Dr. Heiko Müller - Interim Manager, Consultant, Moderator & Sparring Partner

Goal:

• Improve collaboration between four business divisions and three sites
• Concrete improvement of the complaints process (catch-all)

Challenge:

• Change from a hierarchical to a project-centric organization
• Acceleration of cultural change

Result:

• Identification and roll-out of a new complaints process. Introduction of data-driven decisions in the complaint process and acceleration by 20% after only 4 months.
• Transfer of improvements from business unit A to business unit B (especially target agreement process)
• Sensitization for teamwork and information exchange

• Goal: The product development process (PDP) was perceived as non-transparent and cumbersome. The “target process” was not lived and deviated from the “actual process” This was to be optimized.

• Challenge: The PDP contains 5 milestones in which up to 10 different teams at two locations were involved. There were different ideas about the “right” process, the corresponding roles and responsibilities.

• Result: The actual situation was recorded in numerous workshops. It was important to listen carefully and actively capture feedback from all stakeholders. After outlining the target picture, the process was developed for all teams involved and feedback was obtained to strengthen commitment and understanding. After a short time, the new process was rolled out across the company.

• Goal: The member representatives of a Hessian association each represent individual interests. At the strategy offsite, the task was to draft a unified plan for the next decade that all members would actively support.

• Challenge: Each individual interest group pursues – quite rightly – different goals. The challenge was to find a common denominator without diluting the result or preventing individual members from seeing themselves reflected in the target picture.

• Result: In-depth interviews were conducted with all stakeholders in the run-up to the offsite, and the results were processed. The discussion was actively moderated and conducted both openly and intensively; all stakeholders were actively involved. It was possible to define a clear vote for the future association strategy, which is supported by all stakeholders.

Results (excerpt):

• Successful strategic realignment during the pandemic (conversion from face-to-face to online delivery) and long-term development of the company (introduction of new products, such as courses on “Leading at a Distance” or “Agile Coaches”).
• Technical and disciplinary management of up to 20 employees in the HR, Sales & Marketing, Assistance, IT and Accounting departments.
• Successful selection, onboarding, and management of various service providers (tax advisor, IT service provider, data protection officer).
• Responsible for the planning and implementation of the company-wide personnel requirements
• Successful reorganization of the complete IT infrastructure from on-site to cloud services and setting up of data protection regulations throughout the company (provider selection, onboarding, training of employees)
• Sparring partner for colleagues on all seniority levels.

• Goal: Design and implement a go-to-market strategy for a moderated app platform that enables collaboration between AI startups and leading asset managers.

• Challenge: The platform build requires simultaneous customer acquisition on the supply and demand side. This was enabled by an innovative pricing strategy.

• Result: Successful launch of the app and positioning of the provider as the preferred technology and service provider in asset management.

Results (excerpt):

Marketing, Sales & Customer Service

• Reorganization of the globally distributed Customer Service team according to time zones to ensure direct assignment of customer and client service as well as increased accessibility
• Website relaunch to increase reach (SEO, SEA) and expansion of social media activities with continuous optimization of online marketing measures
• Initiation and implementation of a CRM-system to track client activities and focus on the most profitable clients

Business Strategy

• Stabilize faltering crypto business by focusing on scalable core IT-elements of cryptocurrency exchanges
• Leveraging deep blockchain expertise and establishing a new business unit for blockchain industry applications

Controlling & Accounting

• Introduction of KPIs for targeted controlling and forecasting of the core business
• Strict cost control and identification of significant overhead savings opportunities

Human Resources

• Initiation and implementation of HR processes for more efficient management and control of employee data as well as digitization of the hiring process
• Analysis and identification of individual skill sets within the team. Change of responsibility and task assignment with increased efficiency and customer orientation

Goal: The offering of a family office is to be expanded to include impact investing strategies.

Challenge: The impact investing market was analyzed with its different players, offerings and business strategies. The peer group was analyzed in depth and compared with the client’s existing resources; potential bottlenecks for market entry were identified.

Result: A clear recommendation for action was made with concrete product offerings, possible cooperation partners and resources to be built up in the future. In a slightly modified form the proposal was implemented.