Don´t be afraid!

Technology creates space for new work

With his consultancy Blackboat, Christoph Magnussen shows German companies the way into the digital future. His message is this: Don’t be afraid!

Christoph, how will digitization change our working world?

CM - It's complete nonsense when someone thinks he'll still be an accountant in 20 years because he's so good at auditing financial statements. When lawyers think they're still lawyers because they're so good at writing contracts. Technology will do this and create space for new work.

That sounds a little scary.

CM - I don't believe in the Skynet theory of the superintelligent computer superiority that is killing us. That's bullshit. Just like smartphones and computers, this technology will make people even smarter and more efficient. Jobs won't fall away, they'll just change. But more radically than ever before.

What is the ideal future of work?

CM - Communication will accelerate tremendously and will no longer be manageable without the use of bots. At the same time, transparency will play a major role. Most processes and decisions will be so transparent that everyone in a company will be aware of them - many company bosses are also afraid of that. I also believe very strongly in distributed teams, the possibility to work in different places and with different people. This will be much more fluid than it is today.

What obstacles do you encounter most often when you go to your clients?

CM - What we hear a lot at the moment: We can't use the cloud. But the topic has been set for a long time. The Americans dominate in this area and you have to find a way to not lose the connection. Fact is: Who still operates its own server in ten years and considers it a core authority, is similar to someone, who still uses a dial telephone today - this may look nice, but makes no sense. You have to deal with such large amounts of data for which you need the appropriate computing power. This fear of the cloud also means that many companies are by no means more secure with their own servers than with the infrastructure of large data centers. You may have your own server, but it is in the server room - in which in many cases everyone comes in, because there is also the copier. And to top it all off, the domain is so vulnerable that an IT student with Youtube knowledge can send an email from the boss's account. We are currently experiencing this every day in Germany.

In your YouTube videos one can see how you communicate with your team in the ski lift via Skype, we are currently talking via Google Hangout during your lunch break - how strenuous is the future of work for the individual?

CM - That's a nice example. I was skiing during the week and had skipped an email for a pitch in the bulk of mails. Until someone called me and reminded me. So I started a spontaneous video conference with my team from Berlin, Kiel and Hamburg, and we set up the presentation while I was still on the slopes. In the meantime, I could have a look online and comment. And when I got to the hotel in the evening, the pitch was done. Technology gave me a choice. Without this infrastructure I would have stood at the après-ski and would have been annoyed. That's why the future of work is not necessarily more strenuous - above all, it is more flexible.

The whole interview appeared in the STRICHPUNKT Magazine 2017.

Click, click to learn more about Christoph Magnussen and his digital consultancy Blackboat.