About me
Operational judgement first, technology second.
I did not come out of the AI hype but out of a working business. That is why I ask different questions than most – and why I sometimes advise against.
Career in brief
Twelve years running a business, then my own company.
I started in September 2010 at a Hamburg scanning service provider, as assistant to the management. From August 2011 I also headed IT, and from February 2014 I led operations with power of procuration: responsibility for staff, customers, technology and numbers.
On 1 January 2022 I founded Martin Echt GmbH. I remain connected to the Hamburg company as an adviser to its management – and that is precisely why my examples come from practice rather than from studies. I still see how projects land in a working business, including the ones that did not work out.
Position
Four sentences that shape the work.
I sell no licences.
And take no commission from any vendor. That occasionally leads to conversations in which I recommend buying nothing at all.
No reference list with logos.
Most clients have a confidentiality clause in the contract, and I signed it. Where I talk about projects, it is without names and without figures from which anyone could work out who is meant.
No seals for the uncertifiable.
The market is full of marks you can buy. Instead, the career and nine published articles lie open, with dates.
No scanning services.
I provide no scanning or digitisation services. Where they become a precondition, I support requirements, selection and steering of a specialist provider. I advise a provider in that market and disclose it here.
Why Hamburg
Proximity is a working advantage, not a slogan.
My office sits a good half hour east of the city centre. For a training session that means I am there in the morning and gone in the evening, without a travel-cost line larger than the fee. For a project it means I come back in week five when something jams – and week five is usually when something jams.
Beyond that I travel across Germany, and much of the work can be done remotely to a proper standard. The centre of gravity stays here.
First conversation
A conversation that is worth something on its own.
Thirty minutes in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would tackle first in your position — even if no engagement comes of it.