apsolut Group restructures Global Board

Bielefeld, 2 February 2024 ---- The apsolut Group is restructuring its Global Management Board to drive international expansion and redirect the strategic focus more towards holistic consulting. By honing responsibilities at a global level and bundling resources and competences, the leading SAP partner in the procurement sector intends to open up new sales markets and business opportunities. Furthermore, even greater emphasis is to be placed on addressing the continuously growing customer expectations.

The company aims to increase the provision of cutting-edge technologies as a central growth lever – most importantly generative AI, based on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). Added to this are innovative proprietary products and solutions, developed by apsolut in-house or in collaboration with other consulting and IT companies as well as customers. These include apsolut Fluid, an innovation enabler for SAP-based procurement, apsolut Squando, a BTP-based framework tool for supplier management, as well as the apsolut eSignature Connector for DocuSign. At the same time, apsolut intends to increase sales from process consulting for direct and indirect SAP-based procurement and from the expanded range of services.

“Our reorganisation will enable us to address our customers’ commercial requirements with even more specific focus in future,” emphasises Thomas Herbst, CEO and founder of apsolut. “We can offer companies holistic consulting services and even more attractive portfolios and terms of supply relating to SAP Procurement to boost their competitiveness and productivity further.”

The new Global Board at a glance  

• CEO Thomas Herbst will continue to be responsible for the strategic planning and management of the apsolut Group, but with an increased focus on customer relationships and partnerships within the SAP ecosystem. To this end, Thomas Herbst will make use of his excellent contacts to allow current customer requirements to directly feed into the exceptional close relationship and innovation partnership that apsolut – recipient of multiple “SAP Ariba MEE Partner of the Year” awards – maintains with SAP.
• He is being joined by Jürgen West as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO). On board since shortly after apsolut’s foundation in 2005, he has been managing development and support at apsolut in recent years and has had more of a formative impact on the company than any other employee. In his future role, Jürgen West intends to focus on strategy implementation and on innovative products and solutions to drive corporate growth and enhance collaboration both internally and externally.
• Klaus Bernzen is moving up to the new board as Chief Sales Officer (CSO). He has already been responsible for global sales, sales business operations and corporate marketing of the apsolut Group since 2022. As CSO, Klaus Bernzen intends to concentrate on growing new customer acquisition internationally. He will also focus on evaluating regional markets and use his findings to create tailor-made portfolios and sales campaigns.
• As Head of Region Central & East on the new Global Board, Axel von Kleist It will be his mission to extend the corporate strategy across the entire region. The plan is to bundle resources and competences in order to boost synergies between the markets and further increase the attractiveness of the apsolut portfolio. Axel von Kleist draws on more than 25 years of experience in this area, with his focus always on customer relationships.
• Roland Weber has been appointed Head of Region Europe West – CH, West- & Northern Europe, an area for which he had previously been responsible as Business Development & Sales Director. The Swiss national joined apsolut in 2020 as Business Development and Sales Manager with the brief to expand business in Switzerland and France. The new regional structure will provide him with an excellent platform for improving the company’s business clout in the individual countries.

The new Global Management Board of the apsolut Group (from left): Thomas Herbst, Jürgen West, Klaus Bernzen, Axel von Kleist and Roland Weber