Closer to the customer than ever before

The past few years have been characterised by far-reaching changes for CANCOM Austria. The incorporation of the former Kapsch BusinessCom AG into the German CANCOM Group in 2023 also set a new cultural and strategic course in the Austrian market. Today, the company is well on its way to becoming a modern, customer-centric system integrator for the Austrian market. "Overall, the company is developing very positively," says Dietmar Wiesinger. "We now have access to a broader portfolio than ever before and can therefore bring real IT innovations to our customers." In addition to Austria, the CANCOM Austria Group also includes activities in Switzerland, Romania and a development hub in the Czech Republic. At the same time, Wiesinger emphasises that despite the integration into the international group, the company has retained its entrepreneurial independence. "As an integral part of the CANCOM Group, we now have a great deal of freedom to develop our business independently and in a targeted manner." Bernd Eder also believes the company is on the right track. The culture is changing and it is succeeding very well in inspiring young employees to work together on the important topics for the IT of tomorrow. "We have matured significantly in terms of both organisation and management," he explains. "With the current setup and the strong embedding in the Group, we can now operate very clearly and decisively in the Austrian market." Eder points in particular to the company's market position: "We are the largest system integrator in Austria and have the largest installed technological base in the market and have an exciting transformation journey ahead of us with our customers."

Cultural change as a decisive factor

The new management sees the greatest impact of the transformation less in the market presence and more within the organisation itself. For Eder, the decisive difference lies in the type of collaboration and leadership. "The key developments are primarily evident at a cultural and organisational level," he emphasises. The transition from an owner-managed company to a management-orientated structure has permanently changed the way we work together. "Today, we act as managers within the organisation. Rigid, old structures are being broken down and everyone has the opportunity to make an active contribution." The focus is on performance, collaboration and joint success for the customer.

At the same time, management is now much closer to the teams than in the past. "Collaboration is more intensive, more direct and more focused on dialogue," says Eder. It is precisely this greater proximity and interest in genuine innovation that are key elements of cultural development. Wiesinger also sees operational advantages in joining the CANCOM Group. The aim of the transformation was to offer customers a broader and more powerful portfolio - a claim that is now being visibly realised. For example, CANCOM Austria now benefits from digital sales channels such as a Group-wide web shop and an integrated marketplace for licence topics.

International strength, local proximity

Despite its stronger international focus, CANCOM Austria continues to see itself as a regionally anchored IT partner. It is precisely this combination of international scaling and local proximity that the two board members see as a strategic advantage. "The broad and well-established partner landscape is a key advantage for our customers," explains Wiesinger. It makes it possible to develop solutions that are open to all technologies and to tailor them precisely to individual requirements. At the same time, the importance of managed services and operational responsibility is constantly growing. "Especially in sensitive areas and with critical infrastructure, customers benefit from our many years of experience and high level of trust," emphasises Wiesinger. For Eder, the stronger international network opens up additional opportunities while maintaining clear regional roots. "We now operate more in an international context and utilise this perspective in a targeted manner without losing our proximity to the customer," he says.

Digital sovereignty as a management issue

Digital sovereignty is currently a key topic in many discussions with customers. Both board members warn against reducing the term to pure infrastructure issues. "Digital sovereignty should not be confused with self-sufficiency," says Wiesinger. Complete independence is neither realistic nor sensible in a globally networked economy. Rather, it is about consciously dealing with dependencies and understanding which data and systems are critical for your own business. Companies are increasingly concerned with issues relating to data security, geopolitical risks and regulatory requirements. "Today, digital sovereignty is an integral part of many discussions at management level," explains Wiesinger. Eder no longer sees it as a purely technical discussion either. "Digital sovereignty ultimately describes the ability to make technological and economic decisions independently." As a result, system integrators are increasingly becoming strategic sparring partners for their customers. This in turn requires new approaches, innovative employees and trust in the collaboration. Accordingly, both are critical of a simplified debate about cloud versus on-premise. "Digital sovereignty cannot be reduced to the question of cloud or on-premise," explains Wiesinger. Rather, the decisive factor is which solution makes sense for which use case.

Local expertise remains crucial

Despite international Group structures, both Management Board members continue to see local implementation expertise as a key success factor. "The key added value of our business lies in the skills of our employees," says Wiesinger. Customers consciously choose CANCOM because of this expertise and the trust they have built up over the years. Regional roots play a key role, particularly in the security environment. "Our customers rightly expect projects to be implemented with local resources and not from anonymous nearshore structures," explains Wiesinger. Eder sees an example of the combination of international technology and local solution development in the collaboration with Cisco. "Cisco acts more as an enabler and deliberately leaves the concrete design to the local system integrator," he explains. This creates greater room for manoeuvre in order to adapt solutions precisely to the requirements of the respective market. The result is added value for the customer thanks to a great strategic fit and future viability. The days of selling purely on price and availability are over.

AI is changing the importance of infrastructure

The topic of artificial intelligence is currently developing particularly dynamically. For Wiesinger, it is clear that AI is fundamentally changing the role of IT infrastructure. "With the emergence of artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure is once again becoming much more of a focal point," he says. What was long regarded as a commodity is now regaining strategic importance. The effects are already visible worldwide. "The demand for high-performance hardware has risen sharply," explains Wiesinger. There are significant bottlenecks in availability, delivery times and prices, especially for memory and chip capacities. In this area, too, it is therefore necessary to do your strategic homework and work out how AI can be used to achieve competitive advantages. "The current development around artificial intelligence opens up enormous opportunities, and those who do not take advantage of them risk competitive disadvantages in the long term," emphasises Wiesinger. Although Europe will probably not play a dominant role in the development of large basic models, it has considerable strengths in specialised AI applications and industry-specific solutions.

From co-pilot to process automation

While many companies have gained initial experience with AI-supported workplace tools, Wiesinger sees the actual added value primarily in the integration of AI into operational processes. "The greatest leverage is created where artificial intelligence is directly integrated into central company processes," he explains. If, for example, quotation preparation or customer interactions can be made significantly more efficient, there are direct economic benefits. Eder also recognises clear patterns in the practical use of AI. "The widespread use of language models is now being followed by a phase in which standardised, transaction-based processes in particular are being automated," he explains. This creates efficiency potential in all areas of the company. At the same time, people remain indispensable in many areas. "Where experience, contextual understanding and personal interaction play a major role, people remain a decisive factor. People play the biggest role in our business model with their experience, their understanding of the context and a customer-focussed mindset. And that will remain the case."

Focus on security, AI & managed services

The new management sees no need for radical changes of course in the coming months. Instead, the focus will be on consistently expanding the existing position. First and foremost, Dietmar Wiesinger mentions security, where CANCOM Austria already has a strong market position. The focus is also on artificial intelligence along the entire value chain - from consulting and implementation to operation and infrastructure. Managed services also remain particularly important. Many companies are finding it increasingly difficult to secure expertise and resources in the long term or to fulfil regulatory requirements efficiently. "This is where we offer scalable services that provide targeted relief," explains Wiesinger. For Eder, it will be crucial to implement clear priorities and genuine innovation despite the highly dynamic market." Especially in turbulent times, the temptation to remain in old structures and power structures is great. This is precisely why customer proximity, a genuine willingness to change and a focus on the company's strengths are needed now. "We see it as our task to actively approach customers and jointly develop solutions that offer orientation and stability." With this mixture of technological breadth, regional proximity and innovation, CANCOM Austria wants to shape the next phase of growth. The message from the new Management Board duo is clear: the company is well on its way to becoming a modern system integrator for the Austrian IT market and is closer to its customers than ever before.