"An IT organisation must take on a pioneering role”

The Huemer Group is one of the most important providers of data centres, innovative IT solutions and IT consulting.

14 July 2006 is a significant date in the life of Walter Huemer: He founded Huemer IT-Solution on that day. In 2014, H3 Holding GmbH was established, which is now known as Huemer Group GmbH. The broad spectrum of products and services focuses on the main areas of Data Centre & Infrastructure, Consulting & Project Management and Intelligent Technology Solutions. Walter Huemer’s vision: “With our passion for challenging tasks and innovative technologies, we will become Austria’s frontrunner in IT and digitisation.” Since the summer of 2023, Huemer has been president of ICT Austria, the lobby group for the Austrian IT industry.

Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic at the lastest, the IT industry has been booming. How have you experienced this boost?
Walter Huemer: In fact, we have experienced significant dynamics in the IT sector, which comes strongly from more people working from home. Various components play a role here – from hardware to the entire process management, to employee management at the company level. Completely new working environments became established and with them the demands on the entire infrastructure and IT departments increased. IT organisations in particular, which have grown for years and decades, now face a challenging situation in which quality and adaptability must prove themselves.

Were you prepared for a digitisation hype?
Huemer: I have been running my own company for 32 years now and started as a sales partner for US manufacturers such as IBM, HP, Oracle and others. In this industry, you are quickly recognised as a major player if you sell a large amount of infrastructure. But if you sell less in your segment, you can just as quickly be displaced by others. About a decade ago, I made the decision to not only act as a sales arm for American companies, but to create added value in the country of Austria myself and generate continuous sales. This led to the establishment of two data centre locations for services, the founding of a separate department specialised exclusively in consulting and advisory services, and the initiation of software developments in our company.
With the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, the entire project business came to an abrupt halt, while the infrastructure business flourished. We were well positioned because although we could advise companies on how to proceed, on the other hand there were contact restrictions. It was undoubtedly a challenging time, but we were prepared. As an IT organisation, it is our job to lead the way, even if that means occasionally investing money to implement solutions that later prove to be redundant.

After the excitement around digitisation, what remains in the long run?

Huemer: I have been a strong advocate in recent years to intensify training programmes with a focus on software development. There is a growing need for digital know-how in the industrial sector and beyond. With the advent of ChatGPT in November 2022, the digital landscape has evolved significantly, with now over 1,700 AI applications. This is an area I am heavily involved in, although many of our clients have not yet fully grasped the potential of this development in their own organisations.
However, the development also shows that the focus of training needs to shift. While demand for programmers is currently high, I predict that in a few years we will need fewer developers but more software and process architects. This shift is driven by the automation of coding tasks and the increasing complexity of digital processes. Those who do not keep up with the changes run the risk of making bad decisions. Job descriptions are changing, productivity is increasing rapidly.

One of your core businesses is data centres.
Huemer: We have two geographically separate locations in Vienna, with each location having two separate fire protection sections. Some of our customers prefer to store their data redundantly at two different locations at least ten kilometres apart. In Austria, it is common for all data centres to rent space either from NTT Global Data Centers, formerly known as E-shelter, or from Interxion. We have chosen to rent our own premises from these providers.

How important is it that all your storage and servers are located in Austria?
Huemer: When establishing the Huemer Data Center, we placed particular emphasis on storing all our data locally, here in Austria. Our goal is to be a cloud provider that guarantees Austrian customers secure domestic data storage. I predict that in the coming years the demand for domestic data storage and cloud services will increase significantly, especially as an alternative to American providers. Nevertheless, we are open to a hybrid solution to meet the varying needs of our customers, especially when such a service is explicitly requested by our customers. In my view, the hybrid cloud will shape the future of data storage and processing.

Do your IT infrastructure solutions come from off-the-shelf basic models that you adapt depending on the customer?
Huemer: Our main goal is to offer our customers an individual approach. If a customer needs a file server or database server, we naturally provide a standard product. Our true expertise, however, in the customisation and individualisation of services specifically tailored to our clients’ needs. But with more than 30 years of experience in project management, IT and consulting, we start one step ahead. Our ability to think along the entire value chain – from the initial idea to the analysis of specific problems to application design and integration into the customer’s existing structures – is what sets us apart. So, at the end of the day, we can develop a customised product and additionally take care of the operation.

What are the most important topics you are approached with in the context of IT consulting?
Huemer: With two decades of experience in sales, I had the opportunity to interact with a variety of IT managers. At that time, I noticed that many of them thought they had their departments and their challenges completely under control. This observation motivated me to change my approach. I decided to focus my conversations on board members and CEOs to gain a deeper understanding of the needs at that level. Instead of selling technologies and services, I focus on translating the IT language into an understandable form for senior management and discussing how satisfied they are with their current IT structures. These discussions often lead to assignments to help them modernise their IT departments and transform them into contemporary service providers. So, a key focus of our work at Huemer Group is to help CEOs bring their IT departments up to speed and into a proactive, forward-looking position. We ensure that we receive a request of this nature every week, which underlines our constant commitment and focus on continuous improvement and innovation.

Are you satisfied with the number of applicants and the level of training among the next generation of IT professionals?
Huemer: That is a complex issue. The market has developed problematically, especially with regards to the high salaries for IT professionals, which the public sector can hardly bear. This wage structure makes it difficult to work with the hourly rates our clients are willing to pay. We have about 200,000 IT staff in Austria, but there is a shortage of about 20,000. There is a clear need for skilled people who are willing to use new technologies. Unfortunately, many applicants interested in IT want a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job with a high salary, no customer meetings or problem solving, which is not the reality. Yes, we have a skills shortage, and we should open up to bring in international experts.

How is Austria positioned as a business location in terms of IT?
Huemer: One of the essential factors is the consideration of sustainability and climate change, which we feel more and more in everyday life. It is particularly important for IT organisations and data centre operators to bring this aspect to the fore. This change is already underway but requires a more intensive effort. This also includes the efficient use of waste heat generated by servers and a responsible approach to energy in general. Before the rising energy costs since the beginning of 2022, these were rather secondary issues. Austria has a very good basis as an IT location, but we could use our potential even better to position ourselves on an international level. In this respect, Germany has a head start in some respects, but we are more agile, more modern and better organised in many areas. In terms of the quality of IT education and the availability of skilled workers, Austria is in the good midfield, but with a clear upward trend. Our government is showing increasing interest in promoting innovation and attracting foreign investment, which will certainly help to strengthen our IT sector. Regarding AI, I would like to note that there needs to be a healthy balance between regulation and encouraging innovation. Before we make AI widely available to our students, workers and citizens so that they can engage with it, it seems premature to introduce regulations already. In my opinion, an open culture of mistakes should be allowed – we all need to have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them in order to evolve and reach our full potential.