Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

What I especially enjoy about my work is that no two days are the same. I can actively shape the future and there are always new challenges on the horizon. This variety means I am constantly encouraged to leave my comfort zone and develop myself.

What never ceases to fascinate me is how quickly individuals, who don’t know each other well, can become a well-functioning team when they believe in a shared goal and are open to new ideas.

My career to date has taken me from my first role as a junior consultant for PLM, via project management, taking on product responsibility with many presales presentations, and many years of business development in the Western Europe region, through to my current role as Head of Operations Management for Global Field Consulting.

In my current role, I am responsible for global initiatives and work in close collaboration with the different teams in our business area and with consulting management in the different countries. This international cooperation is characterized by a great deal of variety and diversity, which I really enjoy.

The most formative experience of my career was learning that you can get a lot done and achieve great things when you believe in yourself and have a good network you can rely on, when you have the support and the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them – and when you have someone who is willing to keep plunging you in at the deep end in the belief that you can cope with the responsibility.

My advice for young women is to approach things with confidence and refuse to let yourself be boxed in by ideas of what it means “to be a woman”. We can all achieve what we want to, if we work for it. I would also recommend that everyone find a mentor who can support them in their development.

What I especially enjoy about my work are the opportunities it provides for developing the company, employees and myself, for continuous learning and growth, and for bringing people together and delivering success.

What never ceases to fascinate me is the power of teamwork in diverse teams and the creativity, the versatility, and the results that can be achieved by these teams.

My career to date:I joined the then itelligence AG in 2006 as a member of the discrete manufacturing sector team as the only female employee. I worked as a consultant for several years parallel to my presale’s role as a solution architect for logistics modules and developed into a project- and team leader. After a short time, I also took on the program responsibility for various strategic initiatives and concepts, which contribute to the medium and long-term success of our company. Since 2013, I have been in the role of the SAP Partner Business Manager and since 2020, I have also been a member of the Executive Board, responsible for the results of the Innovation & Portfolio Management strategic unit.

In my current role as a manager, what do I pass on to other women and what motivates me? Your individual management style is crucial for your success as a leader, and you would have to find it yourself and continuously develop it.  Women lead differently than men, and that’s a good thing for diverse leadership in the management of the company. Do not allow yourself to be bent but remain open for great changes. Stay true to yourself and your personality, with all its strengths and weaknesses – after all, others have them too. What is important, however, is to know your strengths and weaknesses. Stay authentic and don’t disguise yourself. Fortunately, the days when female executives could only appear in dark pantsuits and had to appear as masculine as possible in order to be perceived as competent, are fortunately long gone.

The most formative experience of my career: My new professional goal was already set when I went on parental leave: “One day I would like to be responsible for developing the portfolio of the German Business Unit.” Almost five years later the opportunity arose to apply internally for the Innovation & Portfolio Management position, I was faced with a particularly challenging situation in my private life. I decided to act in a self-determined manner, adjusted the framework for my personal, professional goal and applied. I was open for contributing my many years of expertise and experience, showed the courage and will to continuously grow with the new challenges. Moreover, I differentiated myself with a creative and innovative application. In the interview, I won the trust of the management and was able to successfully assert myself against the other applicants.

My advice for young women: Define your goals clearly, check in between to see if they need an adjustment. The Professional life is more like a marathon than a sprint. Professional life is more like a marathon than a sprint. It is important to build networks and to always maintain and use them. Visibility of your person is crucial in this. The exchange with other female colleagues and female executives as well as coaching and mentoring can support you immensely to build up and expand your individual path and your own profile. Create and use your own network. Also have the courage to express your own opinion, even if this sometimes deviates from the majority.

A strong woman who inspires me: For me, there is not just one power woman who inspires me. But many women who have not had it easy, are successful, and are passionate about being role models for other women’s success: Sheryl Sandberg, Michelle Obama, Frida Kahlo, Tijen Onaran, Beyoncé Knowles.

What I especially enjoy about my work is being able to realize tasks and projects with considerable creative freedom and self-determination, with confidence in the strength and the skills of my colleagues, and on an equal footing.

What never ceases to fascinate me is the courage, dedication and passion with which our talented junior employees take on and shape tasks, activities and challenges with impressive flexibility and innovative ability.

My career to date has taken me from SAP implementation consulting, presales and project management, via AMS support and support center setup/management, through to sales and sales management – initially locally, and now as part of the global sales process environment.

In my role as Head of Global Sales Excellence, I work on Group-wide sales standards, processes and systems, often as part of global projects and always in cooperation and coordination with colleagues from the entire NTT DATA Business Solutions family. That makes my work extremely exciting, and our culture means that improvement, motivation and fun are guaranteed.

The most formative experience of my career? To be honest, the most formative experiences for me are the ones that are particularly tricky, that involve thematic or interpersonal difficulties, including critical experiences that demand a lot of me as a colleague and a person. After all, those are precisely the experiences that help me to mature and provide me with direction, satisfaction, a certain degree of pride and, ultimately, fun.

My advice to young women is to believe in themselves. Have confidence in your abilities and the opportunities available to you. Weigh up the options but don’t put off making decisions. Take responsibility and accept the risk of making a mistake every now and then, because mistakes are a source of learning, not failure. Be thoughtful but not too self-critical. Stay true to yourself and be authentically you. State your point of view and fight for what you believe in – after all, “if you don’t say what you want, you won’t get what you want.”

A strong woman who inspires me: There are many strong women fascinating me who have achieved great things with their intelligence, their courage, and their passion, humanity, or capacity for suffering – like Marie Curie, Sophie Scholl, Mother Teresa, or Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As for me, I tend to take my inspiration from people in my immediate personal and professional environment.

What I especially enjoy about my work at NTT DATA Business Solutions is that I can continuously set myself new goals and open up new possibilities.​

What never ceases to fascinate me is how hard we work as people to make things better! Developing routines is good, but continually scrutinizing them is what leads to progress. I take care to ensure that improvement does not equate to pursuing one-dimensional objectives. Improving efficiency and effectiveness is good, but it must be accompanied by social aspects of togetherness and sustainable action

In my role as Diversity Lead at NTT DATA Business Solutions, I have the chance to initiate, support and, above all, shape strategically important topics. There is no doubt in my mind that people who feel appreciated and at ease also feel motivated to perform better. As an organization, our responsibility is to create the framework for achieving this.​

The most formative experience of my career was and remains achieving a healthy work-life balance. Time and energy are scarce commodities. It always comes down to how much I can afford to devote to each area. ​

My advice for young womenin an industry in which women are currently underrepresented: Contribute your perspective and focus on your autonomy, your goals, and your individual responsibility. ​

A strong woman who has inspired me is Steffi Graf – as an athlete, a mother, and a philanthropist. Sporting ambition and determination, combined with a caring attitude toward others: These are characteristics and values on which I try to model myself.

What I especially enjoy about my work is the sense of solidarity between employees and the team spirit that emerges as a result. When everyone helps everyone else, you can be confident that you will never be left alone to deal with a problem or challenge.

What never ceases to fascinate me is how much you can actually achieve when you are confident that things will work out and when you make active efforts to reach your goal. As long as you have a clear vision of the future you are working towards, anything is possible.

My career to date has been characterized by sport, music lessons, scouting, animal welfare, and especially mathematics – the queen of the sciences.

In my role as consultant and team leader, I am very happy and I do everything in my power to perform my tasks as fairly and honestly as possible.

The most formative experience of my career was watching my parents as I grew up. Both of them were my role models in terms of work ethic, moral courage, healthy determination and, above all, enjoying their work. Their way to work was never too long or too difficult, and no task was too hard or too boring for them.

My advice for young women: I would advise all women to boldly look to the future and not allow themselves to be told that their goals are unattainable. At the same time, they should never stop changing and evolving. The more objective our view of the world, the keener our senses and the broader our horizon. But you need to keep sight of your goal, too.

One example of a strong woman who inspires me is my mother. She taught me that I can become anything I want to be. I would also like to mention Ewa Chodakowska (Polish fitness trainer and businesswoman). Her mottos are “It won’t get done by itself” and “Your body can do more than your mind tells you”. Ewa is actively involved in lots of campaigns to strengthen the role of women. Right now, she is taking part in the “I won’t wait 107 years” campaign. Why 107? According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, it will take until 2128 for women in Central and Eastern Europe to have equal economic, legal and social status and equal opportunities. If we do not act now, none of us will live long enough to see that happen.

What I especially enjoy about my work is the freedom to fill any role, that I’ve taken so far, with my own ideas.

What never ceases to fascinate me is learning and experiencing new things every single day.

My career to date began as a junior employee in controlling consulting and progressed through roles in project management, presales, sectoral responsibilities and client partner before I became a demand manager.

In my role as a late mother and an experienced woman within the IT industry, I am never dissatisfied with these special roles.

The most formative experiences of my career were the psychology in steering committees and the roles and power games in these situations.

My advice to young women is to believe in their own ability and savor their role as a woman – being a woman is great!

A strong woman who has inspired me is Agatha Christie, who was a very worldly and well-traveled woman who simply “did her own thing“ right at the beginning of the last century. Even though she had to submit to many conventions, she still broke many conventions.

What I especially enjoy about my work is the constantly changing content of my work and the flexibility that demands. It requires technical expertise and organization combined with social tact and empathy.

What never ceases to fascinate me is how you can pursue topics and optimize and implement processes with perseverance and sensitivity. Communication skills are the name of the game.

My career to date began the traditional way with a role as a junior MM consultant. I then spent some time working abroad before joining my current team. After working in module consulting, I was seconded to our parent company and was a member of NTT DATA’s Global 1 Program Management Team in Tokyo. I then returned to Germany and joined the S/4HANA Engagement Team, where I still work today.

In my role as S/4HANA Engagement Manager, I am responsible for customer coordination and care – the difference being that my customers are internal. I am tasked with ensuring that system setup and the transition from our data center to the project go smoothly and that the right people talk to each other at the right time. My motivation is provided by the trust-based working environment I have established with my colleagues.

My advice to young women: I would advise every new employee to build up their own network. Pluck up the courage to simply talk to employees at the branches. Make use of digital communication channels during the pandemic. The Diversity Initiative has also resulted in a lot of contacts with people I would normally have nothing to do with.

A strong woman who has inspired me: It goes without saying that women like Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris and Tijen Onaran are incredibly inspirational. But sometimes all you have to do is look around your own office: I might admire one colleague for her assertiveness, another for her style, another for her wonderfully positive attitude, and another again for her courage. Every one of us has the potential to be a superwoman.

What I especially enjoy about my work is that NTT DATA Business Solutions gives me the flexibility to determine my working hours and my place of work in the confidence that I will do my job well.

What never ceases to fascinate me are the different people I have got to know in my career so far, to work with them on exciting projects and to be successful as a team.

My career to date went through various working student jobs to my start as a corporate internal communications manager at board level for global communications. Then I got the opportunity to move internally to become a strategic and process consultant, meaning that I advise on change topics and projects.

In my role as organizational change management consultant, I accompany and support our customers in times of change. One of the main elements of my work is proactively engaging with employees from different areas, an extremely appreciative and exciting task that I find highly motivating.

The most formative experience of my career was my internal move into consulting. This meant dealing with new workflows, new topics, and lots of challenges. As a young consultant, it seems like you have to prove yourself – but in general I have learned that “not yet knowing” is not a weakness, if the attitude behind it fits. New situations can be uncomfortable, but they have also been a source of huge growth for me – in other words, being courageous is worth it.

My advice for young women would be to build yourself a network, find a mentor you can talk to, embrace new challenges and grow into them as part of your personal development. Be active, get involved, and discover what your passion and your strengths can contribute to the team.

A strong woman who has inspired me is Tijen Onaran. She serves as an example of how to actively network in the digital world, make yourself visible and take a stand for topics like diversity and equal opportunity.

What I especially enjoy about my work as Executive Assistant to the Board is the variety of tasks and topics in the various global and local teams – I get to actively shape the future of NTT DATA Business Solutions even at my young age.

What never ceases to fascinate me is that my day never goes exactly as planned, so I never get bored.

My career to date began when I studied industrial engineering for mechanical engineering with an emphasis on digital transformation. I then worked in IT technology consulting with a focus on IoT at a big 4 company before joining NTT DATA Business Solutions.

In my position, I have the opportunity to contribute to all topics relating to the Management Board – from meetings with our shareholder and the Supervisory Board to shaping various strategic and transformation topics and actively implementing internal projects.

The most formative experience of my career came when I was studying for my master’s degree, when I traveled to Shanghai in China on a voluntary internship for a management consultancy (innovation and digital transformation). From one moment to the next, I found myself in the role of project manager – with full responsibility for a customer project involving a German head office and a Chinese production site. That experience left a big impression on me not only culturally, but especially professionally.

My advice to young womenis to always be open-minded and never take no for an answer.

A strong woman who has inspired me is my mother, for whom her family and especially my sister and I always came first. Even in very difficult times, she always found ways and means and fought her way through. I admire that very much.

What I especially enjoy about my work is the freedom and variety my job entails and the trust that is placed in me.

What never ceases to fascinate me are the people. People who develop and realize ideas and solutions. People who pull in the same direction to achieve something wonderful.

In my role as an SAP consultant, I have creative freedom and enjoy a great deal of gratitude from customers and a great deal of assistance from my colleagues. That is very motivating!

The most formative experiences of my career were and remain those situations where I figuratively jump in at the deep end and flourish as a result.

My advice to young women is to find projects and topics that interest you and try things out! Your managers will be grateful for your contribution, and it will help you to discover your passions and what you enjoy.

A strong woman who has inspired me is Verena Pausder. She is paving the way for children to have equal access to digital education, and hence laying the foundations for the future of our society. We need to find new ways of preparing our country for the future, because that future has already begun.

What I especially enjoy about my work: My main interest is to protect the company and to feel like I am making a positive difference for the company, even if reaching the goal is unquestionably a long and intensive process. At the end of the day, I am happy when my efforts help to protect our company – and, ultimately, our employees – against risks and threats. I appreciate the company’s receptiveness toward these topics and the sense of fun that we make sure to retain even when dealing with topics that can be very serious.

What never ceases to fascinate me is people’s ability to talk and talk when they could be getting things done.

My career to date at NTT DATA Business Solutions began with an internship in contract management. After becoming a contract manager in the Germany business unit, I progressed to the role of Chief Compliance and Legal Officer and Deputy Data Protection Officer at the NTT DATA Business Solutions Group.

In my role as Chief Compliance and Legal Officer, I am primarily responsible for establishing and managing a global compliance system, assisting the company in legal matters and working with the Data Protection Officer to help the company to maintain adequate data protection management, in addition to my other duties.

The most formative experience of my career was when I was conducting negotiations and engaging in heated arguments with the other party’s lawyers – all while dressed in loungewear and breastfeeding my four-month-old baby. That was the moment I proved to myself that I can do anything if I want it badly enough.

My advice for young women is to figure out their goals and aspirations and pursue them – and not let themselves be put off by the inevitable setbacks along the way.

A strong woman who inspires me: There are many women who inspire me, especially women who exude strength and self-confidence while remaining authentically themselves. I admire women who demonstrate a degree of humor and sarcasm in tricky situations or in diffusing the frequent discussions about men vs. women in the workplace, because I find that they express what I am thinking inside, even if I sometimes refrain from saying it out loud. Ultimately, whether or not a woman identifies as a “Powerwoman” I am inspired by any woman who stays true to herself, is smart, and gets her job done without losing sight of her goals.

What I especially enjoy about my work is the sense of togetherness, the positive working environment, and the way in which my development is encouraged every single day.

What never ceases to fascinate me is the fact that NTT DATA Business Solutions does more than pay lip service to the phrase “if you need help, just ask me”. Everyone really does take the time to assist their colleagues.

My career to date began as a quality management assistant. I then worked in sales for an automotive supplier in the US before taking up my current role as an SAP consultant at itelligence AG, now NTT DATA Business Solutions.

In my role as an SAP consultant, Project Management Officer and tutor for our junior program, I have learned an incredible amount in my first year.

The most formative experiences of my career: I was very fortunate with my previous roles, as they opened up a lot of doors for me – foreign travel, experience of international work, and new tasks far removed from my area of education. There were negative aspects and disappointments along the way, too – but I would not want to have missed out on those experiences, because they were all part of the journey to where I am now. They made me more aware of certain things and helped me to understand what I actually want. In that sense, there is no one formative experience I can think of, but rather a lot of smaller ones.

My advice to young women is to keep an open mind! From my own acquaintances, I know some people who would categorically rule out any role with IT in the job description. I would also advise young women not to be put off if their first job isn’t perfect.

A strong woman who has inspired me: There are so many I could name – but if I have to pick just one, then my little sister, who is currently taking her first state examination while still finding the time to volunteer as a legal advisor for young female entrepreneurs. I really admire her discipline and dedication.

What I especially enjoy about my work is that I can shape my own path. Instead of just working like a hamster on a wheel, I can contribute my own ideas and experiences in the pursuit of my goals.

What never ceases to fascinate me is how almost anything can be achieved by working together. There is nothing wrong with admitting to your mistakes or asking for help. Growing to meet challenges is important so that you can help other people in turn.

My career to date began as a working student after a school internship at NTT DATA Business Solutions. after studying at school. Since NTT DATA Business Solutions sponsors my favorite handball club, I became aware of the company and applied for an open working student position, which I subsequently got. After graduating with my master’s degree, I was taken on and quickly got into the working world thanks to my previous activities. Once there, I turned my dream into reality by advancing to the role of team leader.

In my role as team leader, I am responsible for my employees. I make sure the team’s capacity is utilized effectively, work to ensure a pleasant working environment, and coordinate with other areas in order to keep track of the latest topics.

The most formative experience of my career was the effort a colleague went to on my behalf. As I wanted to do an international internship during my studies, I talked to my boss, who referred me to the colleague in question. She helped me with planning and the necessary coordination in order to make the trip possible for me.

My advice for young women is to go their own way regardless of what anyone else says. Don’t let yourself be pigeonholed, and make sure to leave your comfort zone in order to seek out new opportunities and perspectives. Just because others think something is unusual or out of the ordinary doesn’t mean your way of thinking is wrong.

A strong woman who has inspired me is my mother. With two daughters, it was not always easy for her to manage work and family life simultaneously, but she showed me how you can pursue your goals with patience and dedication.

What I especially enjoy about my work is the flexible working hours, the great people and their different characters, and the opportunity to show initiative and creativity while working on different topics.

What never ceases to fascinate me is how quickly you get to know new colleagues, find common ground and discover a passion for things, and what you can achieve by working as a team.

In my role as project manager for the junior program, I love helping to give inquisitive, courageous and open-minded new colleagues the best possible start in our company and supporting them during their early days.

The most formative experience of my career: There is never just “the one” way to reach a goal. Especially by detours and through various challenging situations you can grow. Even if stones are placed on your professional path and cause you to stumble, refocus and move on. You yourself define the direction! I have always continued my way. Making the best out of hopeless situations means learning for the future.

My advice to young women: Be true to your beliefs and opinions and stand up for your interests. At the same time, never forget that you are not alone and remember to look out for the people around you. You can achieve a great deal by working together.

A strong woman who has inspired me is my best friend, because she consistently demonstrates the courage to change and explore new horizons, whether in her career or in terms of foreign travel – all while remaining true to herself and her roots.