codecentric – a lighthouse in the IT industry
The start of the year was shaped not only in its execution by the past year with Corona. "You think you've already experienced everything, and suddenly you're in lockdown," recalled founder and board member Rainer Vehns in conversation with radio and TV presenter Sebastian Schaffstein. But the year had also brought a lot of positives: "What the company has achieved this year has strengthened my trust once again, and I am infinitely grateful to all employees." Board member Ulrich Kühn also focused on the good: "We have 30 new employees on board, achieved a top result – of course one is aware that other companies and industries are doing very badly right now, but we truly have reason to rejoice." Lars Rückemann was appointed to the board in the first Corona year – a double challenge for him. But he too experienced 2020 as an opportunity. "I look forward to 2021 with optimism."
Rainer Vehns then gave an outlook into the future of codecentric: "codecentric is to become a lighthouse in German IT," he announced. To achieve this, we will focus on three key factors this year: We want to be the best team for our customers and a guide in digitalisation. Even more so, we want to shine not only through our technical and methodological expertise, but through a work culture shaped by trust, openness, diversity and a culture of learning. Last but not least, codecentric wants to make a meaningful contribution to society and take responsibility for its social environment. 2021 will be a year of participation and shaping for codecentric.
Lars Rückemann (right) in conversation with presenter Sebastian Schaffstein.
Farewell to board member Michael Hochgürtel
In 2020, Michael Hochgürtel stepped down from his role as board member. As part of the kickoff, he was now officially bid farewell. "After seven years on the board, I leave a part of myself at codecentric – my connection does not end here," he said. He will continue to be associated with codecentric as a member of the supervisory board.
codecentric community: closely connected despite the distance
The afternoon was shaped by team workshops in which locations and units created 90-second contributions about their vision for the future of codecentric. Instead of at a big party, employees then spent the evening together in Zoom sessions, baking cakes together, doing wine, gin or whiskey tastings, cooking together or playing games.
Even though we would all have loved to finally meet up "properly" again, the 2021 kickoff showed: codecentric remains as closely connected as ever.
Colleague Christian Bär aptly summed up in the company chat what many were thinking: "Maybe it's down to the pandemic, and because we haven't been able to meet for so long, but for me today triggered a stronger sense of WE than last year."