More than a title

At first glance, IBM Champion looks like a personal accolade. Stefan says: “Something for your LinkedIn profile, bio or an event, but it is much more than that. It is about gathering knowledge, sharing knowledge and helping to shape the direction IBM Maximo is heading. And about making sure that what happens in practice reaches the right people. As a Champion, you have a responsibility to advance the field, that is how I see it.”

What an IBM Champion does

An IBM Champion is someone who actively supports a specific IBM technology and the community around it. It can be an IBM partner or a customer. Together, the Champions form a global network for exchanging knowledge and experience.

One Champion dives deep into IBM Maximo, like Stefan, while another focuses on a completely different technology. It is precisely this mix of specialisms that makes the network so valuable. Stefan: “Being able to connect through the community with experts in related technologies is very relevant, because asset management is no longer just about maintenance. Data, integrations, AI and platform choices all play a part.”

Improving from the shop floor

Stefan sees his role as IBM Champion primarily as the link between what IBM develops and what customers need to do their work. “Making that connection is what it is all about for me. It fits perfectly with what Gemba stands for. Gemba means shop floor, and Gemba Kaizen is a Japanese management philosophy based on continuous improvement from the shop floor. That is what our company name refers to.”

You do not become an IBM Champion overnight

To become an IBM Champion, you need to show that you actively contribute to the community. Stefan: “There are different stages: first you become a Contributor, then an Advocate and eventually an Influencer. To reach those milestones, you have to earn points. You can do that in various ways. I have done it by speaking at events such as NVDO and Maintenance NEXT, writing blogs about asset management and helping others in the community with questions about IBM Maximo. And you are only a Champion for one year, you have to prove yourself again every time.”

Close to IBM Maximo development

As an IBM Champion, Stefan helps reduce the gap between product development and the daily use of asset management technology. “You have close contact with IBM about new developments. For example, there is almost every Friday a call with IBM specialists about IBM MAS. Product managers and developers show what they are working on. Sometimes these are already concrete new features, sometimes still mock-ups. You can give feedback from practice. That is valuable, because you see what is coming early and can indicate what matters most to customers.”

Beneficial for Gemba customers

Because Stefan is closely involved in the development of IBM Maximo, Gemba gets earlier visibility of new functions, ideas and directions. Customers benefit from this. “You can assess more quickly what is interesting and what is not yet ready. Sometimes a development matches questions customers are already dealing with. Sometimes something looks promising but is not yet mature in practice. Then it helps if someone in the community has been following that development from an earlier stage and can translate it into real-world use. You can also quickly tap into specialist knowledge. For example, with an asset management issue that touches on another technology, such as the OpenShift platform that IBM MAS runs on.”

From reactive to predictable asset management

‘Turning asset performance expectations into certainty, and certainty into trust’ – that is Stefan’s motto as IBM Champion. It is about the evolution of asset management: from reactive to predictable and strategic. Organisations have expectations of their assets. They need to be safe, run reliably and deliver value. But expectations alone are not enough.

Stefan: “With data, insights and technology, and of course IBM MAS, we turn those expectations into certainties. We know what is happening, why it is happening and when intervention is needed. That is where the real gain lies for our customers. Because certainty enables better decisions. It gives operators more confidence in their systems, management more confidence in its choices and organisations more confidence in the continuity of their service delivery.”

A conscious investment

Stefan has been in the field for more than twenty years, but he is far from finished learning. The world around IBM Maximo never stands still, and asset management even less so. New possibilities keep emerging, while questions from practice continue to change. For him, the IBM Championship is a way to stay right at the heart of it all. To keep learning, gathering knowledge and talking to people who are just as deeply immersed in the field as he is.

Above all, he finds it really enjoyable. “Just the conversations you have together at the annual IBM Tech Exchange in America, one of the major events you are invited to as an IBM Champion. You are surrounded by fellow enthusiasts. It gives you a huge amount of energy.”

What can an IBM Champion mean as a consultant for your IBM Maximo environment? Get in touch with Stefan Hoffmanns via s.hoffmanns@gemba.nl or +31 (0)6 41 56 16 32.