The kickoff this year was also something special for our board: Last year our new board member Stefan Riedel was at least able to introduce himself, but this year's kickoff was the first opportunity for Rainer, Lars, Stefan and Verena Deller to stand on stage together and guide us through the day.
Looking back at the past year: our highlights
As in previous years, radio and TV presenter Sebastian Schaffstein hosted the day and kicked things off together with Rainer, Lars, Stefan and Verena with a look back at the past year. What has happened since the last kickoff?
A particular highlight for us was of course the joyful news towards the end of the year that we are officially B Corp™ certified. We are immensely proud to be part of a global community of companies that meet high social and environmental standards as a B Corp™. "For us, the certification was the next logical step to give a framework to our years of commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives," Lars explained in detail once again.
codecentric 2027: Our shared journey
The next part of the morning programme focused on how we want to work at codecentric in the future: What are our goals, where do we want to go? What should we focus on, what are our strengths? What makes us special, how do we want to differentiate ourselves from others? To answer these questions, Verena walked us all through the process behind it and the many conversations and workshops the board held over the past year. Finally, Rainer presented a concise summary of where our shared journey should lead – and which north star we can align ourselves with in the future.
Clients & Services
The inspiring series of talks then continued as Lars and Stefan took a detailed look at the blend of client perspective and our service offering. Of course, everyone in the audience is well aware that the two areas must always be considered together. However, Stefan and Lars provided a comprehensive overview of the many different factors and perspectives on this complex topic in their talk, and what homework this generates for codecentric – and how we can further sharpen our offering and align it even more closely with client needs in the future.
IT Consulting of the Future
After the lunch break – filled with plenty of food and drinks and a short visit to the park – our CTO Uwe Friedrichsen took to the stage. In an inspiring short talk, Uwe described what IT consulting of the future could look like – what topics will occupy clients in the coming years and how we can help shape individual solutions. The perfect foundation for everyone to transition into the interactive part of the day with fresh ideas and thoughts.
Interactive Workshops: Sharing Knowledge Live on Site!
In the afternoon, we did what we do best at codecentric: share our knowledge with one another and work together on new ideas. In almost 30 interactive short sessions, our colleagues each provided a brief impulse on a topic and then engaged in lively discussions with other interested participants. As is customary at codecentric, the topics were not predetermined but self-organised by everyone. The range was as diverse as we are at codecentric: from Women in Tech to Generative AI and Platform Engineering, through to digital product development and Green IT.
Community Awards
Before we could all dive into the well-deserved party, all our colleagues gathered once more for a special tradition within codecentric: the presentation of the Community Awards. In more than ten categories, we honour the efforts of our colleagues in both internal and external communities. Among others, there were awards for the most prolific authors on our company blog, the meetup with the most events, and for the people who are always on hand to offer advice and support within codecentric 🎉.
At the end of the kickoff, there was of course no shortage of celebrating together: also at Phantasialand, we rounded off the day together in high spirits – and are naturally already looking forward to the next kickoff!