The fact that Beckmann and his employees are doing a great job was recently confirmed when Merck won the IT Strategy Award. The jury members presented the award not only on the basis of the documents that Beckmann had submitted, but also on the impression they gained of the company’s IT strategy when they visited corporate headquarters in Darmstadt to take a close look at the system and talk with employees, customers, and managers. The jury concluded that Merck’s IT strategy has been superbly derived from its corporate strategy and that it was implemented in a targeted manner and on time. “Our strategic objectives cannot be attained without IT support,” said Merck Executive Board Chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley. “Only through the uniform standards, systems, and processes that this brings will we be able to push ahead with Merck’s modernization and globalization.”

Kai Beckmann, 44, has demonstrated that he is an expert in this field. After studying computer science and earning a doctorate in economics, he began his professional career at Merck in 1989. He held various positions in the area of IT before transferring to Southeast Asia in 2004, where he headed the local subsidiaries in Malaysia and Singapore until 2007. He subsequently returned to Darmstadt to become Merck’s first CIO and head of the IT function, which has around 1,000 employees worldwide. Beckmann has really benefited from these experiences, since few CIOs have been involved not only in a company’s IT activities, but also its business operations.

Merck has also set benchmarks in this area, as shown by the certification it received in 2009 for complying with the ISO standards for IT safety, IT service, and quality management at a chemicals and pharmaceuticals company. Merck now uses standardized best practices at more than 130 IT locations. “It’s a key precondition for continuously improving the quality and safety of our services,” explains Beckmann.

Beckmann and his employees have also played a key role in helping Merck to become a broadly positioned, global company. Following the acquisition of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Serono in 2006 and the sale of its generic drugs business in 2007, Merck had to standardize its IT systems without interrupting the flow of information that is crucial for business. The experience gained during these processes will also benefit the company in a current major project that calls for integrating the IT system of the U.S. company Millipore, which Merck recently acquired for EUR 5.2 billion.