How do you explain your job to your friends and family?
I always compare my job to that of an architect. But instead of drawing plans for a house, I do this for digital products and services. Specifically, in my case, for Telenet Group. Based on their business challenges and objectives, I draw up digital strategies and concepts. Just like a regular architect, this means talking with and listening to my client and external stakeholders, designing plans and concepts that fit into the business context and to which the client senses a genuine connection. Furthermore, I am also responsible for the follow-up. This means that I have to ensure that the proposed plan is translated correctly into design and development.

You’ve been working for six years at Craftzing. How has your role evolved?
Over the years a lot has changed. Especially the human aspect of my role has evolved enormously. Both internally with my colleagues, and with Telenet Group, with whom I have been working full-time for 4 years now and have built a solid relationship of trust.

When I started at Craftzing, our emphasis was on the strategic aspect of digital solutions, nowadays we take a full service approach: from digital strategy to development. Consequently for me, this has led to a significant amount of project supervision from A to Z but also teamwork across different areas of expertise.

Which recent project do you remember the most and why?
A project at Telenet called Zenderzone. With the arrival of the various local video platforms, major differences appeared between the Telenet offer and that of the local broadcaster. With the Zenderzone, we ensured that local partners get their own environment on all Telenet platforms (both old and new) which they can create with the same amount of effort. They submit and set up their content once. Afterwards, everything is pushed to all Telenet platforms at once. A key game-changer for Telenet, and additional advertising models and revenue for the broadcasters.

For this purpose, we initially developed a concept that we were able to include in the distribution agreements with the broadcasters. From then on, I was 'product owner' of the concept, and made sure we were able to deploy it entirely according to the predefined vision.

How do you make sure your knowledge remains up to date? 
I try to keep track of what is happening within our industry as much as possible. For example, I frequently read articles on Medium, a kind of open platform with blog articles by experts on a wide range of topics: from programming to machine learning to psychology. Every now and then, I like reading an interesting book as well. My latest purchases are on what virtual reality can do for businesses and how to build strategies for it. I can recommend UX for XR: User Experience Design and Strategies for Immersive Technologies and Reality Check: How immersive technologies can transform your business in this context.

What do you value most within your job as a strategist?
Ultimately, you want to make an impact. To achieve this, it is essential that your strategy is supported by the organization. In addition, I always want to ensure that the strategy and concept are implemented and developed in a qualitative way and in the correct manner.

What energizes you outside of work?
I exercise at least a couple of times a week, preferably fitness and yin yoga. The latter is a kind of deep stretch form of yoga that forces you to mentally unwind to get deeper into your stretch. I also play the piano. These things all help me find a balance with my work, which can sometimes be quite intense.

By Michele Stynen

Digital Marketeer