"There is no alternative to digital transformation"
- Oliver Kaltner has been CEO of Vectron Systems AG since February 1. Read our interview to find out what drives him, which central challenges he sees and which goals he wants to achieve in and for the company.
Oliver Kaltner, you have been CEO of Vectron Systems AG since February 1st. Previously, you were mainly employed by large players. Why the change to a comparatively small medium-sized company?
Kaltner: If, like me, you've spent 20 years in various functions in corporations such as Nike, Electronic Arts, Sony and Microsoft, there are basically only two options: You stay with the corporations for another 20 years or you take up new challenges time and again and draw motivation and inspiration from them to constantly learn new things and apply the acquired skills in other industries, adapt knowledge and generate success through change. We live in an immensely exciting and rapidly changing era of digitalization. Actively shaping this era by means of numerous new technologies and forms of cooperation is an enormous privilege for me and this is what drives me decisively. Already with my function as CEO at Leica Camera AG I made a deliberate step into the medium-sized business. Vectron now offers me the opportunity, together with a very agile and professional team, to lead another medium-sized company from another sector into the digital transformation.
Can you already say something about your start in the company?
Kaltner: Thanks to Google Search all employees were very well informed about me. I am thrilled by the way I was received personally. The willingness and passion to consistently push the company forward, to implement existing strategies and to achieve significant growth in the market together with our partners is evident from day one. It is now imperative to align the strategic decisions, which the previous Executive Board has entrusted to me as a good foundation, even stronger with market potential and to guarantee Vectron's secure and powerful future by focusing on the essentials, agility, dynamics and customer orientation in the long term. The catering industry is facing profound changes. Vectron must be a leading solution provider in digital transformation.
German SMEs face major challenges. Key topics are the generational change and the digital transformation that has already been mentioned. What challenges do you see at Vectron‘s?
Kaltner: Vectron has a great, almost unique starting position: Hardware, software and cloud-based solutions come from a single source, developed by Vectron. Our technological engineering performance is at a remarkably high level and we have long since outgrown the image of a traditional POS manufacturer. This alone is not enough to shape the markets. With the help of our sales partners, our digital solutions must find their way to the restaurateurs, bakeries, resellers, users and consumers. The analysis and processing of existing POS data is a key to success in the digital age. This obliges us to sharpen our range of products and services and to take our partners with us on the journey. I have been working for many years in companies that have started digital transformation in a global environment. One thing is undisputed: Those who reject digital transformation are unable to survive their business. There is no alternative to digital transformation.
What is your vision for Vectron? Which goals do you want to achieve?
Kaltner: Vectron is a complete system solution provider offering hardware, software and cloud-based services in the international market. The fundamental interest of partners is in the heart of the POS system, the Vectron business solution platform: data! Their analysis, evaluation and use alter merchandise management and CRM systems in their entirety. This results in completely new business, collaboration and monetization models. The cash register as pure hardware is already obsolete. On the other hand, if the cash register is networked and intelligently digitalised, it will continue to generate very good sales and earnings. Vectron has a clear growth strategy. We want to gain market share in existing markets by means of digitization and open up new markets and other industries for us. The aim is to actively support existing core markets such as the catering trade, e. g. in the areas of customer approach, customer loyalty and the use of data to optimise merchandise management. All this requires and enables a digitized POS system.
Which of the experiences you have gained from your work for large corporations can be useful for Vectron? And can corporations also learn from a medium-sized company like Vectron?
Kaltner: Large corporations are almost perfect in terms of organisation, structure and process management. All processes are constantly optimized and designed according to efficiency aspects. This is a blueprint for medium-sized companies, which sometimes find it difficult to adopt modern working methods and structures. For me, for example, it is not decisive to meet my team on the spot in the office. Modern, mobile and flexible working methods create the space for individual talent, which can be integrated perfectly into team goals. We can also learn from corporations that satellite structures are necessary to attract talent. It does not matter whether the company is located in Munich, Hamburg or Münster. Software developers are interested in exciting projects for which they are not constantly changing places of residence. This leads to the reality that companies have to create structures to network people in different places.
In comparison to corporations, medium-sized companies have considerably more agility and speed - from brainstorming to decision making to implementation. Very good development work is being done in the field of software and digital services in Germany's medium-sized businesses. Corporations can benefit from this, whose development work is often purely global in nature, which mostly ignores and excludes local aspects. The two worlds are more conditional than is generally assumed. One rule applies to both: Those who lose sight of and for the market lose business.
Where do you see the greatest potential? Where and how can Vectron gain market share?
Kaltner: We want to gain market share in our core market "Hospitality and Bakeries" by means of our extensive range of products and services and to significantly expand the installed base of currently more than 200,000 Vectron POS systems in combination with software and digital solutions. Moreover, we are well represented in the German-speaking countries and Benelux, but especially in European countries there is enormous potential for us, which we want to win with Vectron and Duratec. bonVito, GetHappy, myVectron and posmatic are the most comprehensive service offerings in the entire industry. We support all platforms from Linux and Windows to Android and iOS. There is nothing comparable here either. In cooperation with Coca-Cola at GetHappy we develop new ideas on a daily basis in order to further develop and optimize this service. The technology is stable and runs smoothly. This cooperation will positively change the industry. It should come as no surprise that, based on my background and network, I also contribute further and new business ideas. Vectron has a clear growth strategy that includes our entire partner landscape.
Which role does Vectron's distribution network play in your opinion?
Kaltner: In all my previous positions I have supported and promoted the specialist trade. This is also a clear commitment in my new function. However, there are far-reaching changes to be made as a result of digitalization. We must turn these challenges into opportunities. We will take our specialist trade partners with us on the journey and develop together with them. Maintaining traditional business models will not work. Neither for our dealers nor for Vectron. Economic history shows: Preserving the good and approaching the new. This is where growth lies. That's the point.
What is your timeframe for implementing your plans?
Kaltner: There is a sector-specific time frame through fiscalization, which has long since begun and must be implemented by the end of December 2019 at the latest. At the same time, there is the digital transformation, which always goes hand in hand with so-called disruption. Industries and business models are always attacked by players who do not come from the industry. See Automotive, Banking and Insurance. The catering trade is already in the thick of it. Online service providers vitalize the market. But do they also create partnership-based sustainability for the benefit of the restaurateurs and resellers? Vectron does make this commitment. But we also expect our partners to be willing to change. There is therefore no time frame, but the absolute necessity to adapt, modernise and digitalise the systems and business models now. Every day of waiting increases the risk of missing the train.
Vectron's comprehensive range of solutions offers enormous opportunities to grow the business in the catering industry. We better seize this opportunity together with our partners than watching other players take over the business.
"About the person": Oliver Kaltner (49) has many years of experience in the consumer electronics and IT industries as well as extensive expertise in the areas of product management, brand development and brand management, retail, sales, country expansion, technological collaboration and digital transformation. Most recently, he served as CEO of Leica Camera AG, helping the traditional premium brand for camera and sports optics products to achieve sustained international growth, sales and profit records. Previously, Oliver Kaltner was General Manager and Member of the Management Board at Microsoft Deutschland GmbH, where he was responsible for the consumer business and forced the transformation into a Devices & Services organization. Further stations of his professional career have included managing and managerial positions at Sky AG, Sony Deutschland GmbH, Electronic Arts GmbH and Nike GmbH.