IT comebacker Jan Bidner’s Vision: “Umeå’s Premier IT Workplace”
Jan Bidner, the Office Manager in Umeå, is passionate about digitalizing businesses and doing it the right way. To understand the problem before delivering a solution.
The lack of digital solutions focused on users even led him to leave the IT consulting industry after nearly 15 years at Sogeti and Umeå University. After a detour through his own company, Bidnerdonethat, and the communications agency Gullers Grupp, he is now back.
– And now, it’s Consid. Why? Because I genuinely care about digitalization. Not just providing solutions and pre-packaged technological answers. Designing around people’s and organizations’ needs is a matter of professional pride for me. Digitalization should happen on the customer’s terms. Period. It is for these reasons that I return to the IT industry—and particularly to Consid—because I believe we share this focus. It is in the interaction between people and technology that value and impact are created, shares Jan Bidner and continues:
– It also feels like customers have started to awaken more in that regard. They are no longer just ordering technology solutions but have begun to awaken more in terms of needs, problems, and users.
Experienced and versatile IT expert
Jan has a wealth of experience starting from 2003 in the IT industry. He has worked as a requirement specifier, web designer, project manager, strategist, UX designer, and gamification expert—before venturing out and starting his own company. As an entrepreneur, he has helped companies “develop their operations and digitalize their customer journeys using design-driven methods.
What experiences do you bring from your career into your role as the Office Manager in Umeå?
– As a systems developer, I’m driven by curiosity and the desire to understand and explain, and then to transform and improve, explains Jan.
Always focused on people
As a leader, Jan’s strengths are his attentiveness, curiosity, and lack of ego. He also prioritizes people, particularly employees.
– The most important thing is not to know everything, be right all the time, or consistently pursue your own agenda. One must listen to employees to channel the group and meet the organization’s needs. However, one must also be the one who makes clear decisions in the end. Employees should feel secure in that. Customers too. I’m quite adept at analyzing needs and behaviors. In addition, my 20 years of moonlighting as a hospital clown have also taught me a lot about attentive meetings, adds Jan.
Jan Bidner has a clear vision for his role as the Office Manager — to make Umeå’s office the city’s best IT workplace. He is supported in this vision by Consid, which has been awarded Sweden’s Best Employer for the past two years.
– I believe we will succeed. We have a solid foundation to build upon at the office, with competent consultants who are also very kind. We have a positive atmosphere that I’m confident will spread to everyone who becomes part of our organization.
