Interview with Stefan Palm

Blog | Publish date: 20 Feb 2020

Intervju med Stefan Palm

Stefan Palm is one of Softronic’s experienced consultants who works as a project manager, change manager and advisor. He has been working in the IT industry for more than 30 years.

This spring Stefan is going to share some tips, ideas, thoughts and inspiration surrounding new technology – we are calling it ‘Stefan reflects’. In this interview you will get to know Stefan a little better. He will talk about what his motivations are, and projects that he is particularly proud of.

Could you describe your role at Softronic?
“I work with organisations and individuals as an advisor/consultant on how technology can create value. But I don’t only focus on technology. Value is created when something is being used, and sometimes value can be created through new processes and/or changes in behaviour. So in purely practical terms, I do a little of everything. What I mean is that I work on understanding the potential of technology, optimising the process and creating the right conditions. I do this to make sure that people use the solution in a way that creates the effect that the organisation is looking for. So there is a lot of variety in my job and it’s really enjoyable at the same time.”

What is your background?
“I’ve been working in the IT industry for around 30 years in different areas and organisations, and in different roles. It’s an advantage to have such broad experience when meeting new people and new organisations. But learning is a continual process and I’m continually investing in acquiring new knowledge.”

What is your motivation?
“To put it in a nutshell: ‘Helping other people do something they didn’t think possible’.
By this I mean everything in the knowledge gap that is growing between what is actually possible through technology and what people know is possible. The pace of development is so quick at the moment that it’s impossible to know the potential of the various technical solutions that are emerging. To then realise their potential in a solution so that it can actually be used in an organisation and create value is something that brings me joy every day.”

Can you name a project that you are particularly proud of?
“As an advisor/consultant, my goal is normally to leave an organisation that has changed and improved within a set period of time. But sometimes I have to accept that the results of my work could result in a change that does not lead to an improvement; but this kind of insight is important. Personally, I enjoy collaborations where I’ve had the chance to work with new technology involving cloud-based IoT solutions to collect data, and establish and manage a Data Lake in order to build Analytics and Machine Learning capabilities at an organisation. Talking of ML, we had to tackle a specific need that meant I gained experience of working with images/films. It was incredibly educational to research the possibilities offered by current AI services in this area.”

You are going to be writing some blog posts for Softronic this spring under the concept ‘Stefan reflects’. What are we going to learn and maybe be inspired by?
“I’m intending to share my insights and opinions of new technology. I’m hoping to do this in a way that gets many people interested or gets them to think that little bit more. I’m not planning to go too deeply into different technologies. Instead, I’m going to try to highlight different things that you should think about and address when taking on board a specific technology. It is rare that you are the only one facing a challenge, so I’m hoping to be able to show you how other people tackle various challenges. But I’m sure that a few personal insights and thoughts will creep in there as well.”

Do you have a life motto? Or a quote that you use in your daily life?
“I’ve got a lot of quotes or phrases from books that I’ve read or listened to. I believe that there are so many people who are smarter than me and know more than me. So maybe reusing knowledge from other people could be described as my ‘life motto’? But an expression that I often return to is Simon Sinek’s ‘It all starts with why’. I think it’s inspirational to have a vision to work towards, where goals and activities help you move in the right direction toward achieving this vision. And it’s an enormous strength to have a clear question ‘why’ that guides you there.”

Finally is there anything you would like to add?
“‘The more I learn, the less I realise I know’, as Socrates said. Although I’m going to be talking about current topics in my posts that are hopefully relevant to many people, I’d welcome input from others. Tell me what you’re interested in or what you are thinking about. Or share you own experience and knowledge.”

Contact

Contact him at stefan.palm@softronic.se or search for him look on LinkedIn, where he regularly shares a wide range of insights and opinions.

Stefan’s first blog post in ‘Stefan reflects’ will appear in week 10 and he will be sharing his thoughts on ‘How can you include people who are not at the office?’.

In later posts he will also discuss topics such as AI, IoT and the ability to handle masses of data.