Between the pandemic and the subsequent economic upheaval, these are challenging times for everyone. But the networking industry has some elements in its favor. Technologies such as Wi-Fi, VPNs, SD-WAN, videoconferencing and collaboration are playing an essential role in maintaining business operations and will play an even greater role in the reopening and recovery phase.

At the same time, it has become obvious that as enterprises continue to migrate applications to the cloud, data-center networking will cease to be a high-growth industry. So what are the most powerful networking companies doing? They’re diversifying, expanding into new product areas, and moving up the stack beyond nuts-and-bolts connectivity and into areas such as hybrid-cloud management and the automation of networking processes.

This year’s list of the 10 most powerful companies in enterprise networking includes traditional networking powerhouses, with an emphasis on the extent to which they’ve embraced these new approaches, along with pure-play market leaders in areas such as wireless networking and hyperconverged infrastructure. 

1. Cisco looks to extend hardware dominance to network monitoring, automation, security

Why they’re here: Cisco continues to maintain its leadership position in just about every networking hardware category. Cisco sports a 51% market share in Ethernet switch revenue, and it’s the leader in combined service provider and enterprise router revenue at 37%. It dominates the WLAN market, with 44.6% market share (Aruba-HPE is a distant second at 13.9%, according to IDC.) Cisco also ranks at the top in SD-WAN equipment with a 16% market share. When the pandemic hit and workers shifted to their home networks, Cisco was sitting pretty. Not only does it have the dominant VPN, it’s the only networking player that had its own videoconferencing/collaboration platform – WebEx – just waiting in the wings.

Power moves: Bought ThousandEyes, a leader in intelligent network and application performance monitoring for hybrid cloud environments. ThousandEyes is expected to complement AppDynamics, also an app performance management company, which Cisco acquired in 2017.

By the numbers: $1 billion. That’s the estimated amount Cisco paid for ThousandEyes. (That comes out to $1 million per eye.)

Outlook: Cisco faces a double whammy. The Ethernet switching and routing market is not a high-growth area anymore. According to IDC, for the full year 2019, the switch market grew only 2.3% and the router market was flat compared to 2018. And Cisco’s market share continues to erode as competitors like Arista and Huawei chip away. In response, Cisco has begun a transition to a revenue stream that includes software, subscriptions and security. Cisco needs to continue executing on that strategy.

2. Arista diversifies with Big Switch acquisition

Why they’re here: With its laser focus on delivering the highest performing switches for enterprise data centers and hyperscale cloud providers, Arista has continued to gain market share against Cisco. But Arista also knows that diversification is vital. The company now offers network monitoring, automation and analytics across hybrid-cloud environments. Arista is also a supporter of open networking. Its own network operating system (EOS) is based on a Linux kernel. And Arista recently announced that its switches will run Microsoft’s SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud) OS.

Power moves: Acquired Big Switch, a leader in network monitoring and SDN.

By the numbers: 18.8%, which is Arista’s share of the high-speed data-center switching market during the first half of 2019, according to Crehan Research. (Cisco was at 46.6%.)

Outlook: Arista isn’t known for making acquisitions, so it will be interesting to see how well it integrates Big Switch’s Big Cloud Fabric (BCF) software, which also runs on hardware from vendors that compete with Arista, such as Dell and HPE. Arista doesn’t have a security or SD-WAN play, and that could become a weakness over time, especially if the enterprise data-center market stagnates and if hyperscale cloud vendors turn to white-box switches. However, Arista does have opportunities to grow revenue in areas where it has not been strong in the past, such as campus switching and WLAN.

3. Juniper embeds AI across cloud, Wi-Fi, SD-WAN environments

Why they’re here: Juniper has made numerous acquisitions over the years and few, if any, have provided the spark needed to give the company much in the way of forward momentum. This time may be different. Juniper bought wireless innovator Mist Systems in 2019 for $405 million and is starting to roll out products that leverage Mist’s artificial intelligence capabilities. Mist is unique in that it features an AI-driven virtual assistant named Marvis, who uses natural-language processing to provide insight into the Wi-Fi user experience and to offer prescriptive guidance for fast troubleshooting.

Power moves: Juniper’s goal is to deploy Mist-based AI across cloud, data center, Wi-Fi and SD-WAN environments

By the numbers: 97%. The Gap reported a 97% improvement in point-of-sales system errors across its 1,500 stores through the use of Marvis.

Outlook: Juniper shows up as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for data-center networking and as a leader in the latest Forrester Wave for data-center hardware platforms for software-defined networking (SDN). But Juniper has struggled to translate that technical leadership into sustained revenue growth. As the post-pandemic pendulum swings toward WLANs, remote access, SD-WANs, network automation, and COVID-19 related in-building tracking and tracing, the Mist acquisition puts Juniper in a strong position. (See also: Juniper’s big push is AI in all areas of enterprise networking)

4. VMware continues deal-striking with Carbon Black, Pivotal 

Why they’re here: VMware is on a tear. In late 2019, the company closed on two significant acquisitions: endpoint protection company Carbon Black and Pivotal Software, a cloud application platform that enables developers to containerize and manage applications across multiple clouds. It’s true that VMware doesn’t sell routers or switches, but those commodities are becoming less important as the physical hardware layer is being decoupled from the control plane through SDN or NFV. VMware is positioning itself as a company that helps enterprises move to hybrid cloud through its server virtualization, hybrid-cloud management and platform-as-a-service offerings. It is also a leader in SD-WAN.

Power moves: VMware’s flurry of acquisition activity shows no sign of slowing down. In January, VMware announced plans to acquire Nyansa, a fast-growing innovator of AI-based network analytics. It bought cloud-native security platform Octarine in May. And this month, VMware acquired Lastline, which offers cloud-native threat detection services.

By the numbers: $4.8 billion, which is the combined amount that VMware shelled out for Pivotal ($2.7 billion) and Carbon Black (2.1 billion).

Outlook: Despite the grim economic environment, VMware announced solid first quarter earnings of $386 million, with revenues of $2.73 billion, up about 12% from a year ago. VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger attributed the upbeat quarter to the shift to work-from-home sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. Not long ago, VMware looked like a company that was stuck in a data-center virtualization rut and was in danger of being left behind as enterprises migrating to cloud platforms. Today, VMware seems to have its mojo back and is continuing to innovate, both internally and through acquisition. In March, VMware launched VMware Tanzu, a suite of products and services aimed at automating the modern Kubernetes-based app lifecycle, and it also delivered a sweeping upgrade to its vSphere virtualization portfolio.

5. Extreme tackles Wi-Fi 6, cloud management, AI and network automation

Why they’re here: Extreme Networks has embarked on an ambitious extreme makeover that has its roots in the company’s realization that just treading water was not going to cut it in the new world of cloud, automation, SD-WAN, and IoT. In 2016, Extreme bought Zebra Techologies’ wireless LAN business. In 2017, Extreme snapped up Avaya’s networking business and also bought Brocade’s switching, routing and analytics business. Today, Extreme has revenues approaching $1 billion and is prepared to compete with the big boys in emerging areas like Wi-Fi 6, cloud-based network management, AI and network automation.

Power moves: Last August, Extreme bought Aerohive Networks, a leader in cloud-managed wireless LAN services, AI and machine learning.

By the numbers: $272 million, which is the amount Extreme paid for Aerohive.

Outlook: Gartner places Extreme among the leaders, along with Cisco and Aruba, in the category of wired and wireless LAN access infrastructure, so that’s a good foundation. But Extreme needs to integrate its acquisitions into a seamless platform and it must execute on its strategy to “cloudify our portfolio and continue to roll out new products,” as CEO Ed Meyercord said during the company’s most recent earnings report.

6. NVIDIA looks beyond gaming to full-stack enterprise data-center networking

Why they’re here: It’s always fascinating to watch a disruptor come along and try to shake up an industry, particularly one that has had the same handful of companies at the top of the heap for decades. NVIDIA has the proven technical chops and the financial wherewithal to just maybe disrupt the networking industry by ushering in a new era based on open source. If you think of NVIDIA as just a GPU maker for gaming devices, keep in mind that the company racked up a cool $1 billion in enterprise and hyperscale cloud revenue last year providing the GPUs for data-center networking gear. NVIDIA bought InfiniBand and Ethernet-switch maker Mellanox last year and just announced plans to buy Cumulus Networks, which sells a data-center switch pre-loaded with the Cumulus Linux open networking OS. Add it all up, and NVIDIA can deliver a full-stack enterprise data-center networking offering for high-performance workloads and AI.

Power moves: In April, NVIDIA closed on its acquisition of Mellanox. In early May, it announced plans to acquire Cumulus.

By the numbers: $6.9 billion, which is the amount NVIDIA paid for Mellanox.

Outlook: In the early days of Linux, the real traction began when companies like SuSe and Red Hat came along to provide enterprise-grade support and services. That’s what Cumulus, listed as a visionary in Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for data center networking, provides for open networking. Cumulus also sells its own network management tools. The challenges for NVIDIA are two-fold: First, having the components for a full networking stack isn’t the same as delivering a fully integrated stack. And second, when companies were experimenting with open source servers, they could take a server, isolate it and use it for application development or some other non-critical function. Introducing open source switches into a production network is still a leap for many companies.

7. Aruba (HPE) delivers AI-powered edge networking platform

Why they’re here: Five years ago, when HP was in the midst of the turmoil of being split into two companies, it gobbled up WLAN leader Aruba for $3 billion. The question on everyone’s lips at the time was, “How’s that going to work?” Turns out, it worked out pretty well. And for one key reason. As Aruba president Keerti Melkote explains, “When they (HPE) acquired Aruba, they reverse-integrated the HP networking team into Aruba, so rather than integrating Aruba into an organization that is already there, it said it needed a different way to think about the market and about innovation. They wanted to infuse the big company with the small company.” The results speak for themselves as Aruba has consolidated its position as the main competitor to Cisco in the WLAN market.

By the numbers: 65,000. That’s the number of unique customers using Aruba Central, the company’s platform that unifies network management for wired, wireless and WAN networks, and soon 5G and edge computing.

Power moves: Aruba just announced Aruba Edge Services Platform (ESP), a new cloud-based platform that uses AI to reduce the burden of mundane tasks on IT departments across virtually all areas of networking, including identity and access management for remote workers and automated onboarding of ‘headless’ Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Outlook: The pandemic has certainly upended the normal course of business, but Aruba is in good shape to capitalize on the increased reliance on remote workers and on other trends such as edge computing and IoT, which require moving data across both WLAN and LAN infrastructures.

8. Dell advances data-center automation

Why they’re here: With a deep bench that includes PCs, servers, storage and networking, Dell’s power play is to offer enterprises a single-vendor solution to all of their IT infrastructure challenges. Whether an enterprise is looking to modernize its data center, embark on a hybrid-cloud journey, delve into advanced data analytics or deploy VDI, Dell has an answer. It has successfully leveraged the storage assets from its EMC acquisition four years ago and the hybrid-cloud management and NFV capabilities from VMware (in which Dell owns an 86.6% share of stock) into a business that racked up $92 billion in revenues last year.

Power moves: How about addition by subtraction? Dell’s most recent power move was shedding the legacy security vendor RSA, which it acquired as part of the EMC deal. Dell said the move was aimed at simplifying its product portfolio.

By the numbers: $2.075 billion. That’s that amount of money that a consortium of investors paid for RSA. The deal includes the RSA product lines as well as the RSA Conference.

Outlook: Dell can rightfully lay claim to a market-leading position in a number of storage, server, cloud management, virtualization, SD-WAN and hyperconverged infrastructure markets. The challenge for Dell is to help customers connect all of those dots. To that end, Dell recently announced PowerOne, which takes best-of-breed components in compute, storage and networking, ties them together through its PowerOne Fabric, and manages them through an automation engine named the PowerOne Controller.

9. Nutanix extends hyperconvergence tech with cloud services

Why they’re here: The fast-growing market for hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) has turned into a two-team race between Dell (34% market share) and Nutanix (13%). According to Q1 numbers from IDC, the hyperconverged-systems market was up a solid 8.3% year over year. But longer term, the handwriting seems to be on the wall in terms of data-center hardware growth. Enterprises were already shifting resources to the cloud, and the pandemic seems to be accelerating that migration. The good news for Nutanix is that the company is well along on a strategic shift from hardware to software and from on-prem to the cloud.

Power moves: Added new capabilities to its desktop-as-a-service offering, which has been going gangbusters during the pandemic.

By the numbers: 15,000, which is the number of Nutanix customers worldwide

Outlook: Nutanix’s growth plan is centered on broadening its product portfolio beyond HCI appliances, as well as moving to cloud-style subscription billing. Gartner puts it this way: “Over the last two years, Nutanix has evolved from a vendor of HCI system appliances and data services, to a provider of a broad portfolio of software solutions and cloud services.” These include database-as-a-service, application self-service and application life-cycle management, object storage, file storage services and a disaster recovery service. Going forward, the Nutanix strategy is to help companies manage remote workers, simplify and modernize their data centers, and manage their apps across cloud and on-prem platforms.

10. Huawei keeps fighting against sanctions, political pressure

Why they’re here: China-based networking vendor Huawei finds itself in the middle of a power struggle of epic proportions between the U.S. and Chinese governments. How epic? So epic that the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board wrote a column on June 9 warning about “the magnitude of what is happening,” as Commerce Dept. regulations threaten to “forcibly decouple computing technology supply chains from China, a move that will accelerate the fracture of at least part of the world economy into two spheres of influence.” Bloomberg recently ran a story with this headline: “A Quiet Panic is Growing in U.S. Boardrooms Over Huawei Ban.” Without getting into the complexities, U.S. policy set to take effect in August would prohibit American companies that do business with the government from having Huawei technology in any part of their global supply chain. That could be interpreted to mean, for example, that a U.S. company couldn’t do business with a supply chain partner in India, if that Indian company has a telecom supplier with some Huawei gear buried deep in its network.

Power moves: Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei told the leadership of the company in February, “The company has entered a state of war.”

By the numbers: 10 and 30 (roughly). According to IDC, Ethernet switch revenue was up 7.8% in 2019, giving Huawei 9.6% market share for the full year. Huawei’s enterprise and service provider router revenue rose 4.1% for the full year, giving the company 29.8% market share.

Outlook: On May 15, in a move separate from the supply chain ban, the Commerce Dept. banned all sales of advanced semiconductor technology from American suppliers to Huawei. New Street Research described Huawei’s current situation this way: “As things stand, Huawei has 12 months left to live. Without leading-edge chips, Huawei cannot sell competitive networking equipment, and there is no alternative to fabricators powered by U.S. technology to manufacture such chips.”

Courtesy of: Neal Weinberg

Barcelona is an emerging European centre for entrepreneurship and innovation. It has been the fifth-biggest European startup hub on EU-Startups ranking for four years. In 2018, Barcelona-based startups garnered the fifth-largest amount of total investment in Europe after London, Paris, Berlin and Stockholm. Barcelona is also founders’ preferred city for multiple reasons, including the quality of life, the relatively low rent prices and of course, the access to high-quality tech talent.

According to Mobile World Capital’s findings, Barcelona has the second-highest number of professional developers among all European cities, with 72,500 in total. This is partly Barcelona has attracted international 110 tech companies. Among which, a European unicorn N26 opened a development office in Barcelona, instantly creating hundreds of jobs and drawing attention to the city’s potential to provide and attract high-quality talent.

1. Startup And Tech Community

Barcelona is South Europe’s most dynamic startup Ecosystem alongside Barcelona Tech City, it’s home to over 1,300 startups that mostly develop their activity in fields of life science (13%) and mobile & software technologies (11%). According to Barcelona and Catalonia startup Hub, over 13820 tech experts are employed in the Catalonia startup economy, 26% from abroad, 46% from western Europe and followed by South America, East Europe Asia, Africa and North America. It should also be noted that 15% of startup founders are international. Working in technology fields is what mostly attracts foreign talent in Barcelona with 27%  international employees developing their skills in this area followed by 22% in sales, 20% in management and 17% in operations.

2. Accessible Venture Capital

Barcelona is blessed with plenty of venture capital ready to be invested in the right startups situated in Barcelona. There’s also a growing interest from silicon valley based firms to invest in Barcelona startups. Venture capital includes; Abac capital, So capital, Sitak Capital Flint capital, Galdana ventures, Nero venture which is actively investing locally. There’s also an opportunity for Spain’s startups to compete for this Investment opportunity based on performance which drives hard work, creativity and employment opportunities.

3. Barcelona Activa

This is an organization in Barcelona with an objective of promoting the economic growth of Barcelona by providing advice, support and funds to startups and entrepreneurs in Barcelona. This organization provides entrepreneurs with informative sessions in various programs and business planning tools as part of their welcome offer in the Barcelona tech scene. It introduces entrepreneurs to the specific legal procedures of Barcelona and Spain, ranging from incorporation to taxing. They also offer a weekly program to entrepreneurs that help them offer companies renting in the same building Startups in their initial stage.

4. Leading Schools

Barcelona is provided with interns from the top ranking schools in Spain and Europe like ESADE, EADA & IESE that provide tech talent, mentorship and entrepreneurship skills. Renowned professors are brought in from all over the globe with enough knowledge to make money as advisory members and non-exclusive directors. Being a graduate from these schools is a quality label because graduates from these universities are known for their entrepreneurial spirit, great ideas, responsibility, organization and hard work.

5. International Business City

Barcelona is a truly international city with a population comprised of 30% foreigners, it’s also among the top cities in terms of events organization. Big brands like EO expanded to Barcelona, which makes the city foreigner-friendly since business activities are conducted in English. Almost every startup in Barcelona has an English speaking person who represents the company, leading innovation figures from the world are hosted in Barcelona regularly to share with entrepreneurs in Barcelona their predictions.

6. Growing Number of Co-working Space

Barcelona has more than 287 Co workings, and the number continues to grow rapidly with time. This gives it’s entrepreneurs and tech talent an amazing opportunity to meet other people, share ideas and come up with new inventions. Coworking is also cost-effective and promotes human interactions which attract digital freelancers and digital nomads from around the world to Barcelona.

7. Regular Events and Networking

Barcelona has hundreds of tech designers, and business events held almost every day and hundreds of venues where people come from all over the world to meet people they are interested in. These venues host huge Congresses about Big data, docker and small meetups about specific technologies and project management tools. Barcelona has outdone itself with startup events and tech meetups happening pretty much every single day in different parts of the city which attract innovators from different parts of the city to flood Barcelona. Startup Grind Barcelona is an event that gives a good grasp of the local tech scene and ground for developing business relationships. Other events include; Mobile World Congress, Smart City Expo World Congress, 4YFN.

8. Dedicated Tech City

El Poblenou is an old industrial area in Barcelona that’s being transformed into an urban centre of innovation called The 22@ Barcelona innovation district. It’s a city where the most innovative companies co-exist with research, training and tech transfer centres as well as having facilities and green areas. It’s a massive development zone taking over the entire southeastern quadrant of the city and is meant to become a home for knowledge related to new technology. This attracts startups to open their offices in this zone as well as co-working spaces and other services.

9. Quality of Life

Barcelona has an incomparable quality of life to many other European cities. Major tech hubs like London and Berlin give employees high salaries, but the cost of living is high, Barcelona has a much lower cost of living, access to good quality healthcare, education, travel connection and many others. Barcelona is also a place to enjoy life outside work without spending that much money. It has a lot of places to organize outdoor activities for the teams, spend some time together in an informal ambience and enjoy working with beautiful views.

10. Accelerators And Incubators.

Barcelona has a wide range of both incubators and accelerators that promote innovation in companies and help startups grow. Incubator programs include several forms of mentorship and support in early stages while business accelerators offer business advisory services to minimize errors from limited experience or management problems. Connector, Seedrocket, Startupbootcamp are some of the most notable accelerators in the Barcelona tech scene that provide mentorship and training to startups in their initial stage.

Work from home will become work from anywhere (WFX)

More and more companies are announcing that remote work will be permanent, even when travel restrictions and social distancing will not be. The result: As travel opportunities begin to reopen, millions of employees will turn their new-found remote status into the chance to work from anywhere, relocating outside of urban centers, making up for lost time with family, or participating in remote years and other “workation” opportunities. And because companies have spent the last year investing in technology that enables virtual collaboration – for many of these employees the transition will be seamless and unnoticed by employers.

The heartland will see an “undraining” of brains

The phenomenon of highly skilled college graduates leaving their hometowns in middle America and relocating to economic centers like Silicon Valley, New York, and Austin is commonly known as “Brain Drain,” — and remote work may finally bring it to an end. Instead of fleeing the heartland en masse for new opportunities, remote work will allow these workers to stay settled in regional hubs like Madison, Grand Rapids, Asheville, Boulder, Nashville, and Raleigh. This regionalization of talent will have a massive impact on American culture, affecting everything from real-estate markets to electoral politics — while still giving companies from around the country access to top talent. 

Point to Accelerators coming out of places like Buffalo, South Bend, and Charlotte. 

Hybrid work will present new challenges to unequipped teams

Thousands of enterprises will gradually begin phasing teams back into the office by adopting hybrid strategies that combine remote and in-office work. While Hybrid work is a good compromise to protect employees with health concerns, the risk becomes introducing “worst of both worlds” work habits into company collaboration. 

To mitigate these effects, enterprises can embrace a culture of asynchronous sharing to replace many of the status and other routine meetings that fill up employee calendars. For brainstorms and real-time meetings, companies must make meetings interactive so that virtual attendees can participate with just as little friction as in-person ones, and craft collaborative practices that are inclusive to remote workers, like holding meetings entirely virtually even if some members are in the office. 

Engagement is the new productivity

Since the start of the SaaS era, billions of dollars have been invested into technology solutions that offered improvements to productivity in the enterprises. Many of the startups built by offering these solutions are now publicly traded companies like Slack and Asana, and even more solutions in the space have come from giants like Google and Microsoft. Looking forward, CIO priorities and budgets will shift away from making employees more productive and into making them more engaged. 

Engagement is different from productivity. Engagement refers to the passion employees have for their jobs and the connection they feel to their teams. In an era of remote and hybrid work, high levels of engagement will be a competitive advantage in developing products, attracting talent, and building customer loyalty in a crowded landscape. 

In the new world of work from anywhere (WFX), employees must amplify their engagement to find advancement opportunities

One of the drawbacks of remote work is that it’s more difficult to draw attention to what you’re working on day-to-day. In an office setting your attitude, body language, and relationships help drive the way you’re perceived, opening doors for those with genuine enthusiasm and passion for their workplace. But in a remote setting where employees collaborate predominantly with text, such enthusiasm is harder for employees to convey and for employers to identify.

In 2021 it will be important that employees put extra effort into amplifying their engagement virtually to make sure they get new opportunities. They must participate in virtual events, be active in group messaging, and keep their enthusiasm high during zoom calls to stand out as leaders while working from home. 

Young careers may suffer from lack of organic mentorship opportunities

Particularly early in their careers, young workers depend on a combination of observing experienced colleagues and formal, hands-on mentorship to improve the job skills that allow them to grow. In a remote work environment, organic opportunities for this kind of learning are fewer and further between. In an office, you can hear colleagues think out loud, hop in informal huddles to share the reasoning behind decisions, and observe professional behavior in-person to learn the ropes. In a work from anywhere (WFX) world, this is not possible. 

To help develop a new generation of talent, companies will need to be proactive and deliberate in 2021 in building mentorship programs, and managers must give time and love to new employees to make sure they are learning the ropes and ultimately mastering their jobs to take on new challenges. Those who fail to do so risk losing rising talent.

Courtesy of: Greg Nichols

Was genau ist deine Rolle bei NSC Deutschland – was sind deine Tätigkeiten als Regional Service Director? What is your role in NSC Germany – what do you do as our Regional Service Director?

Zum einen bin ich mit meinem Team dafür verantwortlich, dass wir die Verträge, die wir mit unseren Kunden geschlossen haben, einhalten. Dies beinhaltet neben den sogenannten „Governance-Themen“, wie Reportings oder Meetings, auch das Management von Eskalationen, SLA- und KPI Messungen. Darüber hinaus müssen wir immer wieder überprüfen, ob wir dem Kunden tatsächlich auch das liefern, was vertraglich definiert ist. In der Praxis tendiert man schnell dazu, mehr zu liefern, als man eigentlich verpflichtet ist.

Um diese Verträge erfüllen zu können, müssen wir auch sicherstellen, dass wir die benötigten Ressourcen, sprich Techniker, mit dem benötigten Skill an der entsprechenden Stelle zur Verfügung haben. Auch das stelle ich mit meinem Team sicher.

On the one hand, me and my team are responsible that we fulfil the contracts we have with our customers. Aside from the so-called “Governance Topics” like reporting or meetings, this also means we have to manage escalations and the measurement of KPIs and SLAs. Additionally, we have to constantly check if we deliver what is contractually agreed to the customer – it’s easy to deliver more than what has been agreed upon.

To fulfil these contracts we also have to ensure that the necessary resources, i.e. technicians, with the necessary skills are at the right place. This is another thing I ensure with my team.

Was ist deiner Meinung nach das, was uns als NSC Deutschland definiert – was macht uns im Kontext von NSCGlobal und dem IT-Service-Markt einzigartig? What would you say defines NSC Germany – what makes us unique within the global organization, and within the IT Service Market?

Ich bin in der glücklichen Lage, dass ich, bedingt durch die Erfahrungen meiner bisherigen beruflichen Laufbahn die Möglichkeit habe, mir diesbezüglich einen ganz guten Überblick verschafft zu haben. Die nsc nimmt in Bezug auf Ihre Strategie, Visionen und Ziele hier schon eine ganz besondere Stellung ein.  Bedingt durch flache Hirarchien und schnelle Entscheidungswege können wir spontan, schnell und flexibel auf Kundenanforderungen reagieren. Diese Merkmale müssen durch jeden einzelnen Mitarbeiter jeden Tag gelebt werden.

I’m lucky to have gained experience in my past career that enables me to have a good overview on these things. NSC embodies a special position regarding our strategy, visions and targets. Due to flat hierarchies and quick decision paths, we can react spontaneously, quickly and flexibly to our customer requirements. These elements have to be embodied by each employee every day.

Was ist für dich der Lieblingsteil deiner Arbeit? What is your favourite part of your work?

Die Zusammenarbeit mit unseren Kunden, Mitarbeiter, Partner und Hersteller. Ein wesentliches Merkmal bei nsc ist die Tatsache, dass wir eine hohe Flexibilität besitzen und jeder Tag für jeden Mitarbeiter neue Herausforderungen bietet.

Working together with our customers, colleagues, partners and suppliers. A central aspect of NSC is the fact that we are highly flexible and every day offers new challenges for every colleague.

Wie sieht für dich der perfekte Techniker-Kollege aus? What does your ideal tech employee look like?

Wichtig ist, neben dem technischen Handwerkszeug, eine große Portion emotionaler Intelligenz an den Tag zu legen. Und wir benötigen 100%-ige Teamplayer, die sich immer wieder auf neue Situationen und Anforderungen einstellen können.

Aside from the technical skillset, it’s important to have significant emotional intelligence. We also need people 100% committed to teamplay who can adapt to new situations and requirements again and again.

Welche Fähigkeiten sind für dich wichtig, wenn du neue Kollegen einstellst? What key skills do you look for when hiring?

Die Fähigkeit und die Bereitschaft die „extra Meile“ zu gehen, ist ein großer Faktor auf den wir Wert legen. Unsere Mitarbeiter müssen allerdings auch neben den fachlichen Aspekten die Bereitschaft haben, sich immer wieder neuen Herausforderungen zu stellen und sich nicht mit dem Erreichten zufrieden zu geben. Die Qualität unserer Dienstleistungen und eine hohe Kundenzufriedenheit sind Punkte die uns jeden Tag neu motivieren und antreiben.

The ability and willingness to go the „extra mile“ is a big factor that we value. Aside from the technical proficiency, our colleagues need to be willing to rise to new challenges and not simply be content with the current status. Our service quality and customer satisfaction are the elements that motivate and drive us anew, every day.

Wie wichtig sind “Soft-Skills” und technische Fähigkeiten für Bewerber? How important are soft skills as well as technical ability for applicants?

Unsere Mitarbeiter sind die Repräsentanten unseres Unternehmens, sie sind jeden Tag im Kontakt mit dem Kunden, entweder telefonisch oder direkt vor Ort. Und meistens dann in Situationen, die eine schnelle Lösung benötigen, sei es, dass ein PC defekt ist, ein Bauteil ausgetauscht werden muss oder allgemein etwas in der IT-Landschaft des Kunden nicht so funktioniert wie es funktionieren sollte. Diese Situationen sind in der Regel mit Stress für beide Seiten verbunden. Da ist es besonders wichtig besonnen zu reagieren, die Emotionen des Kunden zu verstehen, aufzunehmen und in entsprechende Bahnen zu lenken. Dies erfordert neben dem technischen Wissen ein sehr hohes Maß an sogenannten „soft skills“.

Our employees represent our company because they are in contact with our customers every day, either via phone or onsite; mostly in situations that need a quick solution, like a faulty PC, a part that needs to be changed, or the general fact that something in our customer’s IT landscape doesn’t work the way it should. These situations are usually stressful for both sides. This means it’s especially important to react calmly, to understand the customer’s emotions and to react to them appropriately. This requires a high amount of “soft skills” in addition to the technical proficiency.

Was würdest du einem Kandidaten empfehlen, der gerne in die IT-Service-Branche einsteigen würde? What would you recommend to someone looking to join the IT services industry?

Heutzutage ist es wichtig, sich nicht mit dem Erreichten zufrieden zu geben. Stillstand bedeutet in der IT heutzutage mehr denn je Rückschritt. Nicht nur technologisch, auch bedingt durch die aktuelle Covid19-Krise haben sich die Businessmodelle verändert. Die Anforderungen der Kunden verändern sich ebenso rasant und auf diese Anforderungen müssen wir flexible Antworten finden.

Today it is important not to rest on your laurels. In IT, being in a standstill means you’re actually regressing, today more than ever. Business models have changed, not only technologically, but also through the current Covid-19 crisis. This means that our customer requirements change just as quickly, and we need to find flexible answers to these requirements.

Wie entwickelst du dich als Führungsperson weiter? How do you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

Man muss Verständnis haben für die Handlungsweisen seines Gegenübers, sowohl bei Kunden, Kollegen als auch Mitarbeiter. Welche Motivation treibt ihn an, was sind seine Ziele, seine Beweggründe? Um dies zu verstehen, ist es wichtig zuzuhören und jederzeit authentisch zu bleiben.

It’s important to understand your conversation partner’s actions, this means customers and colleagues alike. What motivates them, what are their goals, their motivations? To understand that, it’s important to listen and stay authentic at any time.

Auch wenn es Konflikte und Hindernisse gibt – wie hältst du dein Team motiviert? How do you keep your team motivated despite conflicts and obstacles?

Es bleibt nicht aus, dass in einem Team Konflikte oder z. B. unterschiedliche Meinungen auftreten. Ziel sollte es sein, eine win-win Situation für alle herzustellen, was nicht immer unbedingt möglich ist. In jedem Fall sollten die Mitarbeiter die Entscheidungen nachvollziehen und bestenfalls auch zur Lösung beitragen können.

It’s normal that conflicts or different opinions occur in a team. The ultimate goal should be to create a win-win situation for everyone, which isn’t always possible. In any case, the colleagues should be able to understand the decision and, ideally, be empowered to contribute to the solution.

Nach all den Fragen zu Arbeitsthemen – was machst du nach Feierabend, um dich zu entspannen? After all these questions about work – what do you do in your time off to unwind?

In diesen hektischen Zeiten ist es wichtig auch auf eine ausgeglichene „work-life Balance“ zu achten. Ich bewege mich gerne, spiele Fussball, Tennis und bin gerne auch mal im Wald zum Laufen. Und ich freue mich darauf mit meiner großen Tochter mal wieder ein Eintracht Spiel live im Stadion zu erleben. Von meinem Bürofenster in Frankfurt-Niederrad habe ich das Stadion übrigens immer gut im Blick…

In these hectic times, it’s important to pay attention to work-life balance. I like staying active, I play football, tennis and like going on runs in the woods. I’m also looking forward to watch our local football team, Eintracht Frankfurt, with my elder daughter live in the stadium again. By the way, I have a good view of that stadium from my office in Frankfurt-Niederrad…

Ganz offene Frage – was würdest du gerne Kandidaten mitgeben, die gerne bei NSC Deutschland arbeiten würden? Over to you – some final words you want to say to somebody who’d like to join NSC in Germany?

Wenn Sie auf der Suche nach einem Job sind, in dem sie keine Veränderungen oder Überraschungen erwarten möchten, festdefinierte Prozesse und zementierte Aufgabenbereiche gewohnt sind, bewerben Sie sich besser nicht bei nsc. Unser Unternehmen entwickelt sich sehr dynamisch und manchmal bin ich selbst noch überrascht über die Geschwindigkeit der Veränderungen. Aber genau das ist ein Teil der DNA von uns, das unterscheidet uns von dem Wettbewerb.

If you’re looking for a job without any changes or surprises, if you’re extremely used to rigidly defined processes and cemented responsibilities, NSC might not be for you. We are a dynamically developing company, sometimes even I’m surprised with the speed of our changes. But exactly that is part of our DNA and what sets us apart from the competition.

It’s no secret that 2020 has been a turbulent year, especially within the field of technology. The global pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of many tech-focused solutions within businesses, with many of us having turned to digital tools to support our new way of working. As a result, the technology landscape looks extremely different to what was predicted this time last year.

2020 recap – The year of the cloud:

Even prior to the global pandemic, Cloud computing was considered a trend that would continue its innovative development. The virus certainly had its benefits for Cloud computing services as many businesses were able to successfully adopt digital transformation as the world turned virtual overnight through using Cloud-based technology. Now, connectivity is almost always down to the Cloud as many of us navigate business operations through these turbulent times.

This is a trend that will also continue to flourish into the next year due to the ever-increasing ability to be flexible when reacting to unforeseen changes. And now that the Cloud has seen wide-scale deployment, the way companies will be using their Cloud software will most likely become more streamlined, specialized and secure. As a result, data centers will experience huge developments to keep up with this demand in 2021.

Top 2021 trends:

Software development

Though software engineering has been slowly developing over the past decade, the past 12 months have had a huge impact on super-charging this growth. One of the biggest lessons learned from Covid-19 is the importance of facilitating flexible, adaptable and contingency planning. Where the notion of remote working is seen as a more long-term solution, software developers will need to find ways to facilitate the range of software programs used across client projects, focusing on compatibility.

Furthermore, due to the sudden uptake in digitalization, team expertise and software development specialists will be in high demand. Covid-19 has been a catalyst for these changes and accelerated many company’s digital transformation that may have already been in the pipeline.

Remote working and security

Where the world was forced to adopt a remote working model over-night during the pandemic, cyber hackers spotted a gateway for new forms of data theft. Due to poor technological infrastructure or inadequate cyber and data security software, many businesses were left exposed and vulnerable to malicious cyber-attacks. However, as remote working becomes a more permanent fixture in the long-term, there are many security implications to consider for businesses to avoid these types of security breaches going forward and into 2021. Different ways to authenticate users will begin to evolve as software development facilitates improved security for remote working models. This is particularly prevalent within banking and healthcare markets where protecting sensitive customer data is fundamental.

The adoption of open source software

Open source software describes any program where the developer released the source code for free. Due to such high numbers of people working from home, accessible and affordable alternatives to expensive and professional software is high in demand.

Ever since the open source software movement took off in the 1990’s, it has completely revolutionized the way we all use technology, from in the workplace to at home. And where open source software is often more secure, the adoption of these applications are only to increase and become fully integrated as part of our daily software usage now and in the future.

AI and big data

Artificial intelligence (AI) will become more dominant in the coming years when redefining businesses and customer experiences. As the technology develops, the impact on software automation will be immense. This means that software developers must embrace the changes possible with AI and big data so that clients can remain agile when battling their competitors during these critical times.

It is also critical for software development companies to provide peace of mind and reliability in the use of large data and AI systems. With customers increasingly demanding help to review large structured and unstructured datasets, big data analytics will become an important tool for software engineers. Not only will this require software to automatically learn from the model or function of the data, but also capabilities for data mining, predictive analysis and forecasting.

IoT and edge computing

Now that the Internet of Things has well and truly arrived, what can we expect from the notion next year? As talks of 5G escalate, the implementation is expected to arrive and roll out in 2021. With improved wireless connectivity, IoT will thrive and continue to become integrated within our tech-focused lives.

In particular, IoT derived edge computing is also expected to develop with the introduction of 5G. Edge computing brings the data and the computer closer to the location it is needed, improving response times and saves bandwidth. Now that IT solutions are under scrutiny to produce the best results possible for business during the recovery from 2020, edge computing is expected to deliver these needs and result in an uptake of adoption.

To 2021 and beyond:

Even though legacy software often receives a bad name, not all traditional computer systems should be considered outdated. However, there are some tools that could be better suited for today’s digital landscape and changing business demands.

The role of software engineers will also develop to align more with social responsibility. As coding continues its path towards advanced technology, software engineers will gain an increased responsibility when making decisions on how the data sourced through code will be used, for instance billing, face recognition software and authentication.

It’s been an interesting year and an eye-opening one for many as technology took a major hit. The need for technology to deliver has never been so critical as almost everyone relies on it to continue business operations as usual. During these turbulent times, it is still unclear as to what we can expect going forward. However, I have highlighted the most influential factors to look out for as we prepare for 2021.

Continuous changes and developments in technology will require an increased demand for software development, due to the extended capabilities and streamlined ways of working. As Covid-19 continues to disrupt, hybrid applications and mobile software will be of the most interest moving forward.

By Jaroslaw Porwol.