Economic Forum: Mr. May, you have been the managing director of HDP since July 1st. How have you experienced the first time?

Marcus May: I was welcomed with open arms, had many conversations, and dealt with various topics to get a clearer picture of where we stand and where we want to go. We are at the beginning of a transformation process that will start this year.

Economic Forum: Before we look forward, let's take a look back. What were the origins of HDP like?

Marcus May: The history of HDP shows how a wonderful success story can develop from nothing. My predecessor Frank Pusch was one of the co-founders in the 1980s, who then realized that it would make sense to serve the social accident insurance market with an industry solution. With Cusa, we now offer a software solution that reflects this original idea.

Economic Forum: How has it progressed to date?

Marcus May: With high demand, HDP has continued to grow steadily. Particularly, Corona has fueled our growth. Today, we employ 169 staff, plus external forces to support projects. Classic software development takes place at the Alzey site, while we are also providers of data center services, operating a large data center. Revenue is between 23 and 25 million EUR. It is important that profit maximization is not our main focus, but rather we reinvest a lot to do solid work in the interest of our shareholders, three major professional associations and the Hessen accident insurance fund. Due to our structure, our customers are also our owners.

Economic Forum: You mentioned the transformation process as a major challenge. What do you mean by that?

Marcus May: A major issue that concerns all of us is AI. Especially in light of the shortage of skilled workers, automation is necessary and makes sense. This requires a rethinking by all those involved. A clerk typically approaches tasks in a process-driven manner. Information technology, however, pursues a different objective – away from process, towards outcome. We need to move towards data-driven work, must think in data and outcomes, not processes. Our task is to create concepts for data-driven solutions.

Economic Forum: What impulses would you like to give the company on this path of transformation?

Marcus May: I see my task in thinking in solutions and have declared a can-do principle. Instead of sticking to rigid principles, I rely on modern methods such as involving the customers, with whom solutions are refined and further developed together; this is the idea behind MVP. It is clear that we need to reorganize ourselves for the transformation, and it starts in the mindset.

Economic Forum: Cusa is the core product of HDP. What makes the software stand out?

Marcus May: Cusa is a complete solution for accident insurance providers, based on the three modules of rehab and benefits, member and contribution, as well as prevention. If one actually starts thinking data-driven at some point, centralized solutions are the next challenge. By 2025, we will offer customers software-as-a-service for the first time. We will develop further modules for Cusa and push mobile applications. With Apollo, we have also developed an AI platform to pursue the data-driven approach.

Economic Forum: You talked about steady growth in the past. What do you attribute this to?

Marcus May: The founders have written a wonderful story of success. They started with an idea, asked what customers need and what the market needs, and discovered a niche. As digitalization began, they moved into this special sector, made a name for themselves, and delivered good products. Now it's up to us to continue this story, decisively shape the market, and supply it with innovations.