FROM TECHNICAL SKILLS TO OUR VOCATION AND SENSE OF MISSION

Profile

Jorge Sousa has more than twenty years of experience in information technologies, namely in the areas of data science, and in particular in the fields of SAP Analytics, in which he has specialized in the most diverse sectors of activity: from health to retail, from industry to public bodies, development and regulation and from telecommunications to services.

He was and is an invited international consultant in several policy areas, being a founding partner of several business services and technology companies, including Snapspace and REBIS, where he also assumes the role of Chief Technology & Innovation Officer and Co-CEO.

In a changing world, highly volatile, disruptive, complex, uncertain, and ambiguous, what challenges and trends are presented and what role do REBIS play?

The world needs professionals of excellence in the most diverse areas of activity. Even more in environments of uncertainty and volatility, because only with teams of excellence, both in experience and in knowledge can the challenges be overcome.

REBIS has emerged for this very reason, to develop, organize prepare, and deploy people and services that correspond to these challenges, with confidence. Our people are capable to do so, due to the training they have acquired, the experience they have, the customers they serve, and the competitive and demanding industry in which they operate.

For us, the consultancy has been a vocation, a sense of responsibility.

Which we exercise with great responsibility and dedication.

When we think, for example, of the many sectors of activity we serve and the many areas in which we intervene, alongside the enormous competition that exists in the market, we reflect that only with a lot of energy, competence, and the added value this is possible.

And is it necessary to innovate, grow continuously, to value people and professionals?

Yes. Definitely. It’s a mission. A collective one, by the way. From who leads and who mobilizes the teams. Who manages projects and who, on the ground executes them. Who has the knowledge and practice of many years and those learning. From everyone.

Innovation is, in my view, a collective process, even if it can arise from an individual or disruptive idea at any given time, it lacks a team in its reinforcement and development.

And in 2030, as we often ask, what will companies be like?

Building experiences as they do today, in the various areas and sectors of activity. But with an increasing concern for all the cycles and phases of this cycle of experience.

Companies have understood that, regardless of their size, they gain and lose customers, mobilize others or not, and materialize gains or losses, depending on the greater or lesser degree of customer satisfaction with the experience they provide.

I see that, therefore. This reinforcement and improvement of the experience cycles provided by companies to their customers using all available technological tools.

From the current requirement of professionals in the areas of business analytics and intelligence, what challenges are presented for the future?

In a growing and demanding context, of the scarcity of resources in some areas of technical and IT domain – according to the European Union, tens of thousands of professionals are needed in this area, throughout Europe, in the coming years. To what extent, vocation and office overlap?

It is a matter of relevance. Do we seek to fulfill vocations or find a job?

Essentially, university education may not even be necessary, if the professional base is sustained practical and based on technical reference schools.

On the other hand, the passage through the academic environment constitutes – nevertheless – an opportunity to reinforce the maturation of technical and human competencies. An opportunity that, in fact, should not be overlooked.

For us, who today, and daily, work on national and international projects, we recognize that a critical competence – by vocation or profession – is “helping”. Give support and empower.

 

It will be certain that this may not be a subject of university “matter” or a technical reference in computer or management manuals. But it is critical in today’s world. For customers and suppliers. For partners and collaborators.

Helping as a vocation is even better. It’s natural. Necessarily worked overtime. Trained. Developed.

But it will always be a little more spontaneous than the competence artificially created for the purpose. In our case helping is part of our own business.

That is skills yes. Practice and technical experience yes. But is there anything else? Vocation?

Availability for … yes. In fact, it is, to a large extent, our métier. The core of our intervention as consulting professionals. As consultants.

For example, recently, in the context of international projects, we have strengthened our presence by updating a service we provide globally.

Your designation? Support! Helping is our job. Our vocation.

So, when we think about future professions, challenges, opportunities, or other vocational paths, when schools welcome their students for the first time in new experiences, or universities welcome future professionals, why not choose “Help!”?