projekt202 Welcomes Klas Gothager as Austin GM
projekt202 is proud to welcome Klas Gothager as General Manager of our Austin office.
An experienced business and technology innovation leader, Klas has actively worked with global companies in various industries to successfully identify, define, scope and implement crucial strategies, services and solutions.
Throughout his career, he has helped companies uncover new business opportunities and find pragmatic ways to implement them. His professional portfolio includes experiences such as helping the largest retail bank in the Baltics set up its first online banking service; defining and implementing numerous online and in-person CRM services; helping pharmaceutical companies define their knowledge management strategies and supporting platforms; and helping define the future product portfolio of one of the world’s largest medical device manufacturers.
As General Manager for projekt202 Austin, Klas is responsible for strategically driving and expanding projekt202’s business presence throughout the Central Texas region.
Klas shared his insights on joining the projekt202 team, Austin’s thriving tech community, and helping companies succeed:
What interested you in joining projekt202?
I spent the first 20 years of my career in software and business consulting, before moving into the more niche design industry. projekt202 sits in both markets and fills a pretty obvious void in the market by having roots in the experience design industry, but also being able to help clients get all the way to product launch through our deep technical capabilities.
What do you like most about Austin's tech community? How do you see projekt202's role within the local tech scene?
It’s a scene that’s become increasingly vibrant over the last five years with the introduction of many of the world’s leading tech and software companies into the local market. projekt202 is right at the forefront of implementation of new technologies and can play a big role – both in supporting many of these new entries, but also in helping reinforce Austin’s role as one of the top tech centers in the United States.
What's the biggest change you've seen in recent years within Austin's tech community?
There are a couple that stand out, such as increased competition on the job market. With many of the large tech companies and large startups opening offices in Austin, it’s becoming increasingly important to attract and retain talent. This does come with an upside though, as it creates a larger potential customer base for a company. I’ve also seen a need to really create as much flexibility as possible for employees in terms of when and where they do their work. The influx of people into Austin has driven a need for more virtual collaboration so that employees don’t spend hours commuting.
Heading into 2020, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges that companies face?
I think there’s a multitude of challenges at the moment. On the one hand, we’ve got new entries in the market that are on the rise, but struggle to deliver due to resource shortage or lack of delivery experience. On the other side of the scale, we have well-established companies that are finding it tough to stay relevant and desperately need to either implement new, more customer-driven experiences, or to drastically improve their existing products and services to remain in business.
Many companies seem to struggle with the new paradigm that “the service IS the brand” and are providing, at best, spotty improvements on individual products and services without necessarily addressing the overall ecosystem of products and services that a client experiences.
There’s also an interesting challenge internally for companies as the competition for employees has increased. Companies can’t rely on brand name or compensation alone as employees are expecting a better internal service, increased flexibility in managing the work-life balance, and modern tools from the get-go.
Throughout your career, you've helped companies uncover and implement new opportunities. How does projekt202 also help clients find and benefit from those new opportunities for revenue, growth and customer experience?
projekt202 is uniquely positioned in that we have the methodology and skills to really help clients identify both internal and external needs, while at the same time being a cost-effective means to quickly arrive at new solutions in the market – be it customer-facing tools or solutions to help increase efficiency for employees.
I’ve always found that, for change to succeed, you need to ensure that you have management buy-in from the get-go and to really keep management engaged and committed throughout any kind of change. A lot of initiatives fail because decisions are made at the top, but then get handed down to others in the organization to implement. In order to keep top management engaged, we always need to get back to demonstrating how what we do will help our clients, both quantitatively – such as new revenue streams, increased sales, reduced attrition, etc. – as well as qualitatively, like overall experience, customer satisfaction, NPS, and so on.
What does it take to be a successful leader?
I’ve always believed in trying to get people to rally around a general direction of the company, then make sure to create an environment where people feel empowered to make their own decisions. That usually means pushing other leaders to take initiative and to make sure that they are free from external distractions so that they drive their own teams forward without micro-management from the top.
Another dimension of that is to continuously try to identify the “superpower” of each member of the team and make sure that their skills are utilized in the best possible way.
Details
December 10, 2019
Projekt202