Dominik Rüchardt

When I started my first job in the digital industry on June 1, 1992, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I just had a feeling pretty soon, "This is going to be big."
I then spent 30 years traveling through the digital industry, with ups and downs, in many different roles, from technician to consultant to strategist, in the boardrooms of large companies as well as in the hallways of plants and IT and engineering departments. I have had the privilege of seeing both the digital economy and the industry from many angles, and in many countries and continents. In 10 years as a development and product manager in a start-up, I was able to experience the excitement with innovation and success as well as the sneaking of defeats. I learned the consulting trade at the large corporation IBM and managed large change projects in international groups in the automotive industry. At PTC, I worked on and shaped strategic development in digital transformation with customers as well as in-house, with wonderful successes and occasional setbacks. In meetings, in specialist departments, in critical meetings of inner circles and in days and nights full of ever new challenges, in Europe, Asia and the USA. I have struggled to reach agreements in committees, despaired at my clientele's faith in technology at conferences, and convinced people on stages and in corporate hallways to think strategically together.
Because I had understood one thing: The real art is not to create technology. The real art is mastering technology and communicating it to people as a useful tool.
The digital economy is a young discipline, and in its youthful exuberance it has conquered the world and turned it upside down in a very short time. It has transformed itself from a helpful spirit into the dominant discipline and now sets rules and laws that it itself continues to be overwhelmed by.
On my journey through the development of this world, I was able to take away many experiences and develop approaches to deal with the new challenges. And I have found that it is valuable to write down these experiences and share them with all those who want to take responsibility in the Digital Transformation. Because even if I'm not always right: Nothing is more important than finding a common language in the effort to overcome major challenges.
I am currently responsible for the role of Head of the Global Customer Strategy Office at PTC. This involves further developing the partnership between a digital company undergoing digital transformation and its customers in the industry, who are also transforming themselves.
I complement this activity with my role as chairman of the Industry 4.0 working group at the Bitkom digital association. Here, digital and industrial companies work together on the success of the digital transformation with the aim of creating trust and the security for the necessary investments.