Jul22546 12. he world’s leading companies and most influential leaders often tout an ability to be ‘innovative’. But what does that really mean? And if everyone is aiming for innovative products and services, is no one innovative? That’s certainly a position that is held among many of the more pessimistic corporate analysts. However, Michael Krammel, CEO of K4 DIGITAL aims to reinvent what it means to be innovative, and moreover, accelerate innovation within the cybersecurity and automation. That’s no small feat, but it is one that Michael certainly seems able to achieve. “K4 DIGITAL consists of a team of interdisciplinary experts, some of whom have been working successfully in the security, automation, and digital factory environment for over 20 years. Our experts are regarded as leading, innovative thought leaders in the Germanspeaking market for industrial security. In addition, the team is involved in numerous innovative research and funding projects and actively supports committees, associations and working groups, such as VDI, DKE, Platform Industrie 4.0, AKW and many more. “For years, our customers have attested our exceptional expertise, solution-oriented implementations and a pronounced understanding of the challenges of projects in security, automation and digitalization at all organization levels and structures, from management to IT management to the production level.” Michael’s passion for technology and automation stemmed from the 1990s, and was swiftly and firmly encouraged on the wave of technological adoption and development that defined the decade, as he continues. “After my training in automation and process control engineering in the 1990s at a large industrial company, I took over the Most Innovative Cybersecurity & Automation Expert CEO (D-A-CH): Michael Krammel Cybersecurity and automation are among the most competitive and swift-moving industries on the greater business landscape. As CEO of K4 DIGITAL, Michael Krammel has become adept at excelling despite incredible competition and the highest of standards. set-up, development and management of a new department for the automation of process engineering plants with, in the end, over 30 employees. Very early on, we took advantage of the possibilities of automation and began to network technical processes with business processes. By the end of the 1990s, we had reached such a high level of automation maturity, that I wanted to take on further challenges. “In 1999, I began my work with a startup/spinoff as a GmbH & Co. KG and took over the responsibility for the development of solutions and know-how building around the topic "Digital Factory". In parallel, I established a competence and service center for automation and process control technology in 2003. After an international impulse from the USA, we then decided to build up a new business area about Industrial/OT Security from 2006 on. Today, we are still seen as a first mover in the DACH market. In 2008, I also accepted the role as CEO. This was a very difficult time in the development of the new business area. The other operational areas, such as software development for the digital factory and process control technology often financed the development of the Industrial/OT Security business area.” It would be a colossal understatement to say that the Industrial/ OT Security space was undervalued in those early days, with most opinions on the matter vastly underestimating the extent to which the market would boom over the next few decades. While some many say Michael was in the right place at the right time, that would overlook the significant skill and expertise it took to mold this new business area into something that remained pacesetting, driven. “Over the following years, we transformed step by step the establishment and transformation of the Industrial Security business field as an increasingly central business of the company. For several years in parallel, I participated in coaching and business mediator trainings to be able to use the methods and insights gained from this training to help me with the increasingly difficult organizational challenges in the area of digitalization and security. “In 2017, my two co-shareholders left the company as part of an M&A process, while I remained within the company as CEO with a put and call option and in 2020 I decided to pull my put option and leave the company as well. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues and the two co-partners from the time before the new shareholder joined the company, for the many great experiences and the often enjoyable time I had with the company, and especially for the trust they placed in me.” T Name: Michael Krammel Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.k4.digital Address: Alfred-Nobel-Allee 38, 66793 Saarwellingen, Germany Telephone: +49 6831 6879 0 Jan23866 "Fantasy is way more important than knowledge because knowledge is limited." "“Learning is experience. Everything else is just information." Albert Einstein
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