Dr. Hartmut HenkInterim Management · Digital Transformation & Modern Work

Digital Transformation · Modern Work · AI from practice

Digital transformation that takes hold in your organisation

I help leadership teams get major digitalisation decisions right, and I take on temporary responsibility for making sure they are implemented. I use AI where it demonstrably saves effort.

Interim, project or advisory assignments, typically 6 to 12 months

On site in the Rhineland · remote across Germany

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Portrait of Dr. Hartmut Henk
Available at short notice
  • 19 yearsConsulting and leadership, 14 of them with staff and P&L responsibility
  • 2,000workplaces: board decision on a double-digit million budget brought about
  • 12,000Users working on Teams and SharePoint within days of the first lockdown
  • −75%Effort for the transition to a new service model: more than 20 service schedules and amendments reconciled, bespoke contract prepared

Experience from engagements in

  • Regional bankBoard decision for around 2,000 workplaces
  • Insurance groupUp to 12,000 users, programmes with 50 to 60 participants
  • Industry, internationalTarget picture for highly critical production OT
  • Infrastructure services providerDigital programme with an AI outcome, international
  • IT provider to statutory health insuranceAdvice on AI platform and agentic AI
  • Dr. rer. nat.
  • University of St. Gallen (SMP)
  • Prosci Certified Change Practitioner
  • PRINCE2 Foundation and Agile
  • ITIL
  • Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
  • EuroCloud StarAudit

I name clients in a personal conversation. Confidentiality is part of the mandate.

When to bring me in

Transformation initiatives rarely fail because of technology. They fail because nobody prepares the decision, brings the organisation along and owns the path from concept to everyday use. That is the gap I close as an interim manager: with a clear mandate, for a defined period and with a clean handover at the end. Along the way I enable your people, so that they understand what it is about, know how it works day to day and carry the result forward without me.

I come from a technical background and understand topics in detail. My real strength, however, is condensing complex matters so that a leadership team can decide.

Typical situations

  • The digital workplace has grown rather than been planned: Microsoft 365, permissions and licences need a target state.
  • A major digitalisation or investment decision has to be prepared to the point of decision.
  • A transformation programme needs leadership because a management position is vacant.
  • A change of provider or operating model carries risks that nobody fully understands.
  • Copilot or other AI tools are to be introduced, and nobody owns the initiative.

Services

Three fields, one goal: technology that makes a real difference in the organisation. The focus is on digital transformation and the digital workplace, where I have carried responsibility for many years. I bring in AI from my own daily practice and from initiatives I have been responsible for.

Focus

Digital Transformation

Interim leadership of transformation initiatives and decision papers that hold up in the boardroom.

  • Target states, option analyses and board papers
  • Programme leadership with steering committee, budget and risks
  • Changes of provider and operating model, transitions to new service models
  • Process digitalisation and automation of routine work
  • Sparring and second opinion for CIOs and managing directors

Decision papers for the executive board and programmes with up to 60 people involved.

Focus

Modern Work & Collaboration

The digital workplace is the foundation AI builds on. This is where my longest experience lies.

  • Target states and roadmaps for Microsoft 365
  • Information architecture, permissions and governance
  • Migrations and international roll-outs
  • Adoption, key-user networks and change management
  • Licence architecture and cost control

Built up and led the Digital Workplace & Collaboration business over 14 years.

From my own practice

AI in Practice

I use AI in my own work every day and have been responsible for AI initiatives. That lets me judge what holds up in operation and what stays on slides.

  • AI-assisted transition to a new service model, carried out personally
  • Copilot roll-outs owned as engagement manager
  • Advice on an AI platform and agentic AI in the service desk
  • Digital programme with an AI-based result steered through the PMO

Own practice: AI-assisted transition to a new service model covering more than 20 contract documents, with around 75% less effort. My way of working is agent-based.

Possible interim roles

  • Interim Head of Digital Transformation
  • Programme Lead Microsoft 365 and Copilot
  • Interim Head of Digital Workplace
  • Transformation Officer to the Management Board

Selected results

Confidentiality is part of every mandate, so I name industry and scale but not clients. I am happy to tell you more in person.

Regional bank

Board decision for around 2,000 workplaces

Situation
The workplace hardware was due for renewal; several scenarios were on the table.
Approach
Stakeholder interviews, target state, option and cost analysis; fundamental questions such as MacBook versus thin client prepared for decision; board paper written personally.
Result
Decision largely in line with the recommendation; follow-on mandates for implementation and contract analysis.
Regional bank · AI in practice

Provider change: contract restructured, 75% less effort

Situation
Transition to the provider's new managed services model: more than 20 historically grown product descriptions, service schedules and side agreements had to be reconciled against the new product descriptions.
Approach
AI-assisted extraction and reconciliation of contract content, gap analysis and joint assessment of the findings with the client; on that basis, preparation of a bespoke contract with the provider.
Result
Around 120 findings on contractual gaps, new client obligations and discontinued services as the basis for the bespoke contract; effort reduced by around 75%.
Infrastructure services · international

Digital programme with a tangible AI result

Situation
A British infrastructure services company wanted to steer its digital transformation programme in a structured way.
Approach
PMO with regular check-ins and steering committees, review of the IT strategy, data strategy workshop.
Result
The programme produced an AI-based asset catalogue of road markings, built from map and aerial imagery.
Insurance group · crisis

12,000 users operational within days

Situation
First COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020; the Teams and SharePoint roll-out project was only due to start in April and to run for at least six months.
Approach
Roll-out brought forward, scope deliberately reduced, residual risks weighed up with the CISO and mitigated afterwards.
Result
Around 6,000 employees and as many field and external users able to work within a few days.
Insurance group · programme

Workplace of the future with high acceptance

Situation
Modernisation of the workplace IT with 50 to 60 people involved and a high seven-figure budget.
Approach
Steering up to 35 people from my own team and partners; change and adoption established as a dedicated workstream across all sub-projects.
Result
High user acceptance despite many innovations introduced in parallel.
Industry · international

OT target state for a highly critical production environment

Situation
A metalworking company needed a viable direction for its production IT.
Approach
Architecture principles, decision basis, transformation roadmap and management summary.
Result
Decision basis for management as the foundation for further transformation.

Further experience includes: mobile working models with BYOD, home office and OneDrive for around 12,000 users at an insurer; co-leading the selection of an off-premises and backup solution for Microsoft 365 at an insurance group; advising an IT service provider for German statutory health insurance on an AI platform and agentic AI in the service desk; digitalising controlling in my own organisation, including automated month-end closing.

Approach

Understand first, then decide, then implement. And bring people along from day one, because they determine whether change becomes part of everyday work.

  1. Understand

    Clarify the situation, stakeholders and goals. Within a few weeks there is a reliable picture of where things stand.

  2. Decide

    Evaluate options, quantify benefits and risks, and prepare a paper on which leadership can base its decision.

  3. Implement

    Lead the programme, remove obstacles, involve the works council and business units, make progress measurable.

  4. Hand over

    Hand over responsibility, knowledge and steering to the line organisation so that everything keeps running without me.

Profile

I hold a doctorate in chemistry and have worked in IT and management consulting since 2007. At Comma Soft AG in Bonn I built up the Digital Workplace & Collaboration business and, most recently as Executive Manager, shared responsibility for the entire consulting division with three colleagues.

I use AI in my own work every day. I have been responsible for Copilot roll-outs at clients as engagement manager, with my team carrying out the implementation.

Every role I have held was about building, not administering. Alongside studies, doctorate and employment I also ran my own small business for 15 years (web design, web hosting, hardware and software). I developed four employees into leaders, three of whom now run business units; nobody from my teams moved to other units, while several people joined us from elsewhere. I base decisions on numbers and build client relationships that last for years.

I live in Mechernich in the Rhineland, Germany. I am on site in the Rhineland every day and work remotely across Germany with on-site blocks. I speak German natively, English very well and French well.

Profile on LinkedIn

Career

  1. since 2022Executive Manager Consulting · Comma Soft AGShared P&L responsibility for the consulting division with nearly 90 employees (previously just under 70); revenue almost tripled 2021–2025
  2. 2019 – 2021Director Digital Workplace & CollaborationRevenue and profit responsibility; founded the Collaboration business unit and grew it from 3 to 9 people
  3. 2012 – 2018Competence Center Manager Digital Workplace10 employees, eventually around one third of consulting revenue
  4. 2007 – 2012IT ConsultantInternational client migrations with 4,000 to 12,000 devices; two innovation awards
  5. 2001 – 2007Doctorate and postdocUniversity of Cologne, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research
  6. 1999 – 2014Own business (part-time)Web design, web hosting, hardware and software alongside studies, doctorate and employment

Qualifications

  • Dr. rer. nat. (PhD), Diplom-ChemikerDoctorate graded “very good”: understand first, then decide
  • University of St. GallenStrategic Management Programme (SMP) and Executive Management Programme
  • MethodsProsci Certified Change Practitioner, PRINCE2 Foundation and Agile, ITIL, Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, EuroCloud StarAudit
  • LeadershipTrusted Advisor Programme, leadership coaching

Contact

Facing a transformation decision, or looking for interim leadership? Briefly describe your situation and I will get back to you promptly.

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The detailed interim profile with career, focus areas and selected results is available as a PDF.

Download interim profile (PDF)

Dr. Hartmut Henk

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