Challenge accepted
Group IT can make you happy - and it does
It took two and a half attempts for things to work out between Ferdinand von Gaisberg and Geberit. A bit of an unusual number for what was actually quite a smooth story – a story of opportunities and the right feeling for the fine difference.
“Geberit is a popular employer where I come from, the area around Lake Constance in southern Germany. And that was where I wanted to work. But because I work in a very specific area of IT, taking care of customer databases (CRM – Customer Relationship Management), I needed two attempts to actually get there. The first attempt was with the German sales organisation and the second with the Geberit Group, in other words the company headquarters in Switzerland. My supervisor then made sure that I could assume a role in Pfullendorf as opposed to Switzerland.
Naturally there are differences between highly dynamic IT consulting and a manufacturing company. Companies simply cannot try to follow every trend. That was a point the company brought up at my interview where they asked me point-blank whether it wouldn't be better for me to immerse myself in a different world. I myself am very adaptable, love my job and can resist hypes in the IT world. So I was looking forward to the challenges.
On board
Since April 2019, I have been working as Senior IT Application Analyst in the support area for sales and marketing. Since there are now around 2,000 users in the CRM area, you really need a dedicated team, working on a sustainable basis – and that is something Geberit wanted to have in place. As a project manager, I am responsible for implementing, preparing and providing support for projects in sub-sections. Secondly, as roll-out manager, I make sure that colleagues in all sales organisations are able to switch from old software versions to new ones. And that they can still find their data afterwards.
Common values
I think it is great to be part of the Geberit family. We share a common set of values and you can sense within the company that we are all pulling in the same direction. Together with the teams, we define the conditions and then provide solutions, giving them exactly what they need and what the IT department really believes in.
Similarly, it is a matter of course for us to work openly and transparently with colleagues on site, whether the projects take place in Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Nordics or anywhere else. But even on a small scale I can feel the difference to other companies. For example, the state of the work equipment and technical infrastructure is very good. I’m not just talking about the WLAN, that gives me access to the network at all Geberit sites without any problems, but also things such as standing workstations. It proves that there is something special in Switzerland and if you take Geberit, then you know you are working for a special but also modest company.”