The consummate team player

Christoph Münch is a passionate team player, a driver of digitalization and a big fan of responsiveness. As someone who attaches great importance to enjoying his work, he is committed to ensuring that all employees in the cluster feel just as comfortable as he does. He hopes that Germany will quickly realize the potential of digitalization, which has briefly flashed through the pandemic, and works with the team and customers every day to make this wish a reality.

How did you end up at virtual7?

I came to virtual7 because of a product called Oracle WebCenter Content. After my diploma thesis, I worked at the Karlsruhe Research Center. After that, I reoriented myself and moved to a company that was working with the product at the time. I came into contact with virtual7 for the first time back then, but nothing more came of it at the time. A little later, this first encounter played a role again. In my new company, my colleagues referred to me as “A Force of One” because I was the only one who knew Oracle ECM. The intention was not to hire a new person, but rather to work with a service provider, which is when virtual7 came to mind again. However, my employer quickly started thinking about a change of strategy and I was faced with a choice: Do I want to continue doing what I have been doing for the last few years and what is quite a unique selling point in Germany? Or do I want to do something completely different in my current company? In the end, I had to do some business for the company at virtual7, which also became my job interview at virtual7. At first I was undecided and decided to stay with my employer for the time being. As not much had changed after a few months, that was reason enough for me to approach virtual7 again. My plan wasn’t actually to work as a consultant. I just wanted to get a taste of it for a few years. Actually, I always thought that wasn’t for me. That was in 2011.

What makes your job at virtual7 unique?

There can be no team development without a team. It’s just great to work with colleagues and see how things are driven forward. Everyone in our cluster is involved in customer projects and has a lot to do, but this doesn’t affect the cluster cohesion or the willingness to help each other. Every cluster member knows that they are doing something good through their work and can achieve great things, even if some things can only be progressed slowly. We are enthusiastic about our successes to date and believe that we can continue to make a difference in the world of public authorities as a team.

What are your hopes regarding digitalization?

I hope that it will soon no longer be necessary to wait for what feels like an eternity at some public authority, despite having an appointment, to be handed a form that you have to fill out at home. I have no idea whether this will be realistically feasible in the next five years. However, the pandemic has shown us that it is possible if necessary. The most important thing that has happened during this time is not that many services and topics have been digitized, but that awareness has been created that it is possible. This has also led to changes in the world of work. The virtualization of the working environment has extended to my customer project. My fixed desk at the customer’s premises is now a virtualized environment that I can access remotely. This gives me more flexibility and allows me to organize my everyday life and work. From my point of view, Germany must first create the basic conditions in terms of infrastructure so that digitalization can be successful.

What can you achieve with your daily work?

I can hold the threads together within our cluster and ensure that everyone enjoys working together. In a corporate context, I’m usually good at bringing people together. If someone is working on a specific topic, I know someone who can help. I think my enthusiasm for virtual7 and the work we do is very hard to hide, especially in job interviews. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, I wouldn’t be a good sales person, so I won’t be able to sell a double bed to the Pope …

Complete the sentence Responsiveness means for me…

… to have more fun at work. There is now always someone who enjoys a topic that I’m not so good at more than I do and can therefore do the job better. The responsive company organization gives me the opportunity to concentrate on the things I’m already good at. Nevertheless, all other tasks are still done. If you don’t enjoy your tasks, you tend to procrastinate and ultimately deliver poor quality work.

Budget management is such a topic for me. As Head, it was a task that fell within my area of responsibility. It had to be done, but I never really enjoyed it. Thanks to Responsiveness, this topic can now be taken over by someone in my cluster who is enthusiastic about it and enjoys doing it. The person or persons responsible for the role not only do it better than me, they also enjoy doing it and I can rely on the quality being right while I focus on my responsibilities.

What goals do you still want to achieve this year or have you perhaps already achieved this year?

In my role as Team Development, it is very important to me to keep the cluster together. We have hardly had any departures over the past year, which means that most employees feel comfortable in our cluster. Personally, I see myself as a kind of scrum master for the cluster, who removes difficulties that hinder my colleagues in their work. At the same time, retros throughout the year are intended to ensure that the entire cluster is moving in the right direction. This creates new potential for collaboration. That’s why my goal last year, and my goal for the new year, was to create a starting point for the entire cluster in which everyone can do a good job and we can achieve our goals together.

Are there any rules you have set for yourself regarding work that you would never break?

I’m not a regimented person – not even in my work. I think it’s very important to have fun at work. You have ups and downs throughout your life, but they should never be too far apart. Both the highs and the lows should always be balanced. There are always things that you put off and things that you want to tackle straight away. I don’t make to-do lists, they tend to demotivate me if I don’t achieve everything I set out to do. Sometimes it’s enough for me if I can solve the basic problem. Especially when it comes to technology, there are simply colleagues who are more knowledgeable and who I can approach.

Would you re-apply to virtual7 today?

Yes, of course! If a position was advertised that interested me, I would take the step again. That’s how it was back then. Today, I know all our processes and have an insight into the company, so it’s difficult for me not to consider all the benefits. But I really believe that even today, after a phone call with someone from Recruiting, I would be completely convinced and would join straight away. I am still fascinated by the development that virtual7 has undergone and how the company has gradually grown and taken on more and more exciting projects. It’s important to me to work in a great environment, with people who know their job and want to make a difference.

About the artist

Lena Franz

Hi, I’m Lena. I’m 20 years old and I’m studying design in Nuremberg. I’ve enjoyed drawing for as long as I can remember, so it’s the only thing I can imagine for my future. I also have a penchant for beautiful word constellations and vanilla, sunsets and moments captured on camera.

Interested?