Global CEO Excellence Awards 2020

20 CEO MONTHLY / GLOBAL CEO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2020 , BestEnvironmentalCompliance Software Solutions CEO (Europe): JoergWalden The circular economy is a key aspect of eliminating worldwide waste and using materials continuously. Instead of disposing of products and components instantly after their primary use phase, it revolves around keeping them in use as long as possible through reuse, repair, remanufacturing, and other methods. The concept has been key not only to the success of iPoint, but to the way in which CEO Joerg Walden runs his business. Since a young age, Joerg has been fascinated by the world around him. His whole life has revolved around searching for solutions, finding a practical way forward as opposed to a comprehensive theoretical approach that might not work. Combined with a mind for business, it’s little surprise that he was the managing director and co-owner of a leading MES Software company by the time he had finished his studies. The internet transformed Joerg’s horizons, opening a broad new canvas on which he could explore. iPoint was the result, co-founded with three colleagues. What was once a small automotive-focused company, has since grown into a multinational, globally operating market leader. With over 170 employees at 14 locations around the globe and a worldwide network of partners, it is a major success. The team focuses on a clientele of tens of thousands of companies from various industry sectors, each with their own individual needs. iPoint is a key partner for these businesses, providing software and services for product compliance, process compliance, and sustainability, supporting companies in assessing the environmental, social, and economic impacts of their products and related processes across the whole value creation network. With these systems, it is much easier to produce compliant, sustainable products fit for the Circular Economy. Key to the company’s success has been Joerg’s decision to take a holistic approach. It would be easy to merely sell the software, but iPoint has been designed to serve and support businesses through the entire procedure of a digitalization strategy. They work with their clients all the way through from compliance to sustainability, starting right at the beginning of a product’s life cycle. This is the best way for businesses to make decisions that create a responsible design from the very beginning. In such a competitive industry, Joerg must make decisions that keep his company ahead of the competition, and by working with clients, partners, international research institutes, and industry associations, he manages this very well. Despite being such a large company, he has managed to instil an open culture of innovation. With a strong vision of where the company is going, the team is allowed to explore how best to get there with new, surprising, and meaningful ideas and cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain and AI. Looking forward, more and more businesses are moving towards digitalization and innovative technologies, but there is still a great deal of potential yet to be reached in the field. Many start-ups have begun to achieve major success, which means that Joerg must ensure that iPoint can remain as nimble and flexible as the competition. Fortunately, his leadership style has been characterized by his ASOP approach, short for “Agile Sustainable Open Innovation”. It’s what has kept him at the top of his game for so many years. In all, the success of iPoint is due in no small part to the efforts of Joerg. His strong vision for the future, of an integrated digital platform for the circular economy, of an innovative and agile approach, gives the team something to aspire to. What keeps the company moving forward in an uncertain world is the certainty that they can adapt, evolve, and succeed in it. Company: iPoint-systems gmbh Name: Katie Boehme, PhD Telephone: +49 7121 14489 60 WebAddress: www.ipoint-systems.com Jun20227 Goodsoftware forbusiness is crucial to theworld’sadoptionofdigital technology, andfewhaveachieved success like the teamat iPoint-systems. Ledby JoergWalden, the teamhas beenable tomakemajor strides in the industry, offering solutions to companies inover 140 countries around theworld. Following success in theGlobal CEOExcellenceAwards, we take a closer lookat himandhiswork toseehowhedid it.