In-house start-up at an international technology champion

When Joschka Hanselmann joined Körber IT Solutions (KITS) as a Junior SAP Consultant in 2017, the SAP team consisted of three people. Today, just over a year later, that figure has doubled. KITS has about 35 employees in all. “It’s actually like working at a start-up,” says the 29-year-old. “It’s very exciting, and I devote myself to new topics every day.”

Körber IT Solutions was founded in 2016. Its function is to set up central IT services for the Körber Group and to provide in-house services. Until now the Group’s many subsidiaries, which have about 11,000 employees on five continents, have still been using various different IT environments and applications. This situation is about to change in order to speed up processes and simplify cooperation in general and especially within innovation projects. That’s why a global IT infrastructure is now being set up. Körber IT Solutions also supports IT projects within the Group — for example, the introduction of SAP.

A major industrial player versus a start-up? Not at Körber! Here we combine the best of both worlds.

Most of the time Joschka works in Hamburg, the city he moved to in 2010. “But I travel a lot,” he says. He spends several days a month at Körber subsidiaries so that he can talk with the employees face to face. “This is how I get to know the requirements for each site’s business operations,” he says. “These operations range from manufacturing to system integration and software production. As an industrial engineer, of course I enjoy the fact that I still have a close connection with production.”

Körber IT Solutions, whose employees form a multicultural team, regards itself as a start-up within this major technology player. “We’ve got very flat hierarchies, and all of us are on a first-name basis. We’ve also got open workspaces and flexible work times,” Joschka says. “That means I can work anywhere, at times that I choose myself.” He became familiar with the work processes at Körber while he was doing a work-study program.

Wanted: Team players

Digitization and a high-performance IT system are ongoing topics, and Körber IT Solutions continues to grow. That’s why the company is looking for experts who want to help shape both of these areas. “We’re creating the foundation for digital advancement,” says Volker Scheeff, the head of the Applications and Projects unit at Körber IT Solutions, which is Körber’s own provider of IT services. The unit’s employees have the opportunity to shape many tasks themselves. “Today IT is an essential cornerstone for innovations at all companies in the Körber Group, ranging from a software powerhouse to a machine and plant builder. That’s why in the future we will continue to have many exciting projects that employees can participate in.”

Job applicants who are interested in working here should ideally have completed a course of study with an IT background. It’s also possible to join KITS through a cooperative study program. Körber IT Solutions runs a cooperative study program together with the Nordakademie University of Applied Sciences in Elmshorn, a small city near Hamburg. Volker’s main expectation is that his fellow employees should be actively committed to their work. “If people ask me on their first day on the job what their tasks are, they’re at the wrong company,” he says. “We’re looking for people who want to create and develop something, take on responsibility, and enjoy designing new solutions by themselves.”

Freedom and flexibility

KITS is also searching for people with an entrepreneurial mindset. “We’re looking for colleagues who have ideas and feel responsible for them until they have been successfully implemented. In short, we want people who roll up their sleeves and get down to work,” Volker explains. “Of course that requires technologically based expert knowledge.”

In-depth know-how and a can-do mentality: Körber IT Solutions offers a great deal of freedom and flexibility for this kind of entrepreneurial work. “We have trust-based working hours, and we can also work in a home office,” says Joschka Hanselmann, who started working at the company after completing his master’s degree. “We’ve also got the opportunity to support IT application projects from the very start and to shape processes ourselves.”

He has just finished a seminar on self-organization. “Körber offers an extremely good program of trainings,” he says. They help employees to continue developing their professional expertise — but that’s not all. “The focus is also on personal development,” Joschka says. “This branch of the training program is preparing me to take on more responsibilities myself one day.” It’s all about rolling up your sleeves and getting down to work.