“Good ideas are our raw material”

Alan, you started at bbv in 2008, back then as a software engineer. Today, 16 years later, you are COO of bbv. What’s going through your mind?

That even at best I couldn’t have dreamed of this career path. When I started at bbv in 2008, my goal was to become the world’s best programmer (laughs). At the time, I worked in Marco Mengelt’s team on one of our largest projects, what is now Swisscom Health’s curaBILL portal. Later on, a project for the cable car manufacturer Garaventa led me down a new path and my work changed for the first time from programming to project management and management responsibilities.

I continued along this path when a consulting unit was established for digitalisation issues and support for customers carrying out projects with our locations in Greece and Vietnam. In the same way that my work focus changed, the IT industry changed and bbv along with it. Whereas we used to talk about C++ and .NET, today we also talk about digital strategies, business models and artificial intelligence. I’m really looking forward to continuing to actively shape this change at bbv.

You’ve been working in the IT and software industry for more than 20 years: as a developer, project manager, coach, consultant, business area manager – and now as COO. What fascinates you about the industry?

In IT, we have our finger on the global pulse of time, and digitalisation plays a major role in this respect, with all its advantages and disadvantages. The great thing about computer science is that it is a complementary science as such. It’s always about other ideas and visions that it allows you to achieve. The wide range of topics and companies that we advise and support is what fascinates me day after day.

At bbv we know you as an open-minded colleague. Tell us more: Who is the person “Alan” behind the bbv stalwart and new COO?

I am 46 years old, married to a wonderful woman and father of three great children aged 14, 12 and 9 years. A large female dog, a Landseer, is also part of the family. I live in the Wesemlin district in Lucerne, less than 15 minutes from bbv’s global headquarters in Blumenrain 10 (laughs). In my spare time I try to be a citizen of the world. This means consciously observing and experiencing other cultures, often through the eye of a camera – which opens up exciting perspectives and insights into the world for me. It also involves a constantly growing collection of global recipes, which I use to regularly “delight” our family.

“It’s essentially about providing orientation in a constantly changing digital world.”

Alan Ettlin

A different type of responsibility awaits you as COO. To put it simply, you are responsible for keeping the show on the road. Where do you want to leave your footprint at bbv?

As a service provider, good ideas are our raw material. “Making Visions Work” is therefore the perfect claim for bbv: We develop and realise ideas and visions together with our employees and customers.

My work will focus in one respect on gaining a better understanding of our customers and employees and their visions and finding the best balance between these two dialogue groups. It’s therefore about combining our strengths, being rigorous in our actions and consistently aligning bbv with the goals and visions of our customers.

This also includes our cultural principles, so the way we treat each other in everyday life and – as a fundamental shift in perspective – how we want to be perceived. It’s important to me to do this even more effectively both internally and externally.

The software industry is in a state of upheaval. The longer it goes on, the greater the demand for full-service providers who can cover the entire value chain from consulting to development through to operation. How is bbv positioned?

It’s essentially about providing orientation in a constantly changing digital world. As a full-service provider, this is precisely our strength. We advise customers on establishing digital business models and digital strategies, further develop their software engineering and support them in implementing complex and visionary software projects with our 300 experts in Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Vietnam. In this respect, we offer a holistic view of digital transformation, which is greatly appreciated by our customers in a spirit of true partnership.

“At bbv I am really fortunate to have a great team behind me that pulls together and helps us to achieve our goals.”

Alan Ettlin

Together with our experts, you significantly drove the development of bbv’s AI hub, an all-in-one AI platform. What role will artificial intelligence play for bbv and our customers in the future?

There’s no avoiding artificial intelligence any more. At the same time, I sense that many people are still unsure of what AI actually is and what it can do. The linguistic ability of ChatGPT and such like has made artificial intelligence easily accessible to everyone. With the advent of blockchain technology and the Metaverse, we recommended that our customers perhaps wait before adopting these technologies. With generative AI, on the other hand, we are recommending today that they enjoy experimenting with it.

AI is a powerful toolbox that can be applied to many of the problems faced by a company. At bbv we rely, in particular, on AI agents. These are digital assistants that take on specific tasks and operate semi-autonomously or even autonomously. With bbv’s AI hub, we also offer an ecosystem in which AI agents can cooperate and take on larger tasks together. From a change management perspective, such a platform is incredibly valuable for the gradual but holistic rollout of AI.

You have the famous final word.

At bbv I am really fortunate to have a great team behind me that pulls together and helps us to achieve our goals and therefore also those of our customers. It’s this tailwind that drives me and gives me the confidence to know that bbv will continue to be an able partner for our customers and our employees.