Transformation Managers in Germany

• Introduction of a new digital product to the Chinese market as part of a global growth strategy.

• Point of contact and coordinating interface between central product management, local Chinese teams and international stakeholders.

• Management of the entire program to coordinate complex digital projects.

• Successful market launch of a digital product in China (including successful certification for the Chinese market).

• Balancing local requirements with global priorities while taking tax and regulatory requirements into account.

• Introduction of a new way of working to improve collaboration and coordination across locations.

• Development and implementation of a scaling strategy for the digital business model in China.

• Use of Jira, Confluence, Miro, Scrum, agile working, SAFe.

• Project language: English.

Stabilization of a critical logistics outsourcing setup in the context of an SAP S/4HANA transformation. The focus was on restoring a reliable operational fact base between the client, logistics service provider, international supplier plants and the SAP/IT organization.

• Coordination between the client, global logistics service provider, international supplier plants, SAP/IT teams, Quality Management and the operational shop floor.
• Management, monitoring and operational correction of Inbound Deliveries; integration of Outbound Delivery processes.
• Analysis of interface, posting, batch and master data errors between SAP S/4HANA, logistics service provider, supplier plants and internal business functions.
• Significant reduction of critical inventory differences between the client and logistics service provider.
• Improved operational management capability in the logistics environment and creation of a common fact base.
• Reduction of recurring error patterns in the areas of Inbound Deliveries, inventory, interfaces, batch/posting logic and service provider processes.

• Advise B2B technology and mid-market companies on commercial strategy, sales effectiveness, operating model design, and scalable growth.
• Coach senior sales leaders and executive teams on GTM choices, leadership effectiveness, accountability, and execution.
• Support market entry and growth planning through structured assessment of customer segments, value propositions, channel options, coverage models, investment priorities, KPIs, and risks.
• Facilitate peer-level strategy sparring and translate strategic decisions into measurable commercial initiatives.
• Combine systemic coaching, sales leadership experience, and change management practice to ensure decisions are practical and adopted.

Transformation assignment: IT Operating Model and Governance

• Management of the operationalization of a new IT operating model for a service- and customer-oriented organization in the managed services and Microsoft 365 environment.
• Translation of the target organizational model into concrete roles, responsibilities, organizational elements, decision-making paths and collaboration principles.
• Design and operationalization of a layered model with autonomous delivery teams, supporting units and clearly defined governance functions.
• Design of governance for Service Delivery Management, People Leads, Global Service Owners (GSO), operational teams, clusters and management committees.
• Structuring of the transformation rollout into ramp-up, implementation, hardening and operations, as well as development of kick-off, communication and feedback formats.
• Further development of PMO and office structures as well as portfolio and workforce management to create transparency around resources, risks, dependencies and decision requirements.
• Facilitation of cross-functional workshops and decision-making meetings, and translation of different stakeholder interests into actionable principles, rules and measures.

Interim assignment: IT Service and Operations Management

• Assumption of operational responsibility for Citrix and AD/Access, including incident, escalation, transition and quality management in day-to-day operations.
• Clarification of operational interfaces and clear separation of responsibilities between internal units, Service Delivery Management and external service providers.
• Conduct of structured GAP analyses of existing service descriptions, preparation of make-or-buy decisions and clarification of roles with KPI integration.
• Management of conflicting objectives, dependencies and escalations in complex customer, operations and transformation situations.

Selected results

• The transformation target model was translated into directly applicable roles, governance rules, organizational elements and rollout formats.
• Decision-making paths, responsibilities and interfaces between operational delivery, supporting functions and management were described transparently and bindingly.
• The foundations for self-organized teams, standardized service descriptions and reliable portfolio, resource and management transparency were established.

Methods: Operating Model Design, Governance Design, RACI, GAP Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Workshop Facilitation, Change Communication, Risk and Escalation Management, KPI and Service Management

Context: Corporate transformation - Establishment of a central unit for Corporate Management & Transformation

• ▪ Established and managed the newly created Corporate Management & Transformation department on an interim basis
• ▪ Defined the Target Operating Model as well as the tasks, responsibilities and governance structures of the new unit
• ▪ Established company-wide project portfolio management for the transparent prioritization and management of strategic projects and initiatives
• ▪ Developed governance, decision-making and escalation processes for transformation and change initiatives
• ▪ Designed company-wide process management with an end-to-end process map, defined process responsibilities and consistent process governance
• ▪ Further developed standards and methods for project management, change management and organizational development
• ▪ Managed and supported strategic transformation, digitalization and organizational projects across the company
• ▪ Established systematic benefits realization to measure and track the benefits of change initiatives
• ▪ Advised the management on the prioritization, governance and organizational integration of company-wide change initiatives---

• Electronics – Surface Solutions | Carve-out of IT, data and system landscape*

• Separation of a full business division's IT, data and system landscape following divestment; centrally governed investment envelope in the three-digit m€ range

• Laboratory notebook and laboratory analytics platform stream: Palantir Foundry, Snowflake, Signals Notebook, Power BI and connected laboratory instrumentation; site transition completed without interruption to laboratory operations

• Decision authority and escalation point for business, IT infrastructure, IT security and vendors; separation executed across globally distributed users and systems, handed over on schedule

In-house consulting provider and driver of transformation within the group, multi-stakeholder environment and C-level.

Realignment and stabilization of a cross-functional transformation and scaling program within the group. Sharpening the target picture, priorities, and set of measures, as well as building reliable governance, planning, and steering structures. Structuring roles, responsibilities, and strategic initiatives while including AI and IT automation ideas.

• Designed program realignment and project portfolio management

• Developed strategy model and target picture for IT projects

• Structured portfolio, roadmap, and priorities

• Established governance and regular meetings

• Worked out operating model for flagship projects

• Assessed AI and automation ideas

• Clarified roles and responsibilities

• Implemented change measures

• Developed, moderated, and evaluated workshops

• Transformed 17 initiatives into a steering model

• Increased transparency and decision-making ability

• Strengthened commitment in steering

• Sharpened the operating model structurally

• Integrated three top-5 institutes

• Involved over 80% of stakeholders

• Governance

• Portfolio steering (PPM)

• Change management

• Artificial intelligence

• Workflow automation

• AI use case assessment

• Confluence

• Jira

• Stakeholder management

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

VALUE ADDED:

The structured analysis and further development of business requirements and processes is driving the modernization of contract administration in a focused manner. Complex business matters and dependencies are made transparent, optimization potential is identified, and transferred into scalable solution approaches that enable as much straight-through processing as possible. This creates clearer and more efficient processes as well as reliable decision-making and implementation foundations for business departments, architecture, and development.

• Development of business requirements and processes for the further development and modernization of contract administration
• Creation and further development of business concepts, process descriptions, and decision-making documents for implementing new and optimized processes
• Analysis of existing processes and identification of optimization potential to simplify and scale processes
• Structuring of complex business matters in a dynamic project environment to ensure transparency and traceability for all involved
• Identification and clarification of business dependencies and interfaces, especially in interaction with adjacent systems and departments
• Contribution to business target models and development of solution approaches for new, scalable processes that also enable straight-through processing
• Leadership and moderation of business workshops to coordinate and further develop requirements with internal stakeholders from business departments, architecture, and development
• Prioritization of business topics and requirements for targeted implementation
• Support with testing, reviews, and quality assurance, including the creation and coordination of business test cases to verify the implemented solutions
• Use of SharePoint and Kanban to document and manage tasks

• Identified operational improvement opportunities together with production, engineering and management teams.
• Prioritized use cases according to measurable operational value rather than technology availability.
• Developed solutions around production performance, OEE, quality, traceability, reporting and process transparency.
• Translated operational requirements into required machine data, interfaces, information models and application requirements.
• Defined target architectures and integration approaches for heterogeneous brownfield production environments.
• Moved prioritized use cases from workshop and concept stages into concrete implementation projects.
• Coordinated manufacturing, OT, IT and technology stakeholders during implementation.
• Established reusable approaches to scale successful solutions beyond individual machines or pilot areas.

• After several S/4 go-lives, structure, role clarity, and decision clarity were missing in Finance and IT; governance mechanisms, prioritization logic, and responsibilities were not defined well enough.

• Unclear interfaces, high coordination effort, and inconsistent ways of working led to organizational instability and limited leadership and steering capability.

• The existing operating model between Finance, Controlling, and IT was not working, which affected transparency, collaboration, and decision paths.

• Designed the transformation and organization architecture for Finance and clarified roles, decision paths, and priorities.

• Diagnosed and structured the Finance and IT organizations (DE/UK/PL), including collaboration, responsibilities, and interfaces.

• Redesigned the Finance–IT operating model with a focus on governance, steering routines, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Enabled leaders and teams, especially Global Process Owners, Key Users, and Finance Leads (systemic organizational development / leadership).

• Steered the transformation portfolio, including clarity on risks, dependencies, and cross-functional decision processes.

• Restored structural steering capability by clearly defining roles, decision paths, and priorities and anchoring them across the organization.

• Strengthened governance and cross-functional collaboration in a systemic way - Finance, Controlling, and IT worked again in consistent, aligned structures; friction losses dropped measurably.

• Harmonized working and communication logic, making coordination faster, more transparent, and less conflict-heavy.

• Enabled the organization in a sustainable way, including the build-up of a strong Key User / Process Owner community and clearly defined steering routines.

• Made the transformation structurally manageable - prioritized initiatives, clear risk and progress logic, and consistent decision formats increased execution speed.

• Customer portal – further development and release change

Technologies / Tools: Clarity, Microsoft 365 / MS Office (especially Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams), SharePoint, Helaba internal AI environment

• Team size: 32 people
• Approach: traditional project management
• Planning and management of updates to the customer portal of the Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen to the current vendor release
• Coordination of implementation in close cooperation with the vendor, portal operator, line organization, and other stakeholders involved
• Set-up of new test environments for migration and acceptance testing
• Planning of migrations and the required test stages and test procedures
• Preparation of the go-live script as well as planning and coordination of the cutover, hypercare, and subsequent stabilization phase
• Planning the expansion of the portal to include electronic identification
• Management, monitoring, and continuous adjustment of project planning
• Coordination of development, testing, release preparation, and go-live
• Planning and moderation of regular project and coordination meetings
• Management reporting on project progress, risks, and required actions
• Regular use of the Helaba internal AI environment to verify and ensure the quality of work results and project documents

Independent practice | IT consulting & AI infrastructure

• Self-employed with a focus on agentic AI and IT transformation
• Design and operation of a self-hosted multi-agent AI infrastructure (20+ agents)
• Consulting on digital strategy and taking on interim leadership mandates for organizations in transition