TechLead-Story: Ing. Mag Christian Pfundner MBA, CIO at Schrack Technik GmbH

TechLeadStory

Ing. Mag Christian Pfundner MBA

Team

Size and Roles: The IT team consists of 30 members, distributed across different teams:

10 members in the "Infrastructure & Support" team
7 members in the "ERP" team
8 members in the "Web & CRM" team
3 members in the "BI/Reporting" team
1 member in an assistant role (staff position)
1 member in the leadership role (CIO)

Organization and Structure: The team is organized into four functional teams due to the significant growth of the IT department. Each team has a team leader, ensuring close supervision and addressing problems and needs. The structure aims to provide an optimal working environment for each member within the organization's capabilities.

Advantages and Disadvantages: Advantages of the team structure include the ability to address individual problems and needs effectively. However, the transition from a flat structure to a team structure resulted in reduced direct communication with the department head. To optimize information exchange, a new coordination structure was introduced, facilitating communication within and across teams.

Distinctive Aspects: The team's distinctive characteristics include a high degree of lived autonomy, a well-defined error culture, and a clear commitment to collective goal achievement, creating a highly productive yet collegial working environment.

Recruiting

Integration in Recruiting Process: IT recruiting is entirely within the responsibility of the IT department, allowing for independent action in this regard.

Onboarding Procedure: The recruiting process includes a mandatory trial day to ensure technical and interpersonal compatibility between the team and potential new members. The actual onboarding is role-dependent, with each team leader developing an individual onboarding plan.

Qualities Beyond Technical Skills: Besides technical qualifications, the team values qualities such as a passion for autonomous work, a willingness to contribute to shaping the environment, and a genuine love for the job.

Technologies

Technical Challenges: The team faces challenges related to the increasing complexity of the system landscape, integrating more internal and external services to offer end-to-end solutions, especially in business process automation. Meeting the growing demand for mobility while enabling processes from remote locations poses a significant challenge.

Current Technologies: The team works with both Linux and Microsoft technologies. Microsoft solutions are primarily used for collaboration, including Office 365, SharePoint, Skype for Business, and CRM. Linux-based environments are employed for various web-based solutions using Java and PHP.

Evolution of Technology Since Inception: The company has shifted from a DIY strategy to collaborating with a growing number of partners and utilizing their technologies and services, particularly cloud services. This ongoing collaboration has led to continuous expansion and evolution of the company's technological and service-related architecture.