Ömer Atiker grew up with the first personal computers. Studied industrial engineering and entrepreneurship, being an entrepreneur besides his studies. After completing university (and a thesis on man-machine interfaces of the future), he set up a multimedia department within an IT company. In 1996, he founded one of the very first Internet agencies, ever, in the Netherlands. In 2004, he sold the agency and took a one-year sabbatical to work on New Work with Frithjof Bergmann. In 2006, he founded the digital strategy and marketing agency Click Effect, which he still owns and runs today. Over the years, he completed well over three hundred projects for large and medium-sized companies, often in industry and for hidden champions.
What are the core subjects of your keynote speeches?
The central topic of my keynotes is the digital transformation of existing companies. So it is not about Startups and it’s also not about an handful of smart people in some “Innovation Lab” somewhere. Instead, we take a look what digital change means for the hundreds and thousands of common employees.
Those people are not overly concerned about “disruption” and blockchain. They just have three simple questions:
What exactly is digital transformation?
What does that mean for my, my job and my company?
Where do I start?
I offer answers to those questions. And I have a whole treasure chest of examples, that “digital” is completely different from what most of us think. Have you heard of fluffy robots and the digital fried egg? Of Netflix socks and the important role of dogs in the factory of the future? You will!
Then, “digital” is fun. And people leave inspired and ready and to start transforming.
Which audience or which branch do you reach with your speech?
The keynote is not limited to certain industries, “digital” is happening to all of us.
Usually, I am booked for business events, either internally for the employees, or externally for customers.
The audience varies, it could be the top management, it could be “all hands”. An adaption for an even broader audience is possible.
Why are you a Premium Speaker? Where do you get your insights from?
I’ve always been very broad in my interests, and especially the interface between man and machine has always fascinated me. That was the point of my master in Business Engineering, and I later founded one of the very first internet agencies in the Netherlands. Today, my digital marketing agency Click Effect provides strategy, marketing and communication services for international companies. I’ve been an entrepreneur now for more than 30 years, so I know from first-hand experience how the economy and our companies work.
I am very proud to have published two successful books on digital transformation with established publishers (Wiley and Campus), with a third book due in fall 2019.
While there are many specialists on technology, on business or on people and change, very few people can bring together all three aspects in an inspiring, easy understandable way. I am one of them.
What will be in the future? Does 'time' play an important role in your work?
Our world, the way we do business, technology – everything changes at an accelerating rate.
So we and our companies need to change, too. But „the only constant in life is change“ – we will have to keep on changing, and change as such will continue to be with us. So change is something we need to learn to handle and embrace.