Deutsche Telekom - Business Agility Entrepreneurs

Deutsche Telekom - Business Agility Entrepreneurs: The story of how a business unit pioneered Business Agility for a traditional German incumbent that has not yet made the transition.

In this session, Ralf Niemeyer (Deutsche Telekom) and Christine Knackfuss (Accenture) will share insights into a transformational journey that began 1.5 years ago in the business customer unit - a journey that is far from over. It reveals the specific challenges large, traditional players such as Deutsche Telekom are facing in the context of agile transitions. And it shows that more than any agile framework creativity, courage, pragmatism and real collaboration are required to achieve successes that nobody expected so soon. The new business customer unit has developed into a pioneer for agile transformation and has now become a role model for Telekom Deutschland's transformation from a heavy German incumbent into a nimble organization.

 About Dr. Christine Knackfuss 

Managing Director @ Accenture

Christine Knackfuss is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Digital Strategy and Transformation practice. As a business strategist, certified Design Thinking - and Scaled Agile coach (SPC4) she has run various agile transformation projects across industries within the German market. She is leading the Accenture team that supports Deutsche Telekom with its agile transformation since beginning of 2018. Together with Ralf she will share her hands-on experiences on how to successfully increase Business Agility of traditional players and which challenges have to be especially addressed with top management.

About Ralf Niemeyer 

Digital Factory B2B @ Deutsche Telekom

Ralf Niemeyer has been creating the Digital Factory for the B2B division of Telekom Deutschland for the past 2 years and pioneered the introduction of agile concepts and technologies and paved the way for group-wide transformation.

His profile is shaped by several years of experience as a management consultant for leading German companies and long-term successes in operational line management. Ralf is dedicated to the development of new key areas, the restructuring of existing businesses and the management of large-scale transformation projects.

The dynamic environment of a telco industry and his strong focus on the customer interface formed his understanding of agile change processes early on. Ralf is a certified SAFe Agilist and Product Owner of the Scrum Alliance with an academic background at RWTH Aachen University.