The Right Experts for Exciting Projects
Interview with Andreas Brück, Managing Director of KRONGAARD GmbH
The shortage of skilled workers poses enormous challenges for every industry. Often, the rule is: the higher and more specific the competence profile, the more difficult it is to fill a vacancy. Especially in the project context, cooperation with independent experts has proven to be an effective solution impulse: a critical point where KRONGAARD GmbH can provide effective support. Managing Director Andreas Brück presented Wirtschaftsforum his business model.
Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Brück, your central ambition can be summarized by KRONGAARD GmbH with the phrase 'We Drive Progress' - how exactly do you achieve this?
Andreas Brück: By finding the right experts for exciting projects! We have access to a strong network of 30,000 top specialists in Germany, who are among the strongest and most experienced independent consultants in their respective fields. We then quickly and flexibly place these specialists through contracting – i.e., for a legally secure independent activity – with our partners who want to fill an external vacancy for an important project. Since we understand the project landscapes of our customers down to the last detail – just as well as the internal colleagues, – we see ourselves not so much as a recruitment agency, but more as a consulting firm that bridges the gap to the major consulting houses.
Wirtschaftsforum: What projects are we specifically talking about?
Andreas Brück: Thanks to our broad and comprehensive network of highly qualified knowledge workers, we hardly encounter any content or industry limits: Our domain experts assist with digitalization projects just as well as with the implementation of new regulatory requirements or important transformation processes to increase sustainability – in this topic area, many of our specialists naturally also have a strong personal purpose. Internally, KRONGAARD is meanwhile structured by industry to ensure that we can truly penetrate the specific requirements of our partners: from banking to trade to the defense segment.
Wirtschaftsforum: What makes you so optimistic?
Andreas Brück: Collaborating with independent consultants through legally secure service contracts allows the client a high degree of flexibility and a precise closure of their current skill gaps. When things need to happen quickly, we can often provide a specialist the very next day who can start work immediately and generate value. Particularly in light of the rapidly advancing changes in technological possibilities as well as market conditions, project durations are becoming increasingly shorter, so that the specific need for the competencies or specific know-how of a specialist may only exist for six months or a year, before another form of collaboration is sought. Our business model enables exactly this flexibility.
Wirtschaftsforum: Why do highly qualified professionals trust this model?
Andreas Brück: Our partners are independent entrepreneurs. They often possess knowledge built up over many years from diverse projects, which forms the basis of their consulting offerings: the ability to strategically purchase knowledge and experience on a temporary basis. Many appreciate especially the entrepreneurial freedom to choose exactly the tasks and projects that suit their profiles and future plans. The work model of 'independent consultant' is on the rise in all knowledge and technology-driven economies because it serves the agility and flexibility needed today, and both sides benefit.
Wirtschaftsforum: What values guide your actions?
Andreas Brück: We aim to be authentic and enthusiastic, and to act with appreciation and trust both internally and externally, thereby helping companies and knowledge workers to make progress with focus and ambition – we happily embrace this challenge every day!