Directly at the pain point

E-3: Mr. Schmidt, what tasks and responsibilities are associated with your new role as a member of the Executive Board?

Michael Schmidt: My main tasks will be the expansion of the Managed Services and the expansion and stabilization of Project and Professional Services.

In doing so, I would like to place an even stronger focus on industry expertise and place our innovative capabilities at the center of our activities.

E-3: What are Ciber's objectives in taking this step?

Schmidt: The range Managed Services is a very important area for us, and Germany represents a significant growth market in this respect.

We intend to use this development to improve sales in the long term and thus further optimize the profitability of the company and increase its enterprise value.

E-3: What are your goals in your new role? What are you particularly looking forward to?

Schmidt: First and foremost, I want to further expand Ciber's services in the DACH region, strengthen the company's profitability and gain additional market share.

Our employees are particularly important to me, because motivated and satisfied employees are the basic prerequisite for a functioning company that generates innovations.

I look forward to fully realizing this potential and continuing to move Ciber forward as an attractive employer.

E-3: You were most recently responsible as managing director at Ciber Managed ServicesThe establishment and expansion of the Managed Services business in Germany. What role will this area play for the company in the future?

Schmidt: The area is Ciber's core business and naturally continues to play an important role. I therefore want to drive the integration of the organization into international processes even more strongly.

For example, we are currently aligning our global Support-processes with uniform standards and Tools off. This gives us the opportunity to serve international customers not only in separate European and American teams, but also in global nearshore and offshore teams.

E-3: Where do you see current trends and challenges in Managed Services?

Schmidt: IT is becoming increasingly complex and companies must therefore decide which are their really important core competencies that they want to run in-house and where they can rely on a professional Partner should be supported.

This Partner should have the necessary Know-how be able to invest in new topics and be able to support the dynamic requirements of the business via scaling effects.

In addition, IT is becoming more and more global. There are hardly any medium-sized customers left who do not have to support some IT activity internationally. Their own employees usually cannot perform these tasks, if only for capacity reasons.

As an internationally operating IT company with 7000 employees, Ciber offers itself as a possible Partner under the link.

In addition, various business requirements are being placed on IT in ever shorter cycles, often pushing internal IT departments to their limits.

That is why an ITPartnerwhich has the scalability and innovative power, is so important for our customers. Because in order to survive in the market against competitors, the processes must be implemented as efficiently and quickly as possible.

E-3: In your opinion, what is Ciber's greatest innovative strength?

Schmidt: We offer organizations solutions that address the pain points of their business. With Ciber ProfitBoost-Sales, for example, we enable the analysis and optimization of margins in sales and purchasing. This helps companies optimize profit through sound pricing strategies - without having to make the often necessary, lengthy and complex system or process changes in the company, which again require new Costs would cause.

Another example is our mobile solutions based on Sybaseto enable mobile and global access to business information from the SAP-system at any time.

Through the migration of Business processes to mobile devices will not only accelerate business cycles, increase productivity, reduce operating costs, but at the same time increase the reach of their business.

E-3: Thank you very much for the interview.