After having finished my studies, it was clear that my new work field had to fulfil the following criteria:
For those reasons it was obvious that I had to choose a small company with a high growth potential, as PIKON is. Something that appeals to me a lot at my consultancy job is meeting companies in various branches very quickly and intensively. This is exactly what PIKON International Consulting Group has offered me so far.
At the beginning of 1997 the new office rooms were just inaugurated and I was the second employee- the company was in full expansion. Besides my formation as a SD consultant, I was able to bring in my IT knowledge from my former part-time jobs during the installation of the computer network.
At the beginning of my career at PIKON three aspects came to the fore:
Next to my project activities, I always wanted to keep developing my talents. That's why I extended, in my second year, my know-how with knowledge of Service Management and Plant Maintenance. Especially after having past the Y2K problem, big development potentials in these fields showed up in many companies.
Consultants work process oriented at PIKON. This means that I do not only focus on partial functionalities of a SAP module, but on complete processes. For example when it comes to a stock sale we not only provide the order entry with pricing and availability check, but also the integration into the inventory management and the transfer to the controlling and financial accounting. In order to be able to provide our customers with the most optimal result, we work closely together as a team.
Parallel to the project work I was supervising the continuous development of our own IT department. Thanks to the support of our system administrators, I can now focus more on strategic IT decisions and IT staff management. Simultaneously I was involved in the general management of all subsidiaries.
In the last years I have focused on consultancy. At the end of 2007 I therefore devolved the IT management. In that way I could apply myself more to the consultancy. At PIKON we always think in terms of processes instead of separate modules. It is indeed occurring more and more that company processes, reproduced in a system, are getting extended with company-wide processes. In this I have already seen since long many potential. Eventually this has resulted in the foundation of the business area "Business Integration", in which I have been involved from the very beginning. Since the beginning of 2009 I am Head of Department of Business Integration.
After graduating, it is normal to look out for a job that really gets the best out of yourself. You start considering which kind of job would match your profile. I can tell you how I found this job that has changed my life in a positive way.
I graduated in Applied Economic Sciences in Belgium, a university degree that has given me a thorough basis of everything to do with economics and business. I always had in mind to work in the business world and I wanted to keep an open focus, so that I would always have the possibility to look for a job in a wide range. After graduating, I decided to do an extra study abroad, in Barcelona (Spain), focusing on languages and getting to know new cultures. Because I liked being abroad so much, I decided to do an internship after my studies at the Belgian-Luxemburg Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona. I wanted to get involved in working with international companies and learning more about them.
After having finished the internship I started looking for a job. I only focused on those jobs that offered an international business environment, an open perspective, an exciting position and a good team spirit. After having been in contact with several companies and already having done some interviews and tests, I got in touch with the Belgian branch of the current PIKON International Consulting Group. At that point the formation of an international consulting group was still in full process. The job offer to become a consultant for this group was so interesting that I couldn't refuse.
Back then I was the youngest junior consultant at the PIKON international Consulting Group. PIKON lives up to my expectations: we work internationally, we are a great team that is able to solve many problems together, I'm able to work with languages and to come in contact with various companies. I received training to become a Junior SAP R/3 Consultant, primarily in the finance module.
At then end of 2003, I was promoted to Senior Consultant at PIKON Belgium. Up to now I have worked in different projects in Europe and the Middle East as FI/CO Consultant, for process optimisation, Product Cost Accounting and Business Warehouse. I bend my job completely according the customers' requests. Furthermore I can work in an international environment. This is what I always wanted.
Moreover, since the end of 2008 I have been integrated in the general management of PIKON Belgium. In this position I am given the opportunity to apply and develop my management skills.
I became acquainted with PIKON when I was a student of economics at the Fachhochschule Kaiserslautern (University of Applied Science) in Zweibrücken. While completing a one-semester internship at PIKON, I was able to get to know the company very well. I was given the opportunity to provide assistance in the SAP R/3 area and contribute to the development of an extensive accounting manual. This positive experience made me decide to return to PIKON to write my diploma thesis.
At that time, PIKON was in full development of its own SAP Business Warehouse system. The technical installation was already completed and part of my thesis consisted of providing data modeling within the BW system and implementing the reporting requirements.
The topic Business Warehouse really caught my interest and it was absolutely clear to me that, after my final exams, I would join PIKON as a Junior Consultant. From the very beginning, I was impressed by PIKON's company philosophy, the working atmosphere as well as the training strategy. During my internship and my thesis preparation phase, as well as during the initial phase of my work as a Junior Consultant, I was given the valuable opportunity to participate in many interesting training courses, in-house and external at SAP. At PIKON, continuous staff training is of major importance. This is apparent from the joint research days, which are organised at regular intervals.
When I started as a Junior Consultant for PIKON, I was immediately assigned to a large BW project. The team spirit in this project, as well as the opportunity I was given to work independently in certain areas confirmed that PIKON was the right choice for me.
After having started with SAP BW, a new assignment came my way. Drawing on my existing knowledge of financial accounting (which I had covered extensively during my training as "Fachgehilfin in steuer-und wirtschaftsberatenden Berufen", i.e. assistant for tax and corporate consulting) I opted for the SAP R/3 module "FI". As the required resources for "FI" were limited, I started concentrating on Business Intelligence instead, where the demand was greater. Since then, I have come to work as a Senior Consultant in various Business Intelligence projects, dealing mainly with data extraction and modeling, the creation of Excel and web based reports and the development of planning applications. Moreover, the implementation of authorisation requests in BW has become an integral part of my work, as I have gained many experience on this topic during several projects.
What I like most about my job is its diversity. Each project consists of new challenges and I get to know many companies with their philosophies. Even if travelling to the customers might be a bit exhausting once in a while, I am thrilled by the new things I see and boredom has no place in my work life. The most important positive aspect of my work, however, is the pleasant working atmosphere and the cooperation with my colleagues at PIKON, whom I can rely on in any situation that might arise.
Stochastic processes or networks and Galois's Theory - these subjects played a major role during my mathematics studies. But what about my know-how of modern information technologies and data processing? Well, I guess I couldn't describe myself as a pro in this field after my graduation.
At that point, PIKON's offer to join their young but rapidly growing consultancy company in Saarbrücken came as a perfect opportunity. A six-month trainee program was set up for me to acquire a good knowledge of the required software and business management (SAP R/3 standard software, ABAP/4, VISUAL BASIC, Aris 4.0, procurement process, etc.). The trainings at IDS Scheer AG and SAP AG did not contain abstract training schemes which were detached from the company and its target group, but were selected with a strong focus on future requirements. This know-how was very useful during the development of concepts, together with our consultants, for the optimisation of business processes (vendor evaluation, batch determination, legacy data transfer, etc.)
After a very short time, I was able to finish my first project successfully for Elster Produktion GmbH in Mainz. Apart from the first-rate working atmosphere ("teamwork" at PIKON is by no means just an empty phrase), the consultants' high expertise (the development department was still in the set-up phase at that time) and the management's confidence in my work proved most helpful to me.
Interdisciplinary lectures as well as joint internal and external projects ensure an interlocking cooperation between the different departments. Team spirit is even further promoted by private events outside normal working hours (e.g. sports activities, such as handball or rafting).
Even after my trainee program PIKON has continued investing in my professional development. As it is, the rapid changes and enhancements of the product range make an on-going updating of knowhow absolutely indispensable in order to achieve our major goals (growth, development of new areas, e.g. internet applications).
As a senior developer I am, in the meantime, responsible for the analyses, development and design of complex applications across the SAP modules.
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