Interim CEO & Digital Transformation Manager: eCommerce Platform for Metals

The Client 

Boyden’s client is a century old Austrian company in the raw materials and metal industry. In order to increase visibility and sales of their products, the company established a digital eCommerce transaction platform through a subsidiary several years ago.

The Challenge

A management consulting firm initially developed a business model and established a team and platform. Despite multiple attempts to push the platform forward, it did not achieve commercial success after more than five years. An Interim CEO was brought in from outside with a neutral perspective to assess the status quo and recommend necessary actions.

The Interim CEO was tasked with analyzing the situation and developing radical change while maintaining positive team spirit among the international team of over 15 nationalities on site.

Main tasks included:

• Analysis of the existing business model
• Evaluation of current planning and key milestones
• Development and implementation of scalable and efficient strategies to ensure consistent results and exponential growth
• Identification of potential revenue streams
• Coordination of the planned measures with the management board
   

The Solution

• Assignment of an internal team to maintain and/or strengthen the core business
• Parallel identification of potential partners in complementary environments
• Discussions with potential acquisition targets or potential takeover candidates
• Diligence on new developments of the platform (duration, costs, prospects of success)
• Development of MVPs (minimum viable products) for companies within the parent company for testing purposes
• Changes in the team structure, integration of Sales & Marketing, rebuilding technology team (new CPO, ReOrg)
   

The Results 

The diligence revealed that attempts to maintain the platform were unsuccessful as potential business cooperations could not be realized due to differing views on revenues and cost sharing.

As a result, company closure was recommended and swiftly implemented. Employees were given socially acceptable notice and the office location was dissolved at the end of the year. Lessons learned laid the groundwork for a possible relaunch in the future.

One of the main difficulties was delaying the search for a radical reorientation. Attempts were made for too long to stick to the existing situation without questioning the fundamental business model.

In principle, the digital transformation of the metal and materials industry is a big theme, but traditional structures make it a lengthy process.

At the end of the project, the previous COO and Director of Strategic Projects/M&A of the subsidiary were entrusted with following up on the results.