Interim mandates

Operational leadership for digital initiatives in mid-sized companies.

Forward-thinking, with measured judgment and follow-through. So your business gains ground — in markets that have grown tougher and offer less room for correction.

MK
Michael Kraewing
Michael Kraewing
Dipl.-Ing. RWTH Aachen · Author (Haufe Verlag) · DDIM #1515
25+
Years of operational practice
€500M+
Digital revenue managed
10
Countries and subsidiaries in latest platform mandate
Mandates with
Focus

Five focus areas, one approach.

They are not separate disciplines but fields that interact in every serious initiative.

01

Strategy and decision-making

"Digital Business Strategy for the Mittelstand" (Haufe Verlag) — a standard reference for digital business development in the B2B mid-market. DDIM membership. Co-investor and extended leadership team at Vision Healthcare (2019–2022).

02

Change management and stakeholder engagement

Strategic decisions in mid-sized companies are implemented through people, not through directives. Digital initiatives rarely fail on technology; often on the organisation. Early involvement of line management, transparent communication, clear structures — and the team enabled to carry the solution forward independently after the mandate ends. Knowledge transfer is part of the mandate, not an add-on. Follow-through means: structures remain after the mandate holder leaves.

03

Digital business growth

Building digital sales and marketing channels, growing in multiple markets simultaneously, realising new business models. Strategy slides are not enough — what is needed is operational discipline: assortment, channels, fulfilment, country-specific compliance, local teams. Forward-thinking, because markets are growing tougher faster than the room for correction allows.

Vision Healthcare (2019–2022) — revenue growth from €20M to €35M+ through expansion of digital sales and marketing channels.

04

Platform and IT initiatives

Platform initiatives carry the digital business. When they stall, revenue is at risk and the team loses confidence in the path. I take operational leadership — from architecture decisions through migration to operational stabilisation. Four levels in parallel: structural, business, people, technology. What counts: deadlines hold, revenue keeps running, the team carries the result after me.

BOMAG (2022–2025) — platform migration with over €100M of online revenue at risk, 10 countries and subsidiaries involved. On-time completion.

05

Applied AI in mid-sized companies

AI is not a standalone field but a layer on the existing platform architecture. Three questions are clarified first: which use cases actually carry weight, which data basis is robust, which staff will be enabled. Only then does construction begin — step by step, with operational owners rather than external promises. Preparation has been running for two years, methodically and substantively.

Mandates

Three reference mandates.

Selected from over 25 years of operational practice in B2B initiatives.

BOMAG GmbH
2022–2025
Interim Executive · Platform programme leadership

Platform migration with over €100M of online revenue at risk

At BOMAG I took operational leadership of a platform migration to Intershop Headless with SAP S/4HANA integration. At risk: over €100 million of online revenue and a go-live date that was not sustainable under the original plan. Instead of a big-bang approach, we shifted to a controlled soft-launch strategy with staggered roll-outs across 10 countries and subsidiaries. Early involvement of line managers, transparent communication, clear structures — the e-commerce community that emerged carries the initiative forward beyond the mandate. On-time completion, full revenue protection.

Platform and IT Change management Digital business growth
Vision Healthcare N.V.
2019–2022
Director of E-Commerce · Co-Investor · Extended leadership team

Growth through channel expansion in core markets, platform roll-out into four new markets

At Vision Healthcare I served as Director of E-Commerce and was simultaneously co-investor and part of the extended leadership team. The group held several D2C healthcare brands; the core brand Vitaminexpress has been established in Germany and Austria for over 30 years. The mandate had two lines: channel expansion in the core markets — performance marketing, new digital touchpoints, optimisation of customer acquisition and lifetime value — and a platform roll-out into four new markets (Switzerland, Italy, France, UK) as preparation for the next growth phase. The revenue increase from €20M to €35M+ was carried by channel expansion in the core markets; the new markets were positioned for longer-term growth horizons.

Digital business growth Platform and IT Change management
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
2018–2019
Head of E-Commerce

Sales-channel expansion: aftermarket online via customer configurator

At Heidelberger Druckmaschinen I served as Head of E-Commerce, leading digital business development for one of the world's leading manufacturers of printing presses. The sales network across more than thirty countries was already in place — the task was not to build it, but to expand the online portfolio. Beyond consumables already available online, customers could now purchase higher-value wear parts digitally, through a configurator that let them select exactly what they needed. The implementation was carried out jointly with the country organisations, adapted to each local market. The underlying logic: international sales-growth-hacking — surfacing business opportunities through joint work between headquarters and local teams. What emerged was not optimised existing business, but new business in the digital channel. Approx. €200M+ platform revenue under management, 30+ countries in the sales network, 15+ country-specific growth opportunities translated into operational reality.

Digital business growth Strategy and decision-making

Digital Business Strategy for the Mittelstand

Methodology for digital initiatives in mid-sized companies — written from operational practice, with checklists and international case studies.

"Digital Business Strategie für den Mittelstand" was published in 2017 by Haufe-Lexware — one of the leading professional publishers for business practice in the German-speaking world. The book documents my approach for B2B digital initiatives: from analysis of the starting position, through strategy development, to concrete implementation — with checklists at the end of each phase and international case studies from Japan and China. The book is in German.

i.

Four phases, one methodology.

From mandate to analysis to strategy to implementation — structured, reproducible, with checklists at the end of each phase. Including established tools such as SWOT, Five Forces and the "Eight Principles for Successful Digital Transformation".

ii.

Mittelstand substance.

Written for managers in German mid-sized companies developing existing business models digitally. Pragmatism that carries through the working day — and depth that reaches beyond the single initiative.

iii.

Tools with substance.

Concrete methods for strategy development, team building, change management and digital value creation. Plus international case studies from Japan and China — culturally contextualised, with implications for German mid-sized companies in international business.

The central challenge for the German Mittelstand lies in developing existing business models with the help of digital infrastructure. — From the introduction
Contact

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