The connection was there earlier

My first encounter with Nedap was a few years ago during a gap year before my master’s. I worked for half a year at Nedap in Healthcare, helping market a GP application, essentially a forerunner to today’s Nedap MediKIT. What struck me most was the entrepreneurial spirit at Nedap: people took initiative, thought independently, and were trusted to act. It was amazing to work in that environment. I did choose to enter consultancy after my studies, but Nedap always remained in the back of my mind.

Consultancy as a training ground

After graduating, I mainly wanted one thing: to learn a lot quickly. Consultancy seemed like the ideal training ground for that, and it was. You learn to think analytically and contextually: Where does the organization stand? Who are the stakeholders? What change is needed? And especially: how do you get people on board? You work in teams with different areas of expertise. All those different companies, cultures, and people teach you so much in a short time.

“I wanted to immerse myself in something long-term, instead of fleeting assignments.”

 

Over time, I also started to see the limits of consultancy. You give advice, you contribute ideas, but often you’re still on the sidelines. You don’t influence what happens next. And you also don’t steer which assignments you take on or for which clients. I increasingly wanted to dive deep into something for the long haul.

One plus one equals three

That reflection came right around the time we moved to Lochem. I asked myself: what do I really want? Continue in strategic consultancy or try something new? I do enjoy the consultancy role, but I wanted to combine it with a more commercial angle.

Then the Business Developer role at Nedap came along. It was exactly what I was looking for: figuring out where the value of our solutions lies for retailers. So, the commercial side, where can we make money, combined with consultancy thinking: what does the customer need? That, plus the move, the short commute, and the fact that I already knew Nedap and its culture… made me think: one plus one equals three. Let’s go!

Discover and build yourself

I’ve only been here a few months, and I’m really enjoying it. I love the autonomy and the need to figure things out for yourself. There’s no playbook laying out exactly what to do. There’s a lot of room to shape your work in your own way. And that comes with challenges. You’re expected to explore and build things yourself, and that suits me perfectly.

Of course, there’s a flip side. Sometimes there’s little guidance, and you have to be careful not to reinvent the wheel. It would help if some decisions were made more explicit or if we shared how things were done in the past more often. New people especially can benefit from that to get started faster and confidently chart their own course.

“I enjoy reinventing myself and still achieving what I set out to do.”

My role

I’ve always been driven to help retailers work more efficiently. And now at Nedap, I can actually make that happen. I’m working on scaling our cloud solution for loss prevention. We have a proven product, enthusiastic clients, and now it’s time to scale.

My role is to uncover where the value lies for retailers: what that value looks like, how we make it visible, and how we can offer it at scale. My consultancy background helps with that. I bring structure, without losing the entrepreneurial spirit.