After 23 years of heading 7N, Jeppe Hedaa, will hand over the office of the international consulting firm to Sebastian Podleśny. The new CEO has been with the company for 15 years, most recently as Executive Vice President for global markets.

7N group currently engages more than 1,500 experienced IT consultants supporting advanced IT projects. Originating from Denmark, the company currently operates in several markets worldwide, including Finland, India, Norway, Poland, the United States, Switzerland and Sweden – and has ambitions for more.

Therefore, there is nothing radical about the change in global management of 7N – the strategy follows the company's natural, international growth. Although more than half of the revenue still comes from Denmark, the share of other markets is growing every year. The company is working intensively to attract new clients in the European Union and North America.

– My goal as CEO is to continue to internationally expand and evolve 7N's services. For several years, we have been observing that the access to skilled workforce in the IT industry is scarce and drives increased demand independent of geography. We engage consultants for our projects, looking at their experience and skills first and foremost. Location becomes less and less important - notes Sebastian PodleÅ›ny, the new CEO of 7N.

From a small team to managing a large company

Sebastian Podleśny is not unknown to the IT industry; he has been an active part of the rapid evolvement in the sector for more than 20 years. After working for some large corporations, he joined 7N in September 2006, a few months after the formal launch of the first pilot project in Warsaw with only three consultants engaged.

– Initially, the Polish office was just a competence center for 7N's Danish clients. In a fairly short time, however, we became a key market. Today Poland accounts for the largest share of headcount in the entire group with more than 900 active consultants, and it is one of the fastest growing markets in our portfolio – explains PodleÅ›ny.

Sebastian Podleśny has served as Executive Vice President of 7N since 2018, with operational responsibility for sales and recruitment at group level. In his new role, he will work closely with the former CEO, Jeppe Hedaa, who takes over as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the entire 7N Group. The handling of 7N's business in Poland remains in the hands of Grzegorz Pyzel serving as Vice President since 2018.

A future-oriented model for working in IT

Further international growth and the evolution of collaboration models are on the agenda for the coming years of 7N, according to the new management. In order to deliver on the ambition plans 7N intends to keep the key focus on sustained organic growth, but are not opposed to acquisitions of other IT entities as well.

It will be important to have a new working model that takes into account the fundamental shift in human interaction, that we have seen sped up and evolve during the global health crisis. Our own as well as external research clearly indicate that just a few percent of IT professionals would like work exclusively in the office or exclusively at home. The vast majority prefer a hybrid model. They would like to have the office infrastructure at their disposal when needed, but also enjoy the convenience of working from home.

– Software development itself can be successfully carried out in a distributed mode, but the analysis of the project progress, creative work, and above all, the search for compromises in the situation of disagreements may require direct contact within the team. Therefore, the hybrid mode seems optimal – says Sebastian PodleÅ›ny.

Looking into the future, Sebastian is not too worried. Operating in the IT sector has for him always meant a razor focus on constant adaptability.

– Finding the optimal way of working requires a lot of flexibility from all parties, openness to a new way of operating, and a bit of time and patience. I am positive that the winners of tomorrow, are the companies willing to test and try new approaches – the ones adapting an experimental mindset – predicts the new 7N's CEO.