The customer as a foundation
Larik-Jan: “A good IT manager keeps pace with this constantly changing world and evaluates trends based on several sources: customers, technology, and the market. One of the most important sources of information for me personally is our customers. I enjoy talking to them to find out what their challenges are, what they are struggling with, and how we can help. This applies to both the operational and strategic levels. On the other hand, I also spend a lot of time on market research: I subscribe to newsletters, read many reports, talk to suppliers, and conduct online research. All in all, I try to gather as much information from the market as possible myself.
Office of the CTO
In addition, I have a passion for technology and like to test and try out as many new tools as possible myself. We do this in our Office of the CTO, among other places. This is essentially our technical playground. We don't just take a supplier's word for it; we remain critical and always test a solution extensively before we implement it. We are and will remain a group of opinionated techies, so everything must work perfectly from a technical standpoint. We need to be able to rely on a solution, and it must work within the landscape in which we operate: being able to deploy it frequently and repeatedly for multiple partners is key.
Communities
Engaging and, more importantly, staying in touch with peers is also very important. We do this through industry communities, such as the Dutch Cloud Community: the trade association for hosting, cloud, VoIP, and managed service providers in the Dutch market. This organization regularly hosts networking events where we share knowledge. The great thing about the Dutch market is that the community is compact, and we are very open with one another in the Netherlands. I also consider attending events like VMworld and visiting trade shows to be important sources of information.
