Part 1 of the interview: Sarik Weber (Ottobock) and Thilo K?lzer (antwerpes)
Thilo K?lzer (TK): Mr. Weber, you have been CDO at Ottobock for more than 12 months. What goals did you set, what promises did you make coming in?
Sarik Weber (SW): I've launched a lot of start-ups in recent years, including Hanse Ventures, another company builder, and I've helped build a number of companies from a very early stage, such as Xing AG; not at all an unsuccessful venture. So, while I come from the start-up world, I also know the world of big business. At Ottobock, I was excited to be able to connect both worlds, because the then CEO showed me that Ottobock is already very innovative in its own right, has an innovative mindset and is now focused on organising its digitisation and digital transformation from within. It's an incredibly exciting and attractive task.
TK: But you yourself have a history in healthcare?
SW: That's true. I co-founded the portal "Pflege.de" (English: “Care.de”). There were already points of contact there, but I've just recently gained knowledge of the Healthcare market.
TK: What attracts you, apart from Ottobock, to this market?
SW: There are a couple of personal contact points: my grandfather, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Weber, started off in this field. He was a professor of paediatrics and introduced an oral vaccine for polio in Munich, which I think has benefited a great many. That has always fascinated me. That was always an important story in my family. At some point, the question came up: "Do you want to become a physician?" I ended up becoming a businessman, but I've always found the whole area very exciting, because there is so much important work to be done: Better care, better mobility, better quality of life for patients, etc. I think that's a great challenge for me at the age of 51: Working here, on the one hand, and on the other, using the full range of technology to help patients.
TK: Going on LinkedIn, one doesn't find anything from Ottobock in your profile. Why is that? Are you still settling into the position or did you simply neglect to update your profile?
SW: At first, I didn't change my profile on Xing or LinkedIn. When I posted on Facebook about my new position, I got 700 responses. That is when I decided not to update right away. I have been relatively well connected by my past activities, and I did not want to be in the position of having to react immediately. In the meantime, I have changed both profiles.
"A Chief Digital Officer makes the company future-proof."
TK: It's not a bad idea for Ottobock to say: "We have a CDO."
SW: Absolutely! I am convinced that the CDO plays a central role in every major company, because it makes the company future-proof.
TK: Looking at the Corporate Site ottobock.de, doesn't management officially consist of the CEO, the CSMO, the CTO and the COO? I can't find a CDO there. Don't you belong in this row too?
SW: It is the case that the roles you mentioned are part of the direct management of Ottobock. As CDO, I am part of the extended management team, along with two other members. But it can be stated quite clearly that it is a role of importance.
TK: Do you report to the Marketing Board?
SW: No, I report directly to the CEO. Digitization has been declared a top priority for us.
TK: Are the classic websites from Ottobock on the web responsible for you at all or are they running through classical marketing?
SW: Yes, we do this via marketing and communication, as this is our external presentation. There are also "dedicated resources" in marketing. This means that people from marketing are also "lent" to us for a certain time.
TK: At the heart of Ottobock is prosthetics, and you are the world market leader. Then there are orthoses and wheelchairs. Ottobock stands for innovative medical technology. Sounds very haptic, physical, traditional and not particularly digital. Ottobock Healthcare has a turnover of approximately EUR 800 million. What is the share for digital products?
SW: Actually, we already have a significant digital share of revenue. Add to that our e-commerce sales, which come from our B2B business. Then there are many subsidiaries, such as the Pohlig company in Traunstein, which are very far along in terms of additive manufacturing methods and a very good name in the field of children’s orthotics. When I first started, there was already so much here. So we don't have to rethink everything in the Digital Office now. We have put a lot of effort into creating our new digital strategy. We have the full support of the entire management all the way up to the owner and the shareholders. At the moment, it is a question of effective implementation. Of course, we have also looked around the world to get inspiration.
"There's no need for someone to come from outside to point our attention to digitisation and digital transformation."
Take the example of Silicon Valley. They have a rather destructive, disruptive approach. They come in, knock everything down, and say: "We make everything better and new." That is the claim behind it. Then there is the Asian approach. It is very strongly pre-defined and directed top-down. Then there is the European approach we are pursuing. We build on existing, familiar and proven structures. These are values, culture, know-how, production methods, innovation, tradition. We rely on what has been created in the last hundred years and what we have worked out in that time (author's remark: Ottobock celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2019). We are starting out by saying: "Now we connect all this to the digital world." Developing new business models, new products, new platforms and new service solutions. Closely linked to what we've done well before. I think that is precisely the strength of the Hidden Champions in Germany. We differ substantially from Asia and the US in this respect. We're also lucky that our 57-year-old owner, Prof. Hans-Georg N?der, is the biggest disruptor in the company, and triggers many things on his own. There's no need for someone to come from outside to point our attention to digitisation and digital transformation. The Ottobock Science Center is the best example of how we are moving forward with new topics: When the building went up in 2009 in Berlin, far from our headquarters in Duderstadt , this wasn't just a source of enthusiasm for the company. It was driven forward with determination. 10 years and a million visitors later, you can see the results.
TK: Let's return to digital product sales. Audi and BMW already plan to generate 50% of their turnover with digital services in 2025. This sounds revolutionary for a car manufacturer...
SW: There are already many positive examples in this regard, such as Axel Springer in the publishing sector. They now have a digital share of 80% and are profitable. Or take a look at CEWE. There used to be only print and analogue, and today, they tick 98% digital with their photo book. As a negative example, Nokia comes to mind. There, unfortunately, digitisation was too long in coming. In 2009 I sold them a start-up, cellity AG. I saw how dramatically a global corporation slipped back then because they didn't take digitisation seriously. Such examples keep us awake. We know that nothing in business is God-given, so we must work hard on every aspect. We want Ottobock to be the digital frontrunner for the entire field of orthopaedic technology and "Quality for Life". This is our ambition: to be the leader and set market standards and to point the way forward.
The question of the proportion of sales is not so easy to answer, because it is our aim to digitise orthopaedic technology itself. We want to go from plaster to a digital process. By 2025, we no longer want to distinguish between digital and non-digital sales, because we will transform our entire business, including our mindset. This is a very comprehensive approach. On the balance sheet you won't find the item "Digital", but our business will be completely digitally transformed. Our entire value chain will evolve, including manufacturing technology and the services for the medical centre. We want to guide this chain actively and also be a partner for our customers.
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Sarik Weber acted as a keynote speaker at the MESH event, which took place in Berlin this year. MESH is about "Advanced Tech and Digital Transformation in Healthcare Marketing"
MESH review and gallery: https://mesh-camp.com/