Week 1 – Getting to know each other
On my first day, I was first welcomed by my Business Unit Lead and introduced to the colleagues present in the Munich office and given a tour of the premises. Since digatus takes Covid 19 regulations very seriously, only a small part of the team was present and they explained to me how the digital sign-in and sign-out for an office stay works. Next, I set up my workstation, i.e. notebook, at one of the flex workstations and connected it. If I had any questions, the IT service desk was always there to help and advise me.
After this was solved, it was time for the employee spotlight. In these short videos, new employees briefly introduce themselves to the digatus team on the intranet, as it is currently not possible to get to know each other personally. After a few attempts, the interview was then in the can and could be further edited and distributed via the marketing team.
“Starting a new job is very exciting because you get to meet a lot of new people and get involved in different projects.”
Kreshnik Arifi
Before starting the actual project work, I first familiarized myself with the workflows, processes and procedures at digatus. This is done by reading the Onboarding Guide and working through the tasks described there, such as creating the email signature. In addition, a personal “buddy” is available during the first few weeks especially for new starters, who – in addition to the personal supervisor – provides advice and support. Afterwards, I started to familiarize myself with the day-to-day project work by being invited to my first project meeting.
On the third day, a change of location was on the agenda, as I visited the site in Fürth. Once in the office, I met the project team members there and in the evening there was a brief session of Mario Kart in one of the conference rooms (of course, all Covid 19 guidelines were followed, spacing was always available and masks were also worn).
Week 2 – The start of the project work
Now the number of appointments increased and the tasks became more. I was given access to the data room in an M&A project and was able to view all the information collected to support my colleagues in the first project. Translating and editing presentations, revising calculations and taking minutes of meetings were now the order of the day.
Additionally, I participated in my first virtual digatus Morning Show. Here, a Microsoft Teams room is available every morning to all interested colleagues, which can be used to bridge the distance in the home office and to keep in touch. The session was surprisingly interesting as it wasn’t really about the work at digatus. A colleague told about his experience in boxing, how this business works and what you have to do for it.
At the end of the second week, I participated in the virtual offsite of my IT M&A business unit. This was an opportunity for the project managers to place their thoughts and wishes and share what they have in mind and what can be done better. Sort of a collaborative brainstorming session to improve and simplify the work and related processes.
Week 3 – Having arrived in the daily project routine
By my third week, I was increasingly participating in my first IT due diligences. I supported colleagues, found out about market prices for IT services and software products, adjusted tables and presentations. At the end of the week, we got a second project that I got involved in. Now I could experience how it starts from the beginning. In the first meeting with the client, we received the most important information and learned what the project was about and what timeline was intended. Based on this, I supported the creation of the questionnaire for the IT due diligence. We then went through this with the customer and provided it to the seller (= salesperson of the target company).
On the same day, I met another colleague via video call to support him in the future with his internal project to optimize presentation templates.
Week 4 – One exciting project follows the next
The first project was already very advanced at that time. The first Expert Calls had already been held and we were getting closer and closer to the end of the IT Due Diligence and the start of the Transitional Service Agreement (TSA). In the meantime, another colleague had contacted me, who also needed support in his project. Of course, I was happy to take this opportunity to further develop my skills in IT due diligence.
Everyday work after 4 months
Some time has now passed and I am already in my fourth month at digatus. My current project is picking up steam in a big way right now. For me, that means supporting the team with data room analysis, creating reporting slides, and cost estimates, among other things. I also created a budget controller for a project to keep track of all costs so I could have a good overview at all times. Furthermore, in our central project management tool, I created the action list for the individual workstreams, the status of which is updated weekly by the various team members.
Now we come to the end of my article. The first weeks and months were quite varied and characterized by many small and large challenges as well as new insights and personal learnings. By working on several projects at the same time, I was able to gain a lot of valuable experience in general project management as well as specifically in the area of IT due diligence. I am already very excited about what else awaits me in the future!
