What do you consider to be the biggest successes of your project?

The praise we got from our own colleagues. Particularly from those who were very skeptical about the project at the beginning. People changed their minds as it became clear that the system would be accessible everywhere. The advantages relating to data entry and reporting finally convinced even the more critical colleagues.

For me personally, the most significant achievement was that we were able to complete the project in 22 countries in only 12 months. We chose Scrum as an agile development method to be able to accomplish this complex task within such a short timeframe. The advantage of this method is that it makes it possible to react quickly to new or changed requirements. Only by working closely with SAP was it possible for us to implement a system switch in all T-Systems international subsidiaries practically overnight. I’m extremely proud of this accomplishment – and of the intensive and constructive collaboration of all those involved.

I’m particularly delighted that the accomplishment of the project team has also gained recognition outside of our company. We have been presented with three awards for SalSA: bronze for the CRM Best Practice Award, gold for the SAP Best Quality Award Germany and silver for the SAP Best Quality Award EMEA.

What about cost effectiveness?

We expect to be able to recoup the project costs within the first 3 years. As for operating costs, we have measured a savings of 15% so far in comparison to our previous system. Also across areas, SalSA has demonstrated a very positive balance..

And what does the future hold for your SAP landscape?

SalSA was only the first step on the way to our target architecture. Currently we’re working on continuing development of our IT for automated processing of “lead-to-cash.” By connecting SAP Convergent Charging with our CRM platform and modernizing our ERP landscape, we will be laying the foundation for an even more optimized IT infrastructure.

What are your plans as CIO for the coming years?

As I see it, the classic role of the CIO will change dramatically. The social media tidal wave, which can no longer be held back, and the trend toward unified communication will profoundly change the tasks of the CIO. The CIO will still be responsible for the information and communication technologies of his or her company, but the challenges on the way to Enterprise 2.0 will change fundamentally. In the next few years, the CIO has to develop further into a Chief Collaboration Officer (CCO). I plan to take on this challenge, in order to help our employees and ultimately our customers to benefit from these trends.

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