“I’ve been wearing the same hairstyle for years,” answers Semere Gebrab with a smile when asked what he would like to change. The answer demonstrates his sense of humor and shows that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Semere’s approach to customers is completely different: They are always the focus of his attention. He has been working as a Senior Consultant at Schober since the beginning of the year and communicates the opportunities of data-driven sales and marketing. In many projects, “Brahm’s staircase is an ingenious tool that always shows the right path as a compass,” says Semere. Otherwise, the passionate sportsman speaks fluent Chinese, is a philanthropist, communicator and (in the car city of Stuttgart!) sometimes converts model cars from combustion engines to electric cars to relax. But it’s actually people who make him shine. But one after the other.

With strong women on the Albaufstieg

Semere grew up in a small town in the Alb-Donau district, right at the foot of the Swabian Alb. He came here with his family – three sisters, three brothers and his mother – when he was four years old. While most of the family fled the civil war in Ethiopia/Eritrea, his father stayed and continued to run his logistics company. The Albaufstieg is Semere’s home, where he goes to school until he completes his vocational baccalaureate. He repeatedly emphasizes that strong women have had a formative influence on him: “I was brought up by strong women. That had a big influence on my life and my view of the world.” In the first phase of his life, these were his sisters, but above all his mother. Her courage, assertiveness and determination left their mark and made an impression. “She was a self-taught language learner, enormously courageous and always took on great responsibility. But conversely, she also gave up responsibility so that I could do things myself and develop,” says Semere.

In search of the new: from the Alb to Xi’an

After school, he did community service in various retirement homes and broadened his horizons by interacting with people: “Learning starts with doing,” he emphasizes. Because of his commitment, he is popular, plays chess with the residents and is so communicative that he discovers many ways of thinking and speaking for himself. He then moves to Stuttgart as a sports and gymnastics coach before going to China. Because he has courage and a thirst for action – and so he decides to enrol on the German-Chinese Media and Technology degree course with a specialization in packaging technology at the Hochschule der Medien (HdM) and Xi’an University of Technology (TUX) in the People’s Republic of China. He spends one and a half years in China, not only learning for his studies, but also actively seeking exchange. “It’s the here and now that counts,” he recalls, recounting how he played football with his fellow students and immersed himself in the everyday life of the Chinese.

Close to people: selling the extra mile

Back in Stuttgart, the newly qualified packaging engineer is about to start his career: Goods, products or people? “Packaging is nice, communicating is nicer” – in the end, Semere decides to work with people. Selling is his calling. For the next eight years, he worked for a recruitment agency that placed IT specialists. “It was always about understanding and thinking through the client’s complex projects in order to find the right IT professionals,” he says, describing his work. “Communicating with people, delivering solutions and providing the right skills were important aspects. But for me as a free spirit, working independently and freely was also extremely important.” And again, strong women: “The exchange with my boss was snappy, effective and to the point; she was very self-confident and encouraged me by giving me responsibility and freedom without micromanagement. I’m happy to go the extra mile for freedom and deliver results,” says the sales professional.

Much more news and a warning

Then he feels the need for something completely new. “Eight years was a great time, I learned a lot. But in 2022 it was time for something new, for challenges, for cool people. I looked around and Schober quickly became my favorite. I was impressed by the company’s range of services and the udo product. The job interview quickly confirmed to me that this was exactly the right company for me and a change of industry,” he admits and is pleased that he was also able to impress as a Senior Consultant for Schober Sales. Things are going well with his new colleagues: “I come from a sales background and don’t need close man coverage, but the Schoberians are all very helpful. That’s great. Good company with other people makes me shine!” he says, praising the family atmosphere and flat hierarchies. But he does have one warning: “You should never play table tennis against Jogi from the analysis without preparation, you don’t stand a chance.”

On Brahm’s staircase to top sales

Business and customer contacts have started well for Semere. He is particularly taken with Schober udo: “I love udo. The SaaS platform does three key things: it helps to consolidate data, it helps to better understand regular customers and it helps to find future customers more easily.” As a good communicator, he has learned to listen, remain persistent and respond to customers’ concerns and challenges. The best tool and approach besides udo? “Brahm’s Staircase, because the model shows where you stand with your data strategy – or whether you have one at all.” Customers can use it to assess their own market value and develop strategies to win new customers and retain them in the long term. “That’s why Brahm’s Staircase is an important compass on the road to success in data-driven sales,” Semere is convinced.

Family happiness and fit at the same time

What counts as soon as the Schober world fades into the background in the evening and Semere takes the stairs to go home? Then sport is at the top of the list. “When I’m not thinking about work and professional challenges, sport helps me. I can switch off and be completely in the here and now,” he confesses. The range is wide – in addition to mental sports such as chess, Semere also plays beach volleyball. He also used to play football a lot, but nowadays he prefers a table tennis match and is training for his next encounter with Jogi (so watch out, Jogi 😉). Semere is also a tinkerer. In winter, he builds model cars and clearly moves with the times: last winter, he quickly turned a conventional 1:10 scale car into an electric model.

“Characteristic for me? The curiosity to understand the world and – like my children – to experience miracles every day,” says Oliver Wick. “Because that shows that you can always find completely different solutions. I love problem sets that you can’t immediately see through.” Oliver has been a Schoberian since the beginning of the year. In keeping with his passion, the doctor of physics and senior consultant in sales solves complex challenges and offers customized solutions. He finds udo’s iPhone approach unique. What else keeps him busy? Family, physics, science fiction and always data, data quality and the question of how to gain insights from data. How it’s all connected?

Honest skin from East Frisia

His life’s journey begins in East Frisia. This is where Oliver was born and raised in a “loving home and cocoon.” Parents encourage their own thinking and questioning of adopted ideas. At the same time, they convey a fundamental set of values – solidarity, openness and honesty are among them. “I think that shaped by my childhood I am a very open and honest person. I see the world and people positively and want to do the right thing, not something, somehow,” Oliver emphasizes. The customer also feels the “honest skin” in business. That’s why you trust him and realize that it’s about the best solution. “When I advise customers, it’s so that we can do it right together. Buying, that’s what the customer does by himself.”

From the north to the southwest

Even at a young age, he got into the habit of thinking around corners and getting to the bottom of things. His choice of study fits in with this: He chooses physics as a subject after school because it “requires a diverse and colorful approach to new things.” No sooner said than done – he began his studies in Braunschweig and then transferred to Göttingen. The search for a doctoral advisor ultimately leads him to Freiburg, right in the southwest. Oliver worked here for five years as a scientist, sparing neither complex questions nor effort. At the end is the doctorate in experimental physics. Does he miss scientific work today? “No, as a senior consultant, my current day-to-day work is actually not that different. Here, too, it’s all about understanding, exploring new things and finding creative solutions. However, today I have intensive contact with customers, which is a huge benefit for me.”

Mediator for added value between customer and opportunities

Oliver initially started his career as a programmer at a large German systems house, working on traffic planning in Japan, among other things. It quickly becomes apparent what he really enjoys: dealing with people. He is moving to Uniserv, where he will focus on topics related to data, data quality, master data management and customer data management. “I see myself as a mediator between the customer and his requirements on the one hand and what is technically feasible on the other,” is how he describes his self-image. As a team leader, senior consultant and senior sales manager, Oliver takes on many projects and gains valuable experience with medium-sized companies and large corporations. “Resourcefulness and creativity are just as much in demand as deep technical understanding to turn them into a solution for the customer’s requirements. Success is always solution selling, which means creating added value for the customer.”

“Listen and stay innovative”

He sees the relationship with the customer like a relationship. “Before you start the business collaboration, the relationship builds first. And just like getting to know each other, it has to spark. Listening and remaining innovative is then central to further consulting,” Oliver tells us. Because even if it is convenient to solve all challenges with the same method – keyword pigeonhole thinking – success lies in the consultation and the solution developed from it. To do this, Oliver needs not only broad expertise but also the ability to think outside the box and rethink solutions.

udo’s iPhone approach, the perfect combination…

Seeking and taking new paths – this is a constant that eventually leads Oliver to the Schober Information Group. The Management buyout makes him curious. “When I saw how consistently the three managing directors in Schober’s management were breaking new ground, I sought out the conversation to see if we were a good fit,” he says, adding, “And we are a good fit!” Oliver joined the sales team in January 2022, bringing years of experience working with data, data management and analytics. Interested parties can look forward to customized solutions for their data management.

The doctor of physics is particularly fascinated by is particularly fascinated by the Schober Information Group’s flagship product udo. “udo’s iPhone approach is ingenious, the perfect combination of many applications and simply packaged,” he says enthusiastically and emphasizes: “There is hardly another tool on the market that provides this combination in a single application: an MDM including data enrichment from the Schober data universe, the complete analytics area including machine learning and a target group-controlled campaign tool. Everything is implemented automatically, from breaking down data silos to targeted campaigns. Unique!”

During his time at Schober, he has found competence and cordiality above all: “Decades of experience are paired with a spirit of enthusiasm and cordial cooperation. There is also a great atmosphere of optimism, which makes me happy to come to the office in Stuttgart :-)”.

Children, Family, North Sea Coast

And outside the Schober universe? Admittedly, it’s a long way to the office in Stuttgart. That’s because Oliver lives on the North Sea with his wife and three children. For the East Frisian, the circle closes here, and for the family as a whole, new horizons open up. Compared to the previous life in Karlsruhe (“manager parked next to manager” – according to Oliver), life is much more relaxed and rural. For children and dog the house offers space. And of course the beach is not far.

Happiness and joy come “when my wife is happy with me and my children at the beach, when after many attempts I finally find the solution to a problem and am successful with it at work, when I watch my children play, or when an exciting book absorbs me.”

At the same time, Oliver tries to keep as many balls in the air as possible and live his hobbies. “In addition to the various challenges of a family of five, I enjoy working with wood, playing chess (Internet only at the moment), mountain biking and road biking, and reading a lot of science fiction and contemporary philosophy,” he says. Want some book tips? Oliver recommends Singularity by Joshua Tree and Children of Eternity by Andreas Brandhorst. Maybe there are some suggestions for your next vacation at the North Sea?

Anyone who meets Katrin Meier-Mwangai is immediately in the middle of a conversation with her and always wants to know more – whether it’s about private or professional aspects. “Every phase of life and every job has shaped me, some more, some less. Whether it’s the ‘jet-set’ job for AMD, where I was more or less at home in the world’s airports, or life in developing countries, where many of the things we take for granted in everyday Western life are not,” Katrin replies when asked about formative experiences.

Solving complex challenges and curiosity are two central motives in her life. And challenge is not the usual business phrase: Katrin gets to the bottom of things. She joined Schober in April 2020 as Head of Digital Strategy to drive the roadmap of the DataTech offering and provide strategic advice to customers on digital transformation.

From Bavarian Swabia …

It all started in Nördlingen in Bavarian Swabia. Katrin grew up here, and from here she went on to study IT at Siemens, with stops in Paderborn and Augsburg. A course of study exactly as she imagined it: lots of practice, lots of new things, lots of getting around. This was followed by years in development at Siemens, and later Fujitsu. Hardware, laptops, servers, but also software are Katrin’s fields there. She can still do the coding, although the need hardly arises anymore: udo and bearch development is more about development coordination and implementing customer requirements in the platform.

…to build bridges

“New is healthy,” she says after seven years at Fujitsu, she is leaving for AMD in the semiconductor industry. Katrin also oversees high-performance computing for EMEA for the Intel competitor. It involves computationally intensive operations, and Katrin often has to build bridges: between U.S. development and major EMEA customers such as Cern, the Jülich Research Center or ENI, between technologies, between people. It is the time when Katrin lives more in airports and flies from one meeting to the next. The job is exciting, very international and challenging – just “jet-set”.

Cosmopolitan and emphatic

She is also fascinated by travel and contact with a wide variety of people in her private life. At a young age, she begins to explore the world on her own. As opportunities increase, so does the travel radius; to date, she has visited over 70 countries. And here, too, she likes to get to the bottom of things: on the occasion of her trip to Indonesia, for example, she organizes a two-week stay at an orphanage in advance to participate in local life. Among many other destinations, she repeatedly goes to sub-Saharan Africa, where she also meets her current husband Munene. But until the wedding in 2018, it should then take a moment.

Rational gut – is that possible?

Because before that, there are career changes to be made: At some point, she no longer recognizes any prospects at AMD. She is offered an attractive option in the U.S., but the path mapped out for her within the company is not enough. Her boss at the time says, “You build houses, but you don’t want to mow lawns in the front yard.” In fact, she is looking for challenges, not so much life in a row house. She herself says, “I’m a gut person, even though I’m otherwise extremely rational.” How does that come together? “I listen carefully to my emotions and then I’m consistent.”

To Schober, via Schober to Kenya …

In 2013 she starts at Schober, the change into the marketing world is again very deliberate. Industries on the verge of a technological push offer just the right challenges. But there is one thought that keeps her going: she has always wanted to make a contribution to economically driven development aid – personally and not just financially. “If not now, nothing else will”, Katrin decides at the beginning of 2016 and starts with a project for Managers without Borders in Uganda. Afterwards, her life together with Munene begins and she works for different social enterprises that support local startups with financing and consulting. “You have to think your way in and gain deep insights into the country and people’s lives,” Katrin explains.

In 2017, she is diagnosed with a chronic disease in Nairobi that remained undetected in Germany until then. Recovery takes a long time and brings with it many a change of plans. This also includes their joint move to Germany, which the two will embark on in 2018.

… back to Germany as Head of Digital Strategy

After their return, the couple settles in Augsburg and Katrin reconnects with her contacts at Schober. Digital transformation has remained as a hot topic, marketing and technology complement each other perfectly. In April 2020, she will take on a central function as Head of Digital Strategy at Schober, becoming Chief Digital Officer in 2023. In addition to strategic customer consulting, she is responsible for the technical development of the DataTech offering: If you want to know what will be needed in the coming years and what is state of the art, Katrin is the right person for you.

Marketing automation in self-service

She dives into one topic after another, Katrin tells us. She is currently focusing on udo in particular: “The platform is already powerful because it automates many aspects for marketers. Where previously individual work and technical expertise were required, marketers can now use udo. On the one hand, the platform links data silos with each other and creates the prerequisites for a comprehensive customer view,” explains the Head of Digital Strategy. Most importantly, udo democratizes access to analytics and AI. “We are continuously adding use cases to udo so that customers can use more and more functions at the push of a button. In the medium term, the roadmap envisions the expansion of udo into a self-service platform as a milestone in Schober’s DataTech offering.” It is not yet possible to give a time frame, but medium-sized customers in particular are likely to be eagerly awaiting the offer.

And after work?

When evening comes, Katrin likes to read thrillers and especially appreciates black humor. It can be a little macabre for them. Sudoku of the class extra difficult are also part of the relaxation. So if you have a special headache, Katrin is looking forward to receiving your letters. When time permits, she goes hiking in the mountains with her husband. The trips that had to be cancelled to Covid19 will hopefully be made up soon. Some destinations are still missing from her list: Mozambique, Costa Rica and India are next on the agenda.

“Life motto? I’m not really fixed on that. With each stage of life, other goals come into focus. But I always want to live up to my own principles – a kind of inner mirror,” emphasizes Peter Ambrus. Peter has been a Schoberian since 2012. Today, as Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer, the fully qualified lawyer takes care of all legal issues of the Schober Information Group. So customers don’t have to worry about data protection. In addition, Peter has been one of the three company owners since summer 2021 as a result of the management buyout. Legal issues have accompanied him over the past years – always in combination with the business side. What shaped him? Hungary, Bad Cannstatt, Jura, Schober, sports and always water. But one after the other.

From Pécs to the Neckar

Peter Ambrus was born in Pécs in southern Hungary, and his native Hungarian is still familiar to him today. With one exception, however: “For me, legal language is exclusively German, so I hardly know the Hungarian terminology,” he remarks. At the age of four, the family moves to Budapest, and at 14 he goes to Germany with his parents. Work in a Hungarian cultural institute brings the family to Stuttgart. Peter goes to school here, returns to Budapest at the age of 18, and graduates from high school. But the connection to Germany and specifically to Bad Cannstatt never breaks again. Soon he will be back.

Water polo and then law in Tübingen

In Bad Cannstatt on the Neckar (not “in the cauldron”), everything finally falls into place perfectly. “Basically, I have faith in the world – everything is good in the end, and that’s how it was here,” Peter recalls. But it’s not a no-brainer: “If you want to achieve something, you need perseverance, you have to work hard, build skills and commit to your goals.” And he applies himself and works hard – in sports as well as in his studies.

Thus, he is under contract in Stuttgart with SV Cannstatt as a semi-professional water polo player. The (almost) professional sport finances life and law studies in Tübingen. In 2006, the water polo players from Cannstatt actually become German champions. “That was a great moment, but also a sad one,” he recalls, because all of a sudden all of the goals have been achieved. He turns his attention to his studies, specializes in environmental law and completes his studies in Tübingen.

The year 2012

This is followed by the traineeship and then quickly into professional life. In 2007, a small Stuttgart law firm is the entry point for him as a lawyer. Instead of environmental law, Peter is primarily involved in corporate and tax law, as the firm has a strong focus on business law. “That opened up whole new fields for me,” he recalls, the experience providing the necessary tools for the next steps. In 2012, he yearned for something new: “I didn’t want to work in a law firm anymore and thought to myself that as a corporate lawyer, you’d certainly see more than just lawsuit-happy clients. I was right – and to this day I’m very happy about that decision, which brought me straight to Schober.” As an in-house lawyer, he starts at Schober Holding, which at this point is a think tank, consulting unit and implementer of internationalization. “It’s a paradise for lawyers: lots of topics, lots of new things, lots of opportunities if you like to roll up your sleeves and create something,” he says.

Someone who (likes to) set his own frame

This is exactly his field, because Peter likes to work his way into new tasks and feels “at home everywhere and in different worlds”. And he has no fear of contact with new subjects or with other people. At some point, the German water polo champion with Hungarian roots moves into management, learns the operational basics and becomes one of the managing directors of the Schober Information Group. For Peter Ambrus, finally taking over the business as a shareholder within the framework of a management buyout was the opportunity to “consistently continue the path he had already taken on his own initiative.” Self-determined and at the same time a team player, he emphasizes the harmonious interaction with the other two shareholders as an important success factor.

udo and the irresistible value proposition

Asked what Schober’s “irresistible value proposition” is to its customers, Peter says (quite precisely, as one might expect from a lawyer): “Schober helps its customers to find and eliminate weaknesses in their own database and data processing. This creates substantial added value in many respects – marketing, sales, data protection. Foremost among these is our universal data orchestration (udo) because it automates and simplifies many very complex things.”

Peter himself is primarily involved in data protection issues and resolves them before customers even come into contact with them. “That reduces the risks, because you can rely on udo. And it makes marketing and sales easier, because you could also describe udo as ‘data protection as a service,’” he says with a wink and then takes in the big vision: “We want to help shape digitization as the fourth industrial revolution by supporting our customers in their further development. You can count on Schober.”

Create useful

And outside Schober? “I spend every free minute with family and sport in all its forms”. What would be his greatest private wish, we ask, and he says: “I would like to offer my daughter every opportunity so that she can find her own way and realize her dreams. For myself, I would like us to achieve our goals here at Schober and thus lead the company into an exciting future together with our employees.”

“I’m not satisfied with half measures,” says Silke Dieringer. But fun is also important to her, Immediately she has a joke at hand: “What is orange and goes over the mountains?” – the solution follows below. She has been managing customer projects at Schober since 2018. In doing so, she works closely with colleagues from sales and analysis to provide customers with optimal support. She manages focused projects for target group analysis with an emphasis on geomarketing/geofencing as well as complex customer projects on the universal data orchestration (udo) platform. Her will to succeed, joy of action and humor are in demand in project management.

Schober comes with Santa Claus

Unforgettable for Silke: the start at Schober, more precisely the job promise. Because that was while Christmas shopping. A bustling atmosphere in the stores on Stuttgart’s Königsstraße, loud Christmas music in the background and Sylvia Türcke on the phone with the job offer. “That was like an early Christmas present for me. Schober was exactly the employer where I wanted to go,” she says in retrospect. She is still happy at Schober today, because “here I got the chance to keep developing.” Originally, she does not come directly from the IT and data environment, but professionally from the creative industry and geographically from Stuttgart-Möhringen. But one after the other.

Product design, media business and learning new things

Silke grew up and went to school in Stuttgart, where she still lives today with her family and friends. Smiling, she refers to herself (without an accent) as “Urschwäbin”. No Swabian attributes follow, because flat clichés or even prejudices do not belong to her. “I am an open, communicative person. I take every person, every colleague, as they are.”

After school, she takes advantage of the opportunities offered by the industrial location and trains in product design. Hands-on work is required: drawing, drilling, milling, gluing – in short, everything you need to know to build prototypes. In addition to craftsmanship, creativity is indispensable. As her final project, she is designing new bus stops for Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz. However, to the regret of many a Stuttgart resident, it remains only a model to this day.

“Always learning new things” is important to her, so she goes on to study applied media management: advertising campaigns, project management and controlling, as well as screenwriting, are all on the curriculum in preparation for joining Schober. Many subjects she meets again later. As a bachelor, she starts her career at an advertising and creative agency, where she gains important practical experience in the management of diverse creative projects. Then Christmas comes and Silke finally starts at Schober.

Wanderlust, an S-NY license plate and the seriousness of life

She now lives in Echterdingen and can walk to work. But despite her attachment to Stuttgart and her family, Silke also has her wanderlust. She regularly goes on city trips, but beach vacations are less her thing. She is particularly fond of New York. Even her car has the license plate S-NY for Stuttgart-New York. She likes the Big Apple’s bustle and liveliness. “There’s a lot going on, there’s a pulse of life.” However, an already planned trip to New York had to be cancelled last year. But that will be made up for when the situation allows it again!

And Silke is also basically not someone who gives up. She knows how to fight for something. “In difficult situations, I learned to appreciate even small things, to be confident and to do the best I can.” Exactly the same applies on the job. Customers can rely on it: They get what they want and what they need for their success.

Live projects in customer consulting

Intensive exchange with customers and the Schober experts is an important success factor for Silke, creativity and solution-oriented thinking are others. “Projects are complex. First you have to understand the customer’s challenges exactly, and only then can you propose a solution. You often achieve even more for the customer if you ask questions, refine the analyses, and include new aspects in the solution. When I tackle a project, I want to live it,” is how Silke describes her work. The approach is very team and consultation oriented.

An example from one of their consulting fields, geofencing: A drugstore chain was looking for ways to strengthen customer loyalty. Together with colleague Sven Waldenmaier, they worked as a team to spatially classify customer flows, refine the questions, and develop seven personas. In the end, you knew: Yoga accessories have a magnetic effect on customer flows. “Results like this are fun. For me and for the customers, who get added value from it.” But other fun is not neglected either, she says and jokes. “What’s orange and goes over the mountains? Well, a Wanderine. What is healthy, strong and plays the offended? That’s right, the poutine bread. And what lives in the water and sees double? A cross-eyed horse.”

Dance with udo instead of pouting bread

Just as close to the customer, but with a different focus, are their projects around the universal data orchestration (udo) platform. This is convincing more and more companies – such as bruno banani, where Silke was also heavily involved. Whereas companies used to store their data in a widely dispersed manner, today it can be consolidated in the blink of an eye with udo and used in real time to analyze the customer journey. And where a lot of technical and statistical expertise was required in the past, users with a primary connection to the business – i.e. CEOs, CMOs and marketing managers – are now perfectly capable of handling the task, she says. Reasons: Top standard functions at the push of a button and user guidance for managing directors. “It’s like dancing. If you are perfectly guided, you also dance full of harmony,” Silke is pleased.

At work, after work: dancing and Do-It-Yourself

Because dancing makes them jump in the air with joy. “I love dancing. I used to dance ballet myself for 13 years.” In the meantime she prefers other dance styles like modern dance, which is currently difficult because of Corona. From her time as a product designer, a need for handcrafted work has remained. Thus, private Do-It-Yourself projects create the necessary balance to work. Otherwise, she enjoys spending her free time with friends and family; but especially with her niece, who always makes her laugh.

“Wherever possible, I optimize, structure and plan. Effectiveness gives me pleasure and challenges my mathematical play instinct,” Andreas Häfner describes himself and specifies: “But that is not a compulsion. I also very much appreciate spontaneity; after all, sometimes planning makes no sense.” In fact, Andreas is also good for surprises, more about that later.

He has been working as a Data Scientist at Schober since January 2018 and ensures in the analysis team that data is turned into insights for effective marketing measures. In addition to standard applications, Andreas manages complex customer projects involving new data and complete analyses – geomarketing/geofencing, for example. The third area of responsibility: he is active in the universal data orchestration (udo) platform. To do this, he models data in udo so that users don’t need to study math and yet their customer interactions are tip-top. Is that madness already or just optimization at the push of a button?

The ambition awakens, but always nice and easy

But first things first: Andreas grew up in the Nuremberg region, about 10 kilometers from Nuremberg. He went to school here and, he says, didn’t stand out much in terms of performance until college. With friends he plays sports at that time – soccer, volleyball, table tennis – but also tries more exotic sports like archery.

“But then my ambition kicked in and I put more effort into it than before. And lo and behold, I was suddenly very good at many things that people had previously thought I lacked the talent for,” he recalls. Ambition is also important for him today. Ambition also includes discipline, so that “I achieve the best possible result,” he explains, adding: “Of course, you have to overcome your inner weakness every now and then and pursue your goals consistently. Even if discipline is important for the Franconian – both privately and professionally – it remains a means to an end to meet one’s own high standards. At the same time he is relaxed and easy going. He finds tolerance toward others self-evident. Whoever gets to know Andreas meets an open-minded person who can listen and likes to laugh.

Tinkering or the thing with mathematical optimization

With the college years, his interest in mathematics also blossoms, where his special talent shows. His teacher in the math advanced course encourages him and eventually motivates him to study business mathematics at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg. Mathematical optimization and the sub-discipline convex optimization particularly excite him. This area of applied mathematics is concerned with finding optimal parameters for a complex system. Optimal means to minimize or maximize an objective function. That sounds too abstract? In his master’s thesis, Andreas deals with the optimal expansion of power grids. To do this, he creates models that relate parameters such as power poles, line paths, as well as physical conditions to align with a specific goal – such as minimizing maintenance costs. “It’s like a puzzle. You tinker, you model, and you’re happy when, in the end, the calculations fit together perfectly in practice.”

But he is also always concerned with diversity and exploring the world. Before graduating, Andreas spends a semester abroad in the USA. In Minnesota, he expands his professional and personal horizons, travels the country and enjoys student life. Back in Germany, he turns down the offer of a doctorate. Enough studies, Andreas wants to get into practice.

Schober, team spirit and Stuttgart

He will begin at Schober Information Group in January 2018. In principle, he would also have considered becoming an actuary in the actuarial field, but then takes the path of a data scientist in the marketing field. “Schober just has a lot of great and exciting data that I wanted to play around with,” he says, grinning, and continues, “The work is diverse, offers varied tasks and requires innovative thinking. So it suits me very well.” Another factor for him is the working atmosphere. The colleagues and the team spirit are super. “We support each other, and if there’s ever a hitch in a solution, brainstorming sessions help quickly.” The team, as you can quickly hear, is not limited to work. At lunchtime, they go to the gym together, play table tennis or foosball in between for mental refreshment, and they also like to drink a beer together after work, Andreas says. Because of Corona, however, there are no real commonalities at the moment; work is mainly done in the home office.

But he was also attracted to Stuttgart. After graduation, he felt like moving to a new city, and Stuttgart welcomed him well. After a stopover in Korntal-Münchingen, he now lives in Stuttgart Fasanenhof, close to the office by bike. “Stuttgart is great and not too far from my home in Nuremberg. I like the big-city flair here, there’s always something going on, the city is lively,” says the Franconian Swabian by choice. Nevertheless, he remains closely connected to Nuremberg: Friends, family, Nuremberg’s old town, three in the Weggla and many more things that you simply don’t forget so quickly; even in Stuttgart. And so he is also regularly in the old homeland.

Schober Dynamik: Always new, always innovative

Real dynamism and insane potential – these are the terms Andreas uses to describe his job at Schober. Above all, the possibilities of mobile data and the accompanying depth of information challenge his mathematical play instinct. And as a Data Scientist in the analytics team, it is precisely his job to bring together traditional and new data, proven and new analytics methods, analog and digital worlds for the benefit of customers.

Since his start, he has managed various client projects – from classic profile analyses and scoring to geoprojects such as catchment area analyses or visitor projections to very complex topics. But the development work on the universal data orchestration (udo) platform is particularly innovative: not everyone has the skills of a data scientist, but in the data-driven economy, everyone needs these skills. And this is exactly where udo comes in, because the platform provides all the necessary prerequisites and models practically at the push of a button. This is the case, for example, with the water specialist bevo, Andreas tells us. “Visualizations and programming and putting together dashboards have been the coolest part for me here, by the way, because it makes the benefits and insights from the data immediately visible. I love making things better!”

No, really? An American in Stuttgart

For all his mathematical precision and planning, Andreas is also spontaneous and good for surprises. In the background interview for this portrait, he provides – after about two hours of conversation – a completely different piece of information: His life has taken a very decisive turn privately with his studies abroad in the USA. In addition to university, country exploration and sports, he met and fell in love with his wife Angeles there. Initially, both of them were still prepared for a long-distance relationship, but half-measures are not to Andrea’s taste. And so the two have already been living together in Stuttgart for more than two years, have been married for a year and dream of owning their own home.

Otherwise, they enjoy what the city has to offer – meeting friends, going to the Volksfescht on the Wasen, to the Weindorf or other festivals in Stuttgart. If that can’t happen, sports, video games or series (currently “The Mandalorian”, for example) are on the agenda for relaxation.

Made to laugh for the bet

And what makes Andreas laugh? He doesn’t hesitate for a moment: “My wife. But we will never agree among ourselves who is funnier and who makes whom laugh more”. So it’s optimal: “She makes me laugh almost as much as I make her laugh,” he comments with a broad grin

“Doing what I haven’t done before – that’s what drives me. In the same way, solution orientation, a structured approach and reliability are part of my way of working,” is how Sylvia Türcke describes her self-image and adds: “Diversity, curiosity and joie de vivre are also important to me”. And then she confesses that she sometimes dances sitting down for joy. Whereby? We’ll come back to that.

Since 2010, Sylvia has worked at Schober Information Group Germany, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and member of the operational management team. Through management buyout, it has been one of the three new owners since July 2021. However, she has long played a decisive role in shaping the strategic direction of the company and has not only been intensively involved in the birth of the universal data orchestration platform – udo for short. How did this happen?

Diversely interested and broadly positioned

Sylvia grew up near Hanover, where she went to school and her parents gave her “a lot of opportunities. That’s why I still have a wide range of interests and am always enthusiastic about new things,” she says in answer to the question about formative moments. An example? She has been playing the piano since she was in high school, and three years ago she started drum lessons. The Schober co-owner emphasizes that she took care early on to develop skills and knowledge as broadly as possible in order to be able to cope well with any situation and a wide variety of personalities.

Tour d’Allemagne: Hanover, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart

After studying business administration in Hanover, she started her professional life in Munich at a management consultancy. Here she learns the basics: analyzing markets and competition, creating go-to-market concepts and looking strategically into the future. In the end, however, Sylvia misses development perspectives. She wants to continue to develop; to do what she has not done before.

Thus, she looks for a new challenge and finds it in Nuremberg at a sales service provider. Business development, marketing and public relations are tasks she’ll be growing at for the next three years. And then comes a turning point that brings her Tour d’Allemagne to Stuttgart: She moves to Stuttgart for her current husband and initially commutes to Nuremberg. However, it quickly becomes clear that she will only really feel at home in Stuttgart if she also works here. And so, after application, tough interviews and case study presentations (“as a former management consultant, you’re practiced”), Sylvia joins Schober in 2010.

Everything flows: “From small cog to co-owner”.

“If someone had told me back then that I would stay that long, end up in management and then even take over the company, from small cog to co-owner – I probably would have thought they were crazy,” she laughs, recalling her start at Schober in online marketing. As a later assistant to the management, Sylvia takes care of IT, the transformation of the foreign business as well as strategy development for the entire Schober Group. She proves herself in a male-dominated and hierarchical company and eventually takes over the area of customer and project management. “Inventing new things, blazing trails – I enjoy that,” she says. And there is an opportunity to do so, because a good five years ago Sylvia took over the operational management of the Schober Information Group together with the two current co-owners Martin Brahm and Peter Ambrus.

The new era begins: birth of udo

“Martin, Peter and I realized quite quickly that we would have to expand and reposition the portfolio if we wanted to survive in this rapidly changing market environment in the long term.” 70 years of experience in marketing, sales, data management and analytics guarantee a solid foundation, but digitization with countless media and IT innovations is also ushering in a new era at Schober. Market and potential analyses lead to a repositioning. The management team is making consistent use of digitization and is aligning the company with innovations to meet new market requirements. Today, the focus is on customer offerings for digitizing sales and marketing processes. The orientation as a Data & MarTech provider finds its most visible expression in udo, the platform for customer data, sales and marketing automation.

Sylvia recalls: “We developed our universal data orchestration platform – udo for short – on the flipchart. We then rolled it out to the individual departments – IT, analysis, customer and project management, etc. – and asked: Can we make it work like this? When employees later approached us and said they had ‘tried something there’, that was the birth of our udo.”

udo is now established in the market. “We have combined the best of all worlds in one SaaS application: the simple linking of information silos into a single data pool, sophisticated marketing and sales analyses, AI based on the best training data – namely the Schober data universe – and direct control of campaigns across all channels,” Sylvia summarizes and emphasizes: “Above all, udo is data protection-compliant and also ready to use directly with the purchase. Larger American competitors sometimes need years to get into the swing of things. Customers don’t have that time, and with us, they don’t need it.”

Courage, tenacity and dance for joy

Courage is just as necessary in a leadership role as a structured approach and tenacity. What Sylvia starts, she brings to success with vigor. Various poaching attempts for new challenges were not an option. With “I’m not done here yet” she canceled the offers and continued to take care of udo. With her structured and solution-oriented approach, she sometimes drives those around her crazy, she speculates. It’s probably not quite that bad.

In the same way, laughter, exuberance and pleasure belong to Sylvia. “Good food and good company – that’s pure joie de vivre for me. Then I dance for joy while sitting at the table, which sometimes irritates those around me a bit,” she confesses with a smile.

Travel, travel, travel

There are many other joys. Besides music, scuba diving is a great passion, even though she quickly gets seasick on a ship. But she also appreciates a walk in the woods after the rain. It’s not just the big things that make up happiness. As an “absolute stand-up guy”, failures and strokes of fate are also part of life. Often you feel yourself particularly intensely in the contrast. “On our honeymoon, we were in Tanzania on Mount Kilimanjaro. When you get to stand under a shower again after several days of exertion – that’s true luxury,” she recalls. In general, travel is important. Besides Tanzania, a kayak tour in Antarctica with whale watching is particularly memorable for her. But the best vacation is always the next one. She plans to continue to “travel, travel, travel – work permitting.”