Countless people have accompanied Unic over the past 25 years. They have helped shape Unic and written unforgettable stories. We are telling 25 personal stories for 25 years of Unic.
25 Mayumi Sugaya - Homage - Story 25 of 25
Mayumi Sugaya #uxarchitect #problemsolver #thinkoutofthebox dedicates her personal story to the people at Unic. They make our organisation what it is: wonderful and changeable.
With this last statement from 25 years of Unic, we wish you a happy new year and look forward to many wonderful encounters and conversations with you in 2022.
Nadine Blum & Silena Wegmann - Legendary Winter Parties - Story 24 of 25
Silena & Nadine organized many winter parties together. Nadine Blum remembers: "One mulled wine in my hand, sky full of stars, high upon a mountain in the snow...these are my memories while thinking of the first winter parties. The descent into the valley, where the party went on till the morning light, was done individually: some comfortably by gondola, others with a serving tray on the toboggan run."
Laura Felbecker – Security and Freedom – Story 23 of 25
Laura Felbecker #Zurich #Consulting #Workingmum has been involved with Unic for 10 years in many different roles: from project manager to team leader to sales manager and many more. During these years, she particularly remembers the time when she was allowed to come to terms with her new role as a parent and received a lot of support, security and freedom from Unic.
Mathias Indermühle - Experiences that bring together - Story 22 of 25
Mathias Indermühle #SystemEngineer #ToolTime #PerformanceSherlock has remembered one event in particular during his 16 years at Unic:
In August 2005, the River Aare burst its banks in the city of Berne and flowed right through the Matte district of Berne. And thus also through our offices, which were located in the Matte at the time! We had to rescue our infrastructure from the flooded area in rubber boats. An experience I will probably never forget.
Claudia Lienert – Technical Expertise and Humanity – Story 21 of 25
Claudia Lienert #unicalumna #sbb appreciates the great people at Unic with incredible technical expertise and a large portion of humanity - then as a manager with us, now as a customer and client.
Florian Stürzinger - Passionate foosball player - Story 20 of 25
Florian Stürzinger #ux #design #foosballplayer tells how the foosball table has established itself as a popular meeting place in Unic's office.
Mathias Wegmüller – a Fine Nose – Story 19 of 25
Mathias Wegmüller #unicalumnus #entreprenuer was at Unic from 2000 to 2007 in various functions. What makes Unic so unique for him? The fine nose of always focusing on the right talents and the right technologies.
Constantin Ettingshausen – Support, Even in Difficult Situations – Story 18 of 25
Support – even in difficult situations, that's what sets Unic apart. Constantin Ettingshausen, Pitch Leader and Account Manager, tells us his very personal story about Unic:
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. The end is part of all our lives, but no one likes to talk about it. Barely 3 years after I started at Unic, I had to deal with this topic. My father was diagnosed with a malignant and very aggressive brain tumor, and he passed away less than 4 months after the diagnosis. 4 months that I would have had a hard time surviving without the full support of Unic. So I had the opportunity to be with my father for almost all of the 4 months and to be able to accompany him. I am deeply grateful to Unic for this humanity.
Marta Kachniarz-Pieczyńska – Why Unic? – Story 17 of 25
Six years ago, my partner, a Test Engineer was searching for work and stumbled upon an interesting job offer. We found the question “Why Unic?” from the recruitment form quite funny – and at the same time, the hardest one to answer – because we’ve never heard of this company before and had no clue what we could write there.
A few weeks later Rafał started working for Unic. A few months had passed, and I was so envious of his work environment that I decided to apply too. Soon after, I joined as a member of the Frontend Team in Wrocław.
We are a cooperation team of human beings first and employees second
As I was parting ways with my previous company, the environment there was very unstable – as you would expect from what was more or less a startup – and this was just not what I wanted from my employer. Unic, by comparison, seemed an oasis of stability – in Wrocław there were only over a dozen of people with a few years of presence on the Polish market, but the mother company in Switzerland was already well established and about to have its 20th anniversary soon.
It was satisfying to work with some high-caliber clients, but at the same time come every day to an office small enough to feel you personally know everyone there – the local manager Reto included. It was refreshing to feel like we were a cooperating team of human beings first and employees second.
We took Unic with us
Two years later, Rafał and I got married. We started to look for a place to settle and it was becoming clear that Wrocław was not it. At the same time, we could not imagine parting ways with Unic – we had become very attached to the company as a whole – its people, work culture and core values.
We decided to move up north by the Baltic Sea, but – after some negotiations – we ended up taking Unic with us. Back then, we were pioneers of remote work in the Polish branch, but never encountered any difficulties because we still were a part of the same group of like-minded professionals.
Almost six years later, I look back to that question – Why Unic? – and realize it’s now very easy to answer.
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Daniel Risch – of Misunderstandings Due to the Dialect – Story 16 of 25
Daniel Risch was our Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Consulting from 2007 to 2014. Today, he is Head of Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein. For our 25th anniversary, he looks back on his time at Unic. For this, he has retrieved a particularly nice anecdote for us from his memories.
Melanie Klühe – A Decade of Unic and Not a Bit Boring – Story 15 of 25
Melanie Klühe is one of our returnees. With her calm manner, she accompanies our existing clients on their digital journey, she inspires new clients for Unic and, as our yoga teacher, helps us against our back tensions.
Even before the introduction of Holacracy, it was possible to take on different roles within Unic. As a business economist specialising in media and communication, I was able to develop from a classic consultant role to a business unit manager to a member of the extended management team.
After five years, a trip to the customer and partner side lured me to see digital solutions in action or to introduce them. I had the opportunity to build up the online properties department at a Big Four company and to head the marketing and sales department at an SAP partner.
But somehow Unic, with its interdisciplinary teamwork, didn't let me go, and so I returned. I still fondly remember a greeting from a former colleague: "It's good to have you back, no matter what role."
I have a deep insight into the processes of clients and the implementation of complex enterprise architectures. This enables me to take a 360-degree view and exploit the potential for our clients.
Therefore, in my current dual role as Sales Consultant and Account Manager, I feel a great need to inspire new customers for Unic and to accompany existing customers for many years on their path to digitalisation.
My personal balance is enhanced by the fact that, in addition to my challenging job at Unic, I have also been able to pursue my second passion for some years now, namely as a professional yoga teacher. Not only our clients benefit from this, but also the Unic team when we meet together on the mat for yoga.
For me, Unic is and remains an inspiring work environment that is still enriching after ten years.
Dirk Nölke – Human, Diverse & Encouraging – Story 14 of 25
«It's not boring at Unic.» Dirk Nölke, #family #customerjourney #digital, can say that after more than 10 years with us. For him, Unic is primarily about three things: human, diverse & encouraging.
Sonja Odermatt – Friendships for Life – Story 13 of 25
Sonja Odermatt, #projectmanager #teamwaterice #bridgebuilder: Like hardly anyone else at Unic, she stands for our claim «We make digital human». Everyone at Unic knows her. There is hardly anyone who she has not helped at least once in the last 10 years.
Martin Kriegler – Creating Something Big Together
Martin Kriegler has been working as a Senior Application Architect at Karlsruhe for nine years. His passion is the SAP Commerce Cloud.
For me, Unic has stood for three things in particular over the past nine years:
The opportunity for everyone to develop through their individual strengths.
Exciting tasks with a great team spirit.
And above all, a great community of unique colleagues who create something big together.
Andrea Malele – Steep Learning Curve – Story 11 of 25
Andrea Malele has been a Senior Consultant with us for 5 years. She is known for always asking the critical questions. She supports our clients with her high level of expertise in digital marketing, marketing automation and search engine optimisation.
Half a year after I started, Unic 2017 transformed into self-organisation. The euphoria was great and my learning curve was very steep. Today, I particularly appreciate two things about Unic:
Our roles and thus our tasks are transformable.
We have better alternatives to the classic periodic team meetings with the same agenda items over and over again.
With that, I accept something. Namely, the total uncertainty as to whether I could and would ever want to integrate into a classic line organisation again.
Sascha Bader – Connected with Us for 16 Years – Story 10 of 25
Sascha Bader, CDO at Ochsner Sport, can look back on a long history with us: Already 16 years ago, he was able to build a B2B and B2C e-commerce platform together with us for a sports brand. A few years later, he joined us as a consultant and advised our customers on their e-commerce projects.
After these exciting three years with great Unic colleagues, Sascha Bader switched back to the client side. As the person responsible for e-commerce at Ochsner Sport. And there we are connected again, as our development team works hand in hand with the Ochsner Sport team on their platform.
Monika Kwiatek – The Beauty of a Video Call – Story 9 of 25
Monika Kwiatek has been our Application Engineer on various Sitecore projects for three years now. She has worked on major projects including Zurich Airport, BEKB and Alte Leipziger – Hallesche.
Meeting in person gives us the invaluable opportunity to connect in order to build relationships or do business. As we work from various places, especially now during the coronavirus pandemic, we usually only connect with each other via video calls. However, if you ask someone from Unic, they will tell you that the results of our collaborations are excellent. What is the secret? I will focus here on what I describe as “the beauty of a video call”.
Seeing each other helps us to better understand the message. We can focus on the speakers and empathise with them. Turning on cameras depends on you as well as the unwritten policy of the company. At Unic, we want to “see” each other. And making friendships is a lot easier that way.
It was not until I compared us to other companies that I became aware of how powerful this simple step is. Surprisingly, turning the cameras on is not such a common approach. When I talked to my colleagues from other companies about remote work, they said that it is not working out for them and even their coworkers’ friendships had collapsed. They told me that they do not turn on their cameras. One of my friends would not recognise most of the people that he is working with. As a result, they have no engagement among their team members.
I am happy about how we handle things at Unic. So, if you are wondering whether it is possible to make friends with people via remote work, I can tell you that it is possible! We truly emphasise the human aspect of collaboration. And, hopefully, we will finally meet at the next party when it is possible once again.
Reto Eggimann – I Am Made for Unic – Story 8 of 25
Reto Eggimann: #delivery #problemsolver #holacracy. Reto has managed countless projects over the last seven years. He advises and coaches whenever a project becomes particularly challenging. And he knows exactly where to start when problems arise.
Stephi Batliner – an Alumna Remembers – Story 7 of 25
Stephi Batliner, #bbclondon #humancentereddesign #unicalumna, worked at Unic as a user interface designer from 2013 to 2016. She has fond memories of her time with us.
Marc Steinhoff – Writing 20 Years of Unic History with Us – Story 6 of 25
Marc Steinhoff is our Unic veteran. He has been with us as a senior application engineer in the field of email marketing for no less than 20 years. Nobody can imagine Unic without him.
What a journey... 20 years ago, I came to Unic by chance and had no idea that it would mean the «fiddler's pound» for me. Being able to experience Unic's change over this long period of time has been incredibly rewarding. Because it never gets boring. Today I get to live in my favourite city, Hamburg, and work with my extraordinary colleagues and friends on a daily basis.
In my work, I can gain an enormous amount of exciting insights into companies, their structures and challenges. And I always have a very warm team behind me.
The best decision was not to start at Unic, but to stay!
Jutta Weber – Like a Family – Story 5 of 25
Jutta Weber, Senior UX Architect and UX Consultant, is our main conceptual support at the Munich office. She has previously implemented numerous projects in Zurich, such as the Concordia website.
Unic has almost become like a family to me. I feel valued and work with great people.
Jutta Weber
#usdesign #teamplayer #understandingthecustomer
Michel Dennler – Laughing Together – Story 4 of 25
Michel Dennler, Senior Project Manager at Unic for over 10 years, has a lot to tell. In his personal story of 25 years at Unic, he gives us an amusing insight into what makes our culture so special.
Dawid Dworak – Like on a Rock-solid Ship – Story 3 of 25
Dawid Dworak has been our polyglot Senior Application Engineer and Sitecore Specialist for seven years now. He started in March 2014 in Wrocław and is known to everyone for his cheerful personality.
Many years back, I came across a picture that showed several beautiful ships floating on a calm sea on a nice, sunny day. There would not be anything unusual about this drawing without the text underneath: It said that all ships can sail in calm waters but only the most reliable ones with the best crews will do well in stormy weather.
I mention this in the context of the shock that touched us all in March and April last year. The coronavirus news was everywhere. The feeling of uncertainty was spreading all around us.
I like how Unic handled the situation. I am very thankful to Unic and my colleagues across all locations for their flexibility and hard work that made the transition to working from home go very smoothly:
Equipping us with right hardware and software, and ensuring transparent communication.
Letting us self-organise, which resulted in weekly team meetings.
Organising a tech lead forum that enabled us to solve the most challenging problems for our customers.
I felt like I was on a rock-solid ship that cut through the stormy waves to reach its destination.
Anita Hermecz – Stay Tuned – Story 2 of 25
Anita Hermecz, Office Manager and with Unic for 15 years, is our good soul at the Bern location. After 15 years with us, she gives an insight into what this long time at Unic means to her.
On 1 June 2006, exactly 15 years ago, I had my first working day at Unic in Berne. A time full of changes lies behind me. And so for me it's the same today as it was 15 years ago: Always stay tuned.
Anita Hermecz
#feelgoodfee #officemanagement, Bern
Patricia Gomez – Story 1 of 25
We start with Patricia Gomez, Application Architect in Karlsruhe. She tells us about the beginnings at Unic Karlsruhe 10 years ago and how some very special friendships were formed during that time.
