Report 2016

Shapingglobalchange

REPORT 2016

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EDITORIAL 04 Shaping global change 10 Milestones 2016 14 Greetings

STRATEGY 18 DIGITALISATION 22 The next generation of

mobile banking 24 Integration of TSB Banking

Group into Banco Sabadell 28 A place of inspiration: the

GFT Digital Innovation Lab

30 REGULATORY 34 Transparency in the

regulation jungle 38 New business models

with PSD2

42 TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

46 Digital Bank opens up new perspectives

50 Blockchain: a technological revolution

54 Creating the digital future

KEY FIGURES 60 Revenue 62 Earnings 64 Employees

EMPLOYEES 68 Our most valuable asset:

the GFT employees 70 Career international 74 Joining forces for success

THREE QUESTIONS TO … 80 Domenique Becker 82 Alpesh Tailor 84 Silke Tessmann 86 Andreas Klöber

SHAPINGGLOBALCHANGE

Ulrich DietzChair of the Board of Directors, CEO

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When we founded GFT 30 years ago, workstations had just been invented and graphical user interfaces were still a novelty. Four years previously, Deutsche Bundespost had launched its BTX teletext service which ena-bled home banking for the first time via the TV. But it was only when Tim Berners-Lee developed the first web browser in 1991 that the foundation was laid for the internet’s success and the digitalisation of our society.

The banking world has changed fundamentally since those early days – as has the market for internet technologies and businesses, which initially grew exponentially until the bubble burst in 2000. There is one simple reason why we survived these rollercoaster years and now have almost 5,000 employees in 12 countries generating a turnover of around € 423 million: GFT was and is always willing to change and think ahead. We never stand still, but are constantly looking for new business oppor-tunities. The motor that drives us is the search for change and the new perspective that will determine our future success.

Because we know that new ideas rarely emerge from well-estab-lished companies following well-trodden paths, we spread our nets even wider: to other industries, to new technologies, and to the breeding ground for new ideas – the start-up scene. Over the last five years, we have transformed our innovation platform CODE_n from an international start-up competition into an international ecosystem of digital pioneers; a network which brings together entrepreneurship, science, business, pol-itics, art and technology.

98 In order to keep GFT in motion, we need this external momentum just as much as the expertise, experience and perseverance of our employees. This combination helps fuel our enthusiasm as we work on the next gen-eration of digital banking. Our aim is to discover how we can use future technologies to optimise the business processes of our clients. We ease the burden on banks and insurance companies to pave the way for new thinking; with the aid of cutting-edge technologies, we restructure and im-plement resource-intensive tasks for them such as regulatory compliance.

We don’t know today what the world will be like in another 30 years. But it’s safe to assume it will have changed just as fundamentally as it has from 1987 to today. Only those with the courage to embrace change will have the ability to succeed.

Yours sincerely

Global political events such as the Brexit vote or the US presidential elec-tion caused considerable economic turmoil in 2016 and also left their mark on GFT. It is all the more pleasing therefore that we can look back on a successful year.

Once again, we were able to thrill our customers in the retail bank-ing sector with solutions for the digitalisation of their business processes. In September, we forged a partnership with Fidor Bank, an innovative on-line bank based in Munich, and have already successfully collaborated on a first project, the O2 Banking App.

MILESTONES 2016

Dr Jochen Ruetz, Marika Lulay, Ulrich DietzManaging Directors

12 Our Digital Innovation Labs continue to play a key role in the development of new solutions and we intend to pool even more of our expertise for ideas, innovations and prototypes at these labs in future. Following its acquisition of the British TSB Banking Group, we are currently helping the Spanish Banco Sabadell integrate their respective IT systems.

Projects for the implementation of compliance requirements once again provided important growth momentum in 2016. There is still no end in sight to the flood of new regulations increasing the burden on banks. Our Regulatory Change Management Service provides banks with a transparent overview of their current status and the measures they still need to implement.

The pressure on established banks continues to grow. New tech-nologies threaten their traditional structures – but also offer great oppor-tunities. We continue to work hard on the next generation of digital bank-ing solutions and are developing ways to leverage new technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, for new business models.

Our 5,000 or so highly motivated and dedicated employees form the motor of GFT. Together, we are working hard to continue the success story of our company.

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I’ve been involved with GFT for almost six years now – first as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and since the change to GFT SE in summer 2015 as Chairman of the Administrative Board. During this time, I’ve been hap-py to observe how the outstanding expertise, curiosity and determination of GFT’s employees has helped drive and to some extent shape the digital transformation of the financial world. On behalf of the entire Administra-tive Board, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to them.

In its financial year 2016, the GFT Group was able to continue its growth trajectory as a leading technology partner with significant increas-es in both revenue and earnings.

In 2017, the GFT team is once again involved in exciting digitali-sation projects for financial service providers, safely navigating its clients through the implementation of compliance requirements and searching for practical applications of the latest technologies. I am therefore confi-dent that together we can add further chapters to GFT’s story of success.

Best regards,

GREETINGSDr Paul Lerbinger

Chairman of the Administrative Board

“In IT you inspire your clients with excellent technological competence and the willingness to break new ground to find the perfect solution.”

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Banks have arrived in the digital world and are now fully immersed in topics such as instant payments, QR-code payments, peer-to-peer lending and blockchain applications. A GFT survey of experts shows that nearly all financial institutions have developed digital banking strategies and are now in the process of putting them into practice.

The key driver of this trend are the banks’ customers who are demanding convenient and future-oriented offerings  – especially with regard to mobile banking. An increasing number of users are already undertaking their banking via smartphones, whilst contactless payment methods are on the rise all over the world. The introduction of instant payment services is expected to give the market a further boost.

At the GFT Innovation Labs, our experts are therefore working hard on tomorrow’s applications, testing their everyday usability and high-lighting areas where they could be integrated into the existing structures of our clients. To ensure that the new applications work flawlessly, we also help banks bring their IT systems up-to-date with the latest technology.

DIGITALISATION

20 With their disruptive innovations, fintechs are shaking up the financial world and its established structures. Banks have long recognised the need to fine-tune their business models. They are becoming increasingly open to change and no longer regard the new market players as a threat, but as potential cooperation partners. Or they are launching their own initia-tives, such as Deutsche Bank’s ‘digital think-tank’. As a mediator between fintechs and banks, GFT encourages the exchange of ideas between both worlds, has its eye on the latest trends and is driving the debate about what tomorrow’s banks should look like.

But what role will banks play in future? Will they merely provide the infrastructure for third parties? Or can they establish themselves as the central hub in a mobile ecosystem? The challenge is to transfer their established strengths into the digital age, for example by focusing on identity, risk and security management. After all, they still hold two trump cards: the data and the trust of their customers.

“Banks need to set the course for their future role in the financial world.”Carlos Eres Managing Director GFT Spain

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As a key player of the German telecommunications market with almost 43 million customers, the mobile operator Telefónica Deutschland has taken its first step into the mobile banking sector. The mobile bank account ‘O2 Banking’ has a clear business model: instead of traditional interest rates, customers are rewarded with variable mobile data volumes.

Together with Fidor Bank, GFT worked on the realisation of this innovative banking solution. An international project team developed native apps for iOS and Android, taking into account the specific features of each device and operating system.

The launch of Germany’s first mobile-only bank account was com-pleted in record time – with the banking solution becoming operational in summer 2016. The market response has been overwhelming: as an

“outstanding digital innovation”, O2 Banking received the “Handels blatt” and “Euro Forum 2016” DIAMONDSTAR Award in the Digital Banking category.

THE NEXT GENERATION OF MOBILE BANKINGKam Sandhu Executive Account Manager GFT Germany

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In March 2015, the Spanish Banco Sabadell announced its acquisition of the British TSB Banking Group. A pivotal aspect of the transaction was the IT integration. With a budget of 450 million pounds sterling, over 1,400 IT experts are committed to the project until December 2017. Implementing the existing core banking system of Banco Sabadell is just one of the challenges – migrating the data from current Lloyds systems quite another.

TRUST AND RELIABILITY: INTEGRATION OF TSB BANKING GROUP INTO BANCO SABADELLPere Muñoz Delivery Manager GFT Spain

27 Banco Sabadell and GFT have enjoyed a joint success story based on mutual trust and reliability since 2001. As a long-standing IT partner, GFT also qualified for several areas of the TSB project: Mobile App, Front-end Architecture, Customer Data Management, Mortgages, Private and Business Lending, Overdrafts, Collateral, Financial Data Warehousing and many more.

Pere Muñoz Antolino is coordinating the project for GFT: “What makes us special? We provide an end-to-end service covering all process-es  – from requirement analysis to implementation and data migration. Thanks to our in-depth knowledge of all relevant systems, we know exact-ly what our customers need.” At peak times, up to 300 experts from his team are engaged at ten different locations in Brazil, Spain, Poland and the UK. From Java to UX, experienced managers and developers are working in parallel on ten different technologies and highly complex applications.

“We are committed to rapid development progress while guaran-teeing utmost quality,” states Muñoz.

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GFT’s Global Network of Digital Innovation Labs is where we make tomor-row’s financial services industry tangible, today. “Blockchain, Open APIs, and Cognitive Banking are key areas of focus for us”, stresses Ignasi Barri, Innovation Director at GFT Spain, “and the Labs are where we mix GFT’s expertise in these areas with our clients’ needs and our partners’ capabil-ities to co-create the future of the industry”.

The network currently includes four state-of-the-art Labs located in Brazil, Germany, the UK and Spain. The focus is on retail banks, insurance companies, and tech start-ups  – largely fintechs and insurtechs. It’s a place of inspiration and creation. “Our approach is deeply rooted in Open Innovation, Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, and Agile,” states Barri, adding that “at the Labs, we emulate real-life scenarios – such as bank branches, downtown shops, and living rooms – to test assumptions and to glean valuable user insights. We then synthesise the acquired knowledge into high-quality digital solutions that reflect modern trends and satisfy real customer needs, ultimately making innovation tangible.”

A PLACE OF INSPIRATION: THE GFT DIGITAL INNOVATION LAB

“You don’t innovate by ‘doing it alone’, you need players from outside.”Ignasi Barri Director of Innovation GFT Spain

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The banking world is under tremendous stress with regard to compliance. The regulatory requirements for financial institutions are constantly in-creasing, both in quantity and complexity. On average, new regulations have been added or existing ones updated every 12 minutes throughout 2016. As a result, millions of euros have already been invested in various compliance programmes to tackle the immense scale and speed of the new regulations.

The new legislation is aimed at stimulating competition and strength-ening the position of consumers, however it is also designed to account for technical developments and changed market structures. Regulators are starting to consider how to reform the entire financial services industry, while at the same time stimulating competition and opening up new busi-ness areas. While banks have so far implemented mainly provisional solu-tions in specific areas, this is now no longer sufficient. In order to remain competitive, they need a sustainable approach that strategically organises the numerous individual measures.

What can the finance industry expect in 2017? In particular, invest-ment banks will need to face the new challenges of MiFID II. This EU Mar-kets in Financial Instruments Directive aims at increasing the transparency, efficiency and integrity of the financial markets. Although the implementa-tion deadline for this amendment has been postponed to January 2018, it is essential that financial institutions make the necessary adjustments and modifications to their IT systems as soon as possible.

REGULATION

3332 In the field of retail banking, the regulators are opening up the market to new competitors from non-financial sectors. According to the Payment Services Directive (PSD2), banks must now grant third parties free access to their customer data. In order to generate their own competitive advan-tages, banks need resourceful business ideas, speed and an advanced IT architecture. One thing is certain: as a harbinger of the digital revolution in payments, PSD2 will certainly shake up the European financial market.

And then there’s the political uncertainty. What impact will Brexit have? Will the USA, with President Donald Trump at its helm, introduce regulatory reform? It’s still unclear what consequences this might have for the global banking landscape.

“Banks need a sustainable approach that strategically organises their regulatory measures.”Gareth Richardson Managing Director GFT UK

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One of the greatest challenges for banks with regard to compliance is maintaining an overview amid a constant flow of new and ever more com-plex reporting requirements. Which are relevant? Do they involve proce-dural change? Are the requirements being correctly implemented in all departments? Banks that fail to comply in full face high fines. In order to avoid such penalties and create more transparency, GFT developed the Regulatory Change Management Service (RCMS). In just three steps, the tool brings order to the regulatory jungle. First of all, the relevant regula-tory requirements for the particular bank are identified and continuously updated using a variety of data sources.

TRANSPARENCY IN THE REGULATORY JUNGLE

“RCMS structures the flood of regulatory data.” Paul Burleton Head of Strategy, Regulatory, Risk & Compliance GFT UK

37 The next step is to link the existing business processes and automatically derive the relevant compliance requirements and recommendations. Final-ly, a configurable dashboard visualises the current progress of the com-pliance process. The service thus provides security and makes complex processes more transparent.

RCMS has already proved itself in practice: the Royal Bank of Scot-land uses our solution in the field of trading transaction reporting and received the Banking Technology Award for the best use of IT in the field of risk and regulation. The tool is also currently being tested at banks in Germany and Switzerland.

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The European regulatory authorities are currently working hard to prepare the EU-wide rollout of a digital revolution in payment trans actions. In addi-tion to the revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2), other important new EU regulations include the General Data Protection Regulation, Secure Pay and instant payment – one to protect consumers and the others to bring more competition into the financial services sector. Taken together, the new legislation is causing quite a stir long before it comes into force in 2018. PSD2, for example, obliges banks to grant third parties free access to their customers’ account information. This will facilitate a multitude of new busi-ness models and bring new competitors into the field – not just fintechs but industry outsiders like Apple, Google and PayPal. For banks, the creation of open interfaces (APIs) will mean a huge additional effort that initially can-not be monetised. Banks can only benefit from the dynamics of open data if they radically rethink their strategy: with data-based business models and a completely revamped IT architecture.

NEW BUSINESS MODELS WITH PSD2Bernd Kohl Executive Director GFT Germany

41 The key currency of digitalisation is data  – something financial institu-tions have in spades. Every single transaction generates new data. Due to the vast quantity of available data, banks could soon know their cus-tomers better than anyone. The key to success lies in the utilisation and consolidation of this data. Together with the banks, our GFT banking experts are developing ideas for such solutions – e. g. in the field of iden-tity management. Similarly, banks could keep a housekeeping book for their customers and flag up any financial leeway. Anonymised data from card payments could also be exploited and sold.

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Financial services and IT have now become an inseparable couple. The ongoing and urgently necessary digitalisation of basic business process-es can only be achieved with the aid of highly integrated and innovative information technology.

The modularisation and opening up of backend systems is becom-ing increasingly important for banks. By creating interfaces – for example on the basis of micro-services – banks can gain flexibility and opportuni-ties for innovation, while also expanding their portfolio for the customer.

The technology on everyone’s lips at the moment is blockchain. The main focus here is on so-called smart contracts – intelligent contracts that are event-driven, self-monitoring and self-executing. These offer com-pletely new business models for banks and other companies.

TECHNOLOGYAND

INNOVATION

44 In order to discover exactly what might be possible, GFT set up a block-chain incubator where we successfully tested different use cases for dis-tributed ledger technology. In addition, the previously unglamorous world of digital payments is also facing great change. With the implementation of instant payments, the world of credit card payments, digital wallets and internet payment services is on the verge of a radical shake-up.

Algorithms instead of real people: financial service providers are digitalising their investment advice and brokerage businesses with the aid of robo advisors. The trend is heading towards hybrid investment advice – a combination of real-life advisors and technological aids. The technology behind it is artificial intelligence or machine learning and will increasingly be used by banks in the future, both for consulting purposes and for the digital automation of processes.

If banks succeed in linking technologies with new business ideas, this will permanently strengthen their own innovative power and even al-low new business models. This is also the basis for GFT’s innovation plat-form CODE_n. The open ecosystem acts as an ideas and communications pool for experts in specific fields and IT, while building bridges between established companies and the digitised world of the start-up scene.

“Combining IT with new business ideas strengthens the innovative power.”Karl-Heinz Kern Managing Director GFT Germany

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The digital transformation taking place in the banking sector is not only leading to an expansion of the banks’ own business models, but also opening up new perspectives in their interaction with other industries. For example, the automotive industry.

The network of a car manufacturer not only comprises its own pro-duction plants and numerous suppliers and logistics companies, but also banks. Traditionally, the latter only receive data on the financial interde-pendencies between the individual players when a vehicle is sold. With the advent of Industry 4.0, banks are now closely integrated within these networks and information is exchanged directly along the entire value chain. Smart contracts based on blockchain technology can map this net-work and automate the provision of financial services. For example, banks will automatically make payment transactions when certain conditions specified in the smart contract are fulfilled. This saves time and money.

DIGITAL BANK OPENS UP NEW PERSPECTIVESMed Ridha Ben Naceur Principal Consultant GFT Germany

48 The digital bank also opens up further possibilities. One example is the pay-per-use model made possible by the establishment of mobile pay-ments. In the case of a car, for example, certain functions such as in-creased engine performance, servicing, or air conditioning could be un-locked on payment of a specific fee. By focusing on the expansion of their digital service offerings, banks can enhance their own long-term compet-itive standing. GFT’s experts specialise in discovering such new applica-tion fields, then designing and establishing the necessary technological infrastructure to make them a success.

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Blockchain was a phenomenon on everyone’s lips in 2016. But it is not only the finance industry and its need for constant change that has identified this modern technology as a minor revolution. Distributed ledger technol-ogy has the potential to break up traditional, rigid and outdated structures, to raise enterprise value and to develop a better bank for the future.

BLOCKCHAIN: A TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

“In GFT’s blockchain incubator we are testing promising new approaches.”Nick Weisfeld Head of GFT’s Data Practice GFT UK

5352 There are many applications or ‘use cases’ for this innovative technology. For example, GFT’s blockchain incubator – launched in London as “Pro-ject Jupiter” – uses ten quality criteria to check the positive influence of an individual blockchain use case on a company’s operation, thereby demon-strating the success of the technology in practice. This approach also gen-erates prototypes: “Based on our experiences and learning effects during development, we are convinced that we can give clients a best-practice solution which will help their investments in distributed ledger technology pay off,” says Nick Weisfeld, Head of GFT’s Data Practice in the UK, in his assessment of Project Jupiter. After all, innovation is more than just a buzzword for GFT; it enables us to bring new technology out of the lab and into real life.

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Breaking new ground was once again the motto for CODE_n in 2016. After four years at CeBIT in Hanover, in September 2016 the first CODE_n new.New Festival was held at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karls-ruhe, Germany. For three days, everything revolved around future-orient-ed innovation and the digitalisation of business, science, art and society.

CREATING THE DIGITAL FUTURE – WITHIN THE CODE_N INNOVATION NETWORK

“Our mission is to encourage sustainable and autonomous innovation. We accelerate digital business models – for start-ups and established companies.”Moritz Gräter Managing Director CODE_n

57 From intelligent windows and revolutionary displays to a virtual oper-ating theatre – over 5,000 visitors from 15 nations were captivated by the vision of a digital future presented in an area of some 11,000 square metres and by the 52 finalists of the CODE_n16 start-up CONTEST. In the Innovators’ Area, there were four topical worlds to explore – fintech, HealthTech, Mobility and Photonics – as well as numerous other tech highlights. A quick trip around Google’s virtual reality world? Or a visit to one of the 120 or so conference sessions? Visitors were encouraged to follow their interests, explore and join in. The CODE_n Award and its 30,000 euro prize money was ultimately won by Xarion for the develop-ment of unique, optical laser sensor that can detect noise by measuring the speed of light transmission.

After starting life in late 2015 at GFT’s Corporate Centre in Stutt-gart, the innovation campus entitled CODE_n SPACES has also come of age. The space attracts company founders, the innovation teams of in-ternational corporations and experienced managers from all backgrounds who collaborate in an ecosystem of innovation. Now the campus was al-ready being expanded. The new premises offers 14 additional offices – plus lounge, community and workshop areas. Daimler and Bosch are already members of the SPACES network, and are amongst other established companies that use the campus for their innovation projects. One such company is Südwestbank: “It was important to get the team out of the clas-sic corporate structures and promote new ways of thinking.” Exciting new start-ups, like ‘blickshift’, are equally convinced by the campus concept:

“We benefit from the close contact with decision-makers and mentors – but also with other founders.”

We attach great importance to long-term and sustainable growth. This is how we score on the capital market.

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GFT Technologies SE can look back on a successful financial year in 2016. We successfully completed numerous projects, gained new ones, and continued to drive existing ones forward. We raised revenue from € 373.51 million to € 422.56 million. That corresponds to year-on-year growth of 13 percent.

One of the main growth drivers was once again the strong demand from our retail banking clients for solutions to digitalise their business pro-cesses. Despite the weak market trend in investment banking, we also raised revenue in this sector – the main focus being on projects concern-ing financial market compliance.

There was particularly encouraging revenue growth in continental Europe. Revenue rose by 23 percent to € 200.52 million.

REVENUE

  60 %€ 279 million20142013

  34 %€ 374 million20152014

  13 %€ 423 million20162015

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In 2016, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved year on year by 5 percent to € 46,71 million.

The Brexit referendum result and subsequent devaluation of the British pound led to negative exchange rate effects which had a strong impact on earnings.

Pre-tax earnings (EBT) improved by 2 percent to € 33.05 million. Earnings per share fell year-on-year by 9 cents to € 0.92.

EARNINGS

  71 %€ 33 millionEBITDA 20142013

  36 %€ 45 millionEBITDA 20152014

  5 %€ 47 millionEBITDA 20162015

  54%€ 25 millionEBT 20142013

  28 %€ 33 millionEBT 20152014

  2 %€ 33 millionEBT 20162015

As of 31 December 2016, the GFT Group had a total of 4,870 full-time employees, corresponding to year-on-year growth of 20 percent. The in-crease in headcount resulted from the hiring of new staff – above all at the development centres in Spain, Brazil, Poland and Costa Rica – and from the takeover of Habber Tec Brazil with over 100 employees.

EMPLOYEES

 24%OTHERS357289 (2015)

  2 %GB235241 (2015)

  12 %GERMANY310276 (2015)

  11 %ITALY554499 (2015)

  21 %POLAND594489 (2015)

  76 %BRAZIL797454 (2015)

 12 %SPAIN2.0231.802 (2015)

GFT’s employees work together as a unified team across numerous time and culture zones. Our global mission is to keep this team together and always find the right people to enhance it.

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GFT is at home in 12 countries, speaks 34 languages and has 59 different nationalities. Our approximately 5,000 employees share a curiosity for all things new as well as a willingness to engage with unusual perspectives and creative ideas. Unified process standards, continuity in management and common corporate values form the basis for our teams to cooperate successfully across national boundaries.

The GFT workforce grew by around 20 percent in 2016. This was largely attributable to the expansion of our development centres in Bra-zil, Costa Rica, Poland and Spain with the recruitment of some excellent specialists. Our approach is based on a tried and trusted model. The new colleagues are immediately involved in ongoing projects and individually trained and supported from the outset.

Equally important was the acquisition of the IT service provider Habber Tec Brazil for the Brazilian financial market, thereby expanding our presence in Latin America. The specialist knowledge of our new colleagues makes an ideal addition to our portfolio in the field of digital banking.

A fixed component of every working week is the analysis of new technologies, the professional exchange of ideas within the framework of mentoring programmes and regular individual training. By contrast, our working time and career models tailored to the current needs and life sit-uation of each employee are highly flexible. We are keenly aware that the knowledge, commitment and motivation of our employees are our most valuable asset.

OUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET: THE KNOWLEDGE AND MOTIVATION OF OUR EMPLOYEES

“Our career models are tailored to the current life situation of each employee.”Guillermo Rodriguez Global HR Manager GFT Spain

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Nuria Mir joined GFT in Barcelona 20 years ago as a systems analyst for a core banking application. She has since held numerous positions in vari-ous countries. As an example, together with her husband and four children, she moved from Barcelona to work in São Paulo, Brazil, for four years.

Nuria, you’re currently Executive Delivery Manager at GFT and head a team of 400 people. What are your most important tasks?

I’m responsible for ensuring that the projects I supervise are carried out within the specified time, at the agreed price and in accordance with the latest standards. I see my main task as being to strengthen and motivate my team. It never ceases to fascinate me just how much positive energy my colleagues can develop when they recognise how I value their commitment and trust their expertise.

You’ve worked for GFT in a variety of countries. What was the biggest challenge for you so far?

That’s right, I’ve worked for GFT in Spain, Germany and Brazil and provided support for colleagues working on projects in Portugal and Italy. The four years I spent as a director in Brazil probably had the most lasting impression on me. GFT gave me fantastic support with organising everything: My colleagues in Brazil helped me find a house for the family and a suitable school for my four children.

CAREER INTERNATIONAL: FROM BARCELONA TO SÃO PAULO

“Never say no toa major change in your life.”Nuria Mir Executive Delivery Manager GFT Spain

So everything went smoothly right from the start?No, just the opposite. The traffic in São Paulo, for example ... It

took me over two hours to get to the office every morning because I didn’t know the shortcuts. Everything was new  – both for me and my family: the language, the food, the school, the working habits. And then I had to put together a completely new team. This was particularly hard for me as an outsider who didn’t know anybody yet, didn’t speak the language fluently and came from another culture. Sometimes I felt as if I was do-ing everything wrong. The fantastic support I got from my Brazilian col-leagues really helped, though. They understood my daily minor crises and gave me plenty of reassurance. Regular meetings with my mentors from Spain gave me the professional security for my new tasks. And so it got a little bit better every day: my team and I grew together, my Portuguese improved and I felt comfortable in my new home.

Wasn’t it a tremendous risk to move nearly 10,000 kilometres with the whole family?

It certainly was. But in the end it was also one of the best experi-ences of my life! I can only advise people to never say no to major changes in life. Such challenges help you grow both personally and professional-ly. Today, I have a much better understanding of how differently people approach problems. Each culture has its strengths and it’s important to recognise and encourage them. I find it very enriching for me personally to work with colleagues from different countries. Thanks to my time abroad, I have friends everywhere at GFT – we help each other and often come up with completely new solutions.

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“There’s no routine in my job. And that’s exactly the appeal for me!” Any-one listening to Björn Lehnhardt talk about his work soon gets the feeling: it’s more of a calling than a profession. As a project manager at GFT, he’s been responsible for major IT projects for over six years now.

Björn normally works at the client’s facility. “I need direct contact with the relevant departments to ensure the best-possible service. This creates a certain project dynamic with both positive and negative effects. Clients often only recognise during the course of a project what they re-ally need and how a major IT project can affect their work processes. It’s therefore important to involve and challenge the client from the very start, and to lure him out of his comfort zone.”

JOINING FORCES FOR SUCCESS

“At GFT, I don’t simply do a job. I can really make a difference.”Björn Lehnhardt Project Manager GFT Germany

77 By limiting project time, GFT consultants and project managers have the opportunity to quickly gain experience in a wide variety of areas – from different types of clients and corporate cultures to new technologies and business fields. “That’s what makes project work so exciting and means it also fits perfectly with the idea of lifelong learning,” says the 34-year-old.

What else makes working for GFT so special? “Team spirit,” states Björn succinctly. “We truly live the teamwork ethos – it’s not just some buzzword they use in the job description. The fact that you don’t need to use your elbows to get ahead in our company is one of the reasons I go to work with a smile every morning.”

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What’s it like to work for GFT? A question best put to GFT’s employees themselves. Four GFT colleagues from different divisions and countries talk about the challenges of their everyday work. Why did they choose GFT? What do you need to look out for as a member of an international team? What motivates them and what tips can they give to newcomers?

THREE QUESTIONS

TO …

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Domenique, your studies focused strongly on the field of entrepreneur-ship. What was it that particularly drew you to GFT?

As GFT is a family-run, mid-size company with a strong focus on en-trepreneurship and innovation, I hoped I might be able to actively shape its future development. At the same time, I thought GFT was big enough and international enough to offer interesting career prospects. Both turned out to be true.

You’re currently working on projects at the client’s premises. What are your daily challenges?

As an external consultant you have no idea about the specific cor-porate culture or the evolved structures and processes. However, these factors often have a considerable impact on the project. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. It means I can provide a fresh, untainted view and question things better.

What do you like most about working for GFT?I particularly like the way teamwork is understood at GFT. Coop-

eration with colleagues, mutual support and open communication are all absolutely normal here. If I need help, there’s always someone willing to give me advice – even across national borders. That’s something I really appreciate and it helps create a very pleasant working environment.

Domenique Becker Senior Business Consultant GFT Germany

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Alpesh, you’re the Global Account Manager for one of our most important clients – a demanding role. What would you say are the biggest challeng-es in your daily business?

As we all know the Financial Services sector has gone through a bumpy ride recently, and that’s more true within the Capital Markets segment. This adds a lot of volatility to our client’s strategy and behav-iours, which make day-to-day interactions more difficult. It’s my challenge to guide the Client Unit teams through this volatile environment with an assured business strategy, to enable GFT to maximise profitable revenue opportunity!

And what are the biggest rewards?Delivery success and seeing mixed-discipline teams all working

towards a shared goal! When I receive mails from the teams announcing another key delivery success it means that we are achieving joint success. This is measured by client feedback that proves we truly are one of the best engaged strategic vendors of the bank, globally!

What’s it like to be working in an international team?My tasks are really quite complex, but equally an interesting chal-

lenge. Having to navigate across the entire GFT Group, given my remit is across UK, US, Germany and Brazil, means that I get to engage with most-ly all regions and with many people. But that’s exactly what my clients expect from me. They engage with GFT and I am their point of entry into the multi-cultural and diverse organisation we are. I have the fortunate pleasure of bringing the best of GFT to my clients regardless of where this expertise sits.

Alpesh Tailor Global Account Manager GFT UK

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Silke, you’re responsible for the GFT mentoring programme in Germany. What values are important for you with regard to mentoring?

Mentors should always focus on the “mentee” as a person, with all their ideas, desires, goals and priorities – even if these are not always the same as your own. It’s particularly important for me to respect the individuality of each person.

What makes working for GFT so special?The development possibilities are fantastic. I myself don’t have an

IT background and I’m now an Account and Delivery Manager. It doesn’t matter what your role is when you join the company, with the right experi-ence anyone can reach any position – there really are no barriers.

What tips do you have for women seeking to make their way in IT?Authenticity! Just don’t be intimidated or afraid to say what you

want or think. Open your mouth and don’t be scared of just getting stuck in. If you’re always waiting for someone else to make the decisions, you’ll never get anywhere.

Silke Tessmann Senior Project Manager GFT Germany

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Andreas, you recently received the GFT Award in the “Creativity” category. How does GFT support creative processes?

The basic prerequisite is space for experimentation – both in the literal and figurative sense. And GFT offers exactly this freedom. In a cul-ture that is open to fresh thinking, you can always develop and implement new ideas. With its Innovation Labs and CODE_n SPACES, for example, GFT has created the necessary physical space for creativity to flourish. And then there are the regular tech meetings, hackathons and much more. The GFT Awards is another great example: in this case creativity is encour-aged by means of motivation.

How can you integrate new ideas into customer projects?Obviously, every project has a fixed and pre-defined framework.

But there’s always a certain amount of leeway. The important thing is to present the added value of your idea in such a way that the client can re-ally grasp it – for example, by developing prototypes. In this way, even the more conservative clients can be inspired to take a new approach.

What do you like most about working for GFT?As already mentioned, the space provided by GFT enables me

to take even unconventional or alternative approaches. A really diver-sified project portfolio is also crucial for me to get involved with new technologies. The most important factor, however, is the open and con-structive collaboration with colleagues. This is the best way to imple-ment projects with highly varied challenges as efficiently as possible.

Andreas Klöber IT-Architect GFT Germany

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Conception and DesignBOROS

PhotographyAiline Liefeldp. 14 Michael Dannenmannp. 56 / 57 Sven Hagolani (CODE_n)

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