The tiny giant that is Zinnovate just keeps growing , consistently beating global competitors to become a leading IT consultancy . CEO Håkan Nilsson explains how
The last time I spoke with Håkan Nilsson , CEO of Swedish IT consultancy Zinnovate , his tiny but immensely talented fiveperson team was already defying the odds by beating huge , worldfamous competitors in acquiring a network of global customers . Eighteen months later , that same five-person team has just taken on a global logistics leader – one previously let down by a technological giant with over 500 consultants – as a client , its revenue has skyrocketed , and Nilsson himself has received a CEO of the year award ( Best CEO Management / Logistics ) from European CEO magazine .
“ While we have kept the team as small as it was a year ago , our influence and power is at quite a different level thanks to the global network we have built ,” Nilsson explains .
Revenue numbers in Zinnovate ’ s first year were around € 140,000 per employee ; four years later , it ’ s closer to € 1mn per employee . While this is certainly impressive , not to mention thrilling for any small business , Zinnovate has no profit targets – it just has customer targets – and ROI is replaced by ROC ( return on competence ).
While the global reach has dramatically changed , Zinnovate ’ s approach to customers remains the same .
“ It shows that the philosophy we had from the get-go at Zinnovate is the right one ,” says Nilsson . “ I started Zinnovate on the premise
102 November 2017