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atriga personalities: Bernd Riedel appreciates the human component
Bernd Riedel (48) is a computer scientist through and through: Even at the vocational high school, computer science was his performance subject in high school before he completed his training as a specialist consultant for software technologies at the former Gesellschaft für Zahlungssysteme (GZS) in 1997. There he worked for nine more years as a system administrator in the security/UNIX area.
After that, the native of Frankfurt supported small and medium-sized companies as an independent IT consultant for 12 years before encountered atriga’s job advertisement in 2018 in search of a new challenge. There he now works as Head of IT Operations. We talked to the passionate tea drinker about his professional career at atriga – and also asked him about his personal motivation.
Nose full of lone fighter existence
„As a solo self-employed person, I no longer had time for the family at some point, not to mention leisure time. In 2018, I went in search of a permanent position and came across atriga’s job advertisement on a well-known platform. The profile described there fit me like a fist on the eye and I applied immediately, Bernd Riedel describes his first steps from self-employment to an employee relationship. Even today, he is still surprised by the speed that the story picked up: “In response to the application, I was immediately invited to an interview, then directly to a trial day. There I was able to solve an acute IT problem as a firefighter together with Oliver Burgis, atriga managing director and head of the company’s own IT development. We got along very well right away. And before I could even sign my contract, he invited me to the company’s anniversary trip, where I could get to know my colleagues in spe.”
atriga Head of IT Operations Bernd Riedel: “The human component at atriga also includes the fact that very different characters pull together in difficult situations to solve the challenge together.”
From system administrator to head of IT operations
In July 2018, Bernd Riedel really started, initially as a part-time system administrator, in order to be able to handle his own company. Riedel reports: Oliver Burgis then assigned me further tasks step by step and thus also responsibility and appointed me Head of IT Operations after a relatively short time – full-time, of course. In this function, Riedel takes care of the network and client/server infrastructure of the company, works in projects on the evaluation and implementation of new tools and software. This includes, among other things, the contact centre solution, the telephone system, the CRM system and cloud operation. During the Corona pandemic, it was a great advantage that Bernd Riedel has always been intensively involved with all aspects of IT and data security. He is also a member of the data protection task force and and not only works very closely with atriga in-house lawyer and data protection officer Kristin Pagnia. Bernd Riedel reports: “atriga was extremely attentive here very early on and due to comprehensive and forward-looking immediate joint coordination with Steffen Himer, our in-house lawyer and Head of Legal Services & Debt Collection, it was possible for my colleagues to continue working in the home office without interruption – and that under consideration of all privacy policies.”
Bernd Riedel is a real team player
Asked about his personal motivation, Bernd Riedel shows himself as a real team player: “I need people around me who are not customers,” he notes with a smile, “I appreciate the communication and collegial interaction in a grown team, lunch together and private exchange.” Riedel says that this also pays off at critical moments: “A human component at atriga also includes very different characters pulling together in difficult situations that can hardly be avoided in IT to solve the challenge together. This is what makes my work at atriga so exciting and varied.”
In the upcoming newsletter post, together with atriga Head of IT Operations Bernd Riedel, we will take a close look at the current and future requirements for IT security in a company. Among other things, we shed light on the technical challenges of protecting sensitive data reliably and regardless of location.
