Timo Emrich is Vice President of Business and Corporate Services at Fresenius Digital Technologies. What are the challenges of working in IT in a global healthcare company? What does his day-to-day work look like? In this interview, Timo provides an insight into his job and explains why he has been with Fresenius for over 20 years.
My official job title is Vice President of Business and Corporate Services. My team is part of the Application Operations division at Fresenius Digital Technologies – the IT arm of the Fresenius Group. My team is responsible for the non-SAP systems, predominantly standard and corporate applications. We provide solutions to facilitate collaboration, analytics and reporting solutions, and modern HR software. We are also responsible for operating and developing these systems. As part of this, we work closely with global service providers so we are able to remain cost-effective and flexible in our approach.
One example is business intelligence, i.e., ensuring that data and reporting solutions are provided. Another team runs productivity solutions such as project management tools and provides applications on SharePoint, etc. The Group’s websites run on our system and we also oversee the FRED and Fresenius Kabi intranet systems. We manage external service providers, oversee service management, and develop systems. Our current focus is on supporting the implementation of Workday as a central HR system for the entire corporation. Here we are working closely with the HR department and with external service providers.
Between 2000 and 2003, I completed a degree in Computer Science whilst working at Deutsche Bank. I went on to work there as a software developer and software architect. I then moved to Fresenius in 2005. An acquaintance of mine had told me that Fresenius were looking for someone with precisely my skillset – someone who was familiar with software development and web technologies, but who was also able to manage projects and oversee service providers. So I ended up joining what was then Fresenius Netcare. Since then I have worked in almost every area – from infrastructure to various leadership roles to my current role.
I either work from home or in the office in Bad Homburg and my day begins once the kids have left the house. My first job is to check my emails and Teams messages to see if there’s anything that needs my urgent attention. As we are responsible for the organization of system operation, system failures can occur at any time and they need urgent action. I usually have lots of meetings afterwards – this is simply the way it goes when you work in an international team. We are spread across different locations in Germany, as well as in Spain, Poland, India, and Great Britain.
I really enjoy the range of topics and the continuous development of the IT landscape at Fresenius. In recent years, we have experienced a big shift towards internationalization. Collaborating with service providers is also taking us to the next level. We used to do a lot ourselves, but now we have 24/7 support from an external service provider, for example. It is fascinating to see how the maturity level of IT within the company has developed over the past 20 years. I also like introducing new technologies and seeing how they move the company forward. One of the challenges we constantly face is finding the right balance between innovation and maintaining stable services for the business.
We have a great level of technological expertise in our team and lots of people with many years of experience who know our systems inside out. It is hard to find people like that these days. At the same time, we have a really good team spirit. This was underlined by our recent engagement survey – the level of satisfaction among our employees once again significantly improved. I am really proud of my team. And that’s the most important thing. Things would simply grind to a halt without this effective team and its relevant skillset.
I would say: working here is never boring! In the 20 years that I have worked here, at no point have I thought “It’s always the same”. Something is always changing – there are new themes, new ideas, new technologies. We have just come out of a period of strong growth and are now undergoing various restructurings. This makes for a very interesting working environment. Internationalization brings with it exciting opportunities to go abroad. Having a technical background is helpful when you work here – it makes it easier to speak to service providers if you can speak their language. Quality awareness is also important – after all, we have long-standing relationships with our customers within the Group. You need to be able to persevere, even if things aren’t running smoothly.
I am proud that we deliver services for our customers. Even though we’re not directly involved in the value chain, we work in the background to ensure everything runs smoothly and that our business can function. One concrete example that I’ve already mentioned is the introduction of the HR system Workday. This is a huge step forward for Fresenius. We are also actively working on switching off old systems, removing duplicate structures, and modernizing systems. These are important tasks that may not be too visible to the outside world but they have a big impact. And, on a personal level, I find it meaningful to work within the healthcare sector rather than at a defense company or something like that.
Thank you for the interview Timo!