Trends: Interview

Who are your most important customers?

Most important in terms of revenue are Heineken, Canon, Kadaster, KPN, T-Mobile. We are active in the Tele­communi­cations, Finance, Manufacturing and Services industry segments. Additionally, as a very special initiative, we are ­working with Satellic on the Road Toll project, because the government intends to implement a system in a few years.

What kind of targets do you have in 2007 with T‑Systems?

To become the ‘Real ICT’ player in the Netherlands and to ­position T‑Systems as the ‘innovator’ of solutions. We are ­positioning ourselves as the business leader that designs new ICT developments, processes and even delivers entire business models in ICT. We enable our customers to achieve the greatest possible benefit from their ICT strategy.

What is so special about  Amsterdam?

The atmosphere in the city is very relaxed and the locals have a very open attitude. They have what we call their ‘heart on their tongue’, that is a strong sense of humor and a typical way of treating everyone in the same way. You should visit a brown café downtown, walk around Museum Square or sit down in the Vondelpark and watch the colorful and diverse people of Amsterdam. The charms of the city are mainly the many historical and beautiful canal houses and the various famous museums.  If you really want to see how ‘Amsterdammers’ have a party in the streets, you should visit the city on April 30, our national holiday.  It is also the day we Dutch still celebrate the birthday of our former Queen Juliana.

Please complete this sentence: Although I am originally from Rotterdam, I like Amsterdam, because…

…it is so alive, multi-cultural and colorful.

Which place do you like most in Amsterdam and why?

As the T‑Systems manager, I am tempted to say that I like the headquarter offices of our customers best. Being there means business. As the question is meant ­otherwise and the favorite spot should be more of an inside tip to visitors, I would say that I like best the old harbor quarter. It has the atmosphere of former centuries, but it has been renovated into a lively and very entertaining area where people live and spend an evening in a pub or a restaurant. The best part of Amsterdam is meeting the people.

If you had one wish – what would it be?

Only one? In the context of this article on Amsterdam, it would be that there should be more safety on the streets. In this, ­Amsterdam has the same issues as all other major cities around the world; it would be nice if that reputation could improve.