases and action fields
• Creation of management decision templates and roadmaps
• Raising awareness for opportunities, risks, and success factors of AI introduction
• Support for first customers with AI-supported automation scenarios
• Supporting people and teams through the change process of AI introduction (CM)

Methods / Tools / Technologies

Methods:

• AI status assessment & use case analysis
• Workshop moderation / facilitation
• Requirement Management
• Change Management (PROSCI)

Tools:

• Generative AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude)
• Automation/AI coding tools (e.g. n8n, Claude Code, Visual Studio, Antigravity)

Technologies:

• Prompt engineering
• AI workflow automation

• Advising primarily mid-sized companies on growth and transformation topics
• Developing business models, positioning, and strategies, including implementation plans and KPI roadmaps

• Business development in the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras al Khaimah, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar) for PE management consulting and leadership training, training and further education, HR development
• Active participation in delegation trips to Oman, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain/Qatar including follow-up support and customer visits on site, preparation of training and consulting offers, negotiations with local and international contacts
• Networking and sales on site (Abu Dhabi and Dubai) in cooperation with a local consulting and business development company

• Network elements, network, operational and operator-related systems
• Supporting around 20 different products (managed agile)
• Requirements analysis and management (functional and non-functional)
• Test concept and planning (scope, test phases, effort, schedule, resources, organization, etc.)
• Aligning approach with clients and service providers
• Managing and assisting in creation of test cases for system, integration and end-to-end tests
• Guiding and supporting test execution
• Defect management and planning bug fixes with external providers
• Preparing and facilitating workshops
• Regular reporting and creating automated test reports
• Further development of agile testing methodology and configuration of supporting tools
• Conceptual support in developing a quality seal for rating product and service quality of internal and external providers
• Requirements engineering based on ISO/IEC 25010, Scrum, SaFE
• BMC Remedy, Atlassian Confluence, Atlassian Jira (including plugins Xray, Structure), Microsoft Office (incl. Visio), Obsidian, doxis document management system, Gitlab, Obsidian

• Led several cross-border consulting projects in Europe with a focus on cost, process, and production optimization

• Sales representation & business development:

• Regional representative for Germany for SKYPRO Portugal (Corporate Uniforms) since 2024-12-01

• Sales representative for Germany for ESS Moden AG (energy-saving systems) since 2023-01-01

• Consulting & optimization projects:

• Kögel Trailer GmbH (2023): site analysis (Turkey/EU), CAPEX modeling, site strategy

• Pluss GmbH (since 2022): market entry strategy and sales development for Spain

• TIGER Hebezeuge (2022): lean workshop, 5S, Kanban-based warehouse optimization

• ICER Brakes, Spain (2018–2022): two new production lines, 30% cost reduction, shift planning & software development

• The Vita Group, UK (2018–2021): introduction of the SQCDP process in Memmingen and Slovakia

• Alexander Proudfoot projects:

• Eberspächer, Dresden (2019): lean analysis, 15% cost savings

• THK RHYTHM Automotive, Düsseldorf (2018): process time reduction of up to 20%

• Strategic and operational management consulting for growth and transformation of digital business models.

• In my key role in strategic requirements management for the UVO online service, I established a comprehensive process from concept to execution.
• The responsibility included effectively collecting and prioritizing user feedback and requirements from municipalities and state administrations for direct service improvements.
• Developed, implemented, and led strategic requirements management for the OZG 2.0 UVO online service
• Gathering, prioritizing, and handling functional requirements, issues, improvement suggestions, and requests from municipalities and state administrations
• Creating release documentation
• Communicating implemented requirements to municipalities and UV offices
• Aligning with service managers and stakeholders
• Coordinating XFamily changes and version updates
• Managing and maintaining the Jira backlog and Confluence pages
• Responsible for Jira sprints, sprint planning, and review
• Coordinating with business, Product Owner, and development team for requirement implementation
• Testing implemented requirements in the online service
• Project documentation

We are the leading network for mastering business challenges. Our experienced team with consulting DNA understands the needs and concerns of today's decision makers. We make our clients' challenges our own. To do this, we connect decision makers with freelance management consultants and interim experts. Our success is based on diverse expertise and cross-industry experience from strategy to implementation.

But it is not only the technical aspects that are important to us. Our strength also lies in the interpersonal dimension. Because we believe that sustainable success can only be achieved through the perfect connection of people.

That is why renowned customers, including consultancies, medium-sized companies and corporate groups, place their trust in us every day.

Understand. Connect. Success.

• Implementation of custom reporting solutions for financial KPIs aligned with specific business requirements

• Development of a machine learning application that achieved a 250% performance improvement

• Data Architect "Production-Oriented Quality Assurance" (03/2024–09/2024):

• Design and implementation of an analytics platform to detect quality deviations in manufacturing

• Build of a scalable data lakehouse architecture on Databricks in combination with SAP ERP data via SAP Datasphere

• Close collaboration with the SAP team to harmonize bill of materials and order data

• Visualization of KPIs to support shopfloor management

• Lead Data Engineer "Sales Performance Monitoring" (08/2023–12/2023):

• Design and implementation of a Databricks-based platform for analyzing sales figures and promotion effects

• Integration of SAP SD data via SAP BW/4HANA

• Use of Azure DevOps to orchestrate ETL jobs and deploy workflows

• Technical Project Lead "Cloud Migration & Data Strategy" (02/2023–05/2023):

• Migration of a heterogeneous data warehouse stack to a modern cloud architecture on Azure with Databricks as the central processing platform

• Development of a governance-compliant data architecture to integrate SAP financial data and non-SAP sources

Technologies: Databricks, Delta Lake, Python, SAP Datasphere, Azure DevOps, PowerBI, SQL

• Interim management in commercial positions
• Project management in the commercial area
• Restructuring consulting for FTI Andersch AG
• Project in Vienna for Cash Remediation, establishment of a Group Treasury, cash reporting and segment restructuring (VAMED AG)
• Support in the handling and liquidation of the Kiel Group for insolvency administrator Dr. Jörg Gollnick (HWD, Cologne), preparation of financial statements for the tax office and provision of data and analyses for the winding-up and court proceedings

• Core-IT system assessment for a health insurance company
• Strategy development for a spectroscopy manufacturer
• Project management in the product development of a medical engineering manufacturer
• Process digitalization and development of technical interfaces for a telecommunication provider

• Replacing the existing document management and reporting/BI system as part of the system landscape renewal based on the Sapiens Insurance Platform
• Supporting the journey to becoming a digital agricultural insurance company

• Business development and strategy
• Conducting projects for corporate clients (approx. 95%) and private clients (approx. 5%)
• Reference clients: Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Post DHL Group, Migros Industry, Olympus, UNICEF
• Key focus areas:
• Supporting strategic procurement activities within companies
• Assisting account management staff (sales) in client development and conflict management
• Facilitating workshops and 1:1 coaching sessions
• Conducting stress assessments in organizations, including conflict coaching and resilience training
• Q2 2022 to present: Supporting various teams at Deutsche Telekom (e.g., account managers, service managers) with workshops and 1:1 coaching to improve collaboration with clients and stakeholders, conflict resolution and leadership development programs
• Q1 2023 to Q2 2024: Interim strategic buyer for the R&D product group at Olympus Europe
• Q1 and Q2 2022: Interim management at Deutsche Post DHL in Bonn, moderating a project at the procurement-finance-HR interface
• Q2 2020 to Q3 2021: Freelance business consultant for Migros Industry in Zurich, further developing strategic procurement

• QA Management for web application (Pega)
• Coordination of QA activities with stakeholders and other teams