Insight Story Jasmin Ebi
An industrial engineer specializing in logistics processes, Jasmin Ebi started as an SAP EWM analyst right after graduating from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Since then, Jasmin has successfully carried out a range of projects for high-profile clients. Today, she is a Senior Consultant in the SAP EWM Consulting unit.
What words would you use to describe io?
Employee development, growth and shared interaction.
What is your area of responsibility at io?
My role as an SAP EWM Consultant is to support our customers in implementing and optimizing SAP systems in warehouse and transport logistics. This could, for instance, be a greenfield project setting where brand new smart logistics and warehouse locations are developed that need a warehouse management system. Our work in this phase kicks off with planning logistics processes in and around the warehouse.
We also support companies in their digital transformation during site expansion or during modernization to best map future logistics processes in the system. This can include ensuring efficient networking between the locations, to optimize transport management alongside the warehouse processes. We support some clients in individual project phases only, others throughout the entire process.
What are your specific tasks?
I am the client’s main point of contact in all project phases. I start by holding workshops at the beginning of the project to capture all the process requirements, then define how these can be integrated in the system. I also act as the communication liaison with our io development team. My developer colleagues then program everything into the SAP system and ensure that the client’s individual requirements are all properly mapped. We have also developed our own internal agile project approach, which is based on the SCRUM method.
Aside from the project work, I also get involved in classic project management. For example, as the project manager on the current project, I chair our weekly team meetings, follow up on action items, and keep tabs on the overall organization and progress of the project. I pull all the strands together, so to speak. So, I am overall responsible for the project and keep a close eye on it.
We have also developed our own internal agile project approach, which is based on the SCRUM method.
What does your working day look like?
My working day is quite varied, and this variety is another thing I really love about my job. I usually spend Mondays and Fridays in the Heidelberg office.
This is when I take care of organizational things, hold team meetings, and prepare or follow up on workshops. I am often on site with the client from Tuesday through Thursday, where I hold workshops or training sessions, or am there during testing, for example. When it comes to the go-live phase, we spend quite a lot more time on site with the client, making sure the commissioning goes to plan and giving direct support.
I really enjoy being out and about and love the face-to-face contact on site, but I also think it’s good to be in the office regularly to work on current topics and bounce ideas around with my team. I also work from home from time to time. I like that option when a particular topic needs my full focus and attention.
Insight in the office in Heidelberg
The pace of the company’s growth opens up many opportunities. This gives you the chance to contribute your own ideas and drive issues that develop your own field of work as well as the team’s – regardless of your position in the company or your level of experience.
What’s so special about your job?
I have new challenges to face every day. Each project is different. Different sectors work in different ways, so you end up constantly taking on different roles and getting to grips with new complex subjects. This keeps me on my toes – and on a steep learning curve, both personally and professionally.
Another great thing is that you can help shape quite a lot here in the company. The pace of the company’s growth opens up many opportunities. This gives you the chance to contribute your own ideas and drive issues that develop your own field of work as well as the team’s – regardless of your position in the company or your level of experience. I have been the head of one of our Competence Centers since the beginning of 2019. This involves working on a range of current topics that keep us moving forward as a team. At the moment, we are working on a tool that maps our agile project approach so we can improve our project work.
However, we also deal with issues such as recruitment and training, working out with the HR team how we can continue to attract new talent and integrate them into our everyday project work as smoothly as possible.
It is particularly important for us to be at the leading edge when it comes to new trends and developments. We visit SAP’s HQ in Walldorf several times a year to take the opportunity to test new technologies. We can also get certified as SAP consultants there.
How would you describe the way you work and the team spirit?
I get to organize my work flexibly and decide for myself how to go about certain things. Relatively speaking, I think I have a great deal of design freedom. No one just works in their own silo, of course – we are always trying to find solutions together as a team. Social cohesion and knowledge sharing are immensely important to everyone. The team spirit and our sense of community really define us. Particularly when we are in the implementation phase and working in larger teams, we exchange ideas a lot, support each other and share our experiences. The short communication channels we have in our office really help – even just being able to discuss things over coffee.
Team event with soapbox race
In some project phases, we come together to work with other departments, maybe with colleagues from the pharma/biotech and logistics departments. This is always hugely interesting, because exchanging ideas with other disciplines invariably gives you different perspectives.
We also get along well as a team outside work and often socialize or end the workday together in a beer garden.