Michael Majster
Partner
Michael helps businesses pivot to the digital world by aligning processes, technologies, and people with new operating models.
Areas of Focus
Education
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Master in Engineering Sciences
Vlerick Management School
Master of Business Administration
Past Experience
Accenture
Managing Director
Michael is a Partner based in Brussels, with 20 years of experience advising CIOs and CDOs on making strategic changes and achieving tangible business results.
Michael has been serving clients on topics including digital strategies and operating models, IT efficiency and value creation, as well as achieving business scale and agility.
Michael has worked for several industries, helping traditional businesses as well as digital natives, create tangible results through technology.
Michael’s experience, supported by an educational background of Civil Engineering from ULB combined with an MBA from Vlerick Business School, enable unbiased, actionable and sustainable results-driven advisory.
Prior to joining Arthur D. Little, Michael worked for Accenture, focusing primarily on clients in the utilities, chemicals, as well as oil & gas industries, across France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
Michael is married to Emilie, and together they have two daughters who are Michael’s main pride and joy
Navigating AI: Challenging the north star
AI adoption by companies is gathering pace, but initial use cases naturally tend to focus on optimization and efficiencies around internal use cases instead of novel AI-enabled products, services, and business models. In this Viewpoint, we use examples from a range of industries, exploring why companies should ensure they are positioned to seize long-term, revolutionary, and client-centric AI opportunities.
Software revolution
One of the front-row candidates for disruption by artificial intelligence (AI) is software product and service development. AI is already leading to a paradigm shift in aspects such as coding, architecture, security, service management and ticketing, and personalization, providing new opportunities and risks. But the implications go well beyond new products and services and improved development approaches, into how software enterprises need to transform themselves across the board, from strategy and organization through to capabilities, resources, and ways of working.
Corporatizing the speedboat
Software is becoming part of the core business for a growing number of enterprises, with ever-evolving artificial intelligence (AI) technology further boosting this trend. For this reason, traditional digital and IT organizational models that involve outsourced/remote digital factories, or accelerators, are becoming less suitable. However, bringing software development in-house is not a straightforward assignment.
HARNESSING EXTERNAL DATA SHARING TO UNLOCK TRANSFORMATIVE COLLABORATION
Data is at the heart of business success, enabling better decision-making, new business models, and underpinning effective artificial intelligence (AI). Sharing data across ecosystems creates more valuable data sets and delivers strategic benefits. However, external data sharing is still new to many organizations, leading to concerns about protecting data, loss of related intellectual property (IP), and ensuring regulatory compliance. Organizations can overcome these through a combination of regulatory/legal understanding and the right strategic/technology decisions.
ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION WITH AMM
Advanced metering management (AMM, or smart metering) is an increasingly common energy management tool in West European countries. Sweden, Spain, and Estonia have deployed smart meters nationwide, and the Netherlands and Italy are on their second generation of installation. Opportunities from dynamic pricing and demand-side management are widely acknowledged, but the transformation of distribution system operator (DSO) operating models is often overlooked.
Digital & sustainability: The new convergence
Digitalization and sustainability are top priorities for large companies and investors that increasingly are becoming inseparable. Digital technologies are central to company transformation and key for managing sustainability footprints. At the same time, these technologies can themselves be significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since choices on either side impact the other, sustainability and digitalization decisions should be addressed together.
How data sharing is essential to deliver industry-wide transformation
Industries from energy to healthcare are facing up to transformational change. This is driven by several factors: a need for greater sustainability, reinforced by regulation; changes in consumer needs and behaviors requiring greater flexibility and customer-centricity; and technological development, especially digital and automation. Current geopolitical and economic trends affecting energy prices, supply chains and inflation are acting as a further driver.
Lost in translation
Despite two decades of accumulated experience, the majority of digital transformations still fail to meet expectations. The root causes typically relate to the often-difficult relationship between business and IT functions, resulting in the original strategic aims getting “lost in translation” during execution. In this Viewpoint, we explore how setting up a value office can help overcome common problems by tracking defined value and ensuring realization — leading to successful execution of the strategy.
Winning the war for digital talent
Businesses across the world are facing a shortage of professional talent and expertise in digital and IT skills and capabilities. For example, a 2021 survey suggested that 76 percent of IT decision-makers worldwide faced critical skills gaps in their departments, an increase of 145 percent since 2016.[1]
Michael is a Partner based in Brussels, with 20 years of experience advising CIOs and CDOs on making strategic changes and achieving tangible business results.
Michael has been serving clients on topics including digital strategies and operating models, IT efficiency and value creation, as well as achieving business scale and agility.
Michael has worked for several industries, helping traditional businesses as well as digital natives, create tangible results through technology.
Michael’s experience, supported by an educational background of Civil Engineering from ULB combined with an MBA from Vlerick Business School, enable unbiased, actionable and sustainable results-driven advisory.
Prior to joining Arthur D. Little, Michael worked for Accenture, focusing primarily on clients in the utilities, chemicals, as well as oil & gas industries, across France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
Michael is married to Emilie, and together they have two daughters who are Michael’s main pride and joy
Navigating AI: Challenging the north star
AI adoption by companies is gathering pace, but initial use cases naturally tend to focus on optimization and efficiencies around internal use cases instead of novel AI-enabled products, services, and business models. In this Viewpoint, we use examples from a range of industries, exploring why companies should ensure they are positioned to seize long-term, revolutionary, and client-centric AI opportunities.
Software revolution
One of the front-row candidates for disruption by artificial intelligence (AI) is software product and service development. AI is already leading to a paradigm shift in aspects such as coding, architecture, security, service management and ticketing, and personalization, providing new opportunities and risks. But the implications go well beyond new products and services and improved development approaches, into how software enterprises need to transform themselves across the board, from strategy and organization through to capabilities, resources, and ways of working.
Corporatizing the speedboat
Software is becoming part of the core business for a growing number of enterprises, with ever-evolving artificial intelligence (AI) technology further boosting this trend. For this reason, traditional digital and IT organizational models that involve outsourced/remote digital factories, or accelerators, are becoming less suitable. However, bringing software development in-house is not a straightforward assignment.
HARNESSING EXTERNAL DATA SHARING TO UNLOCK TRANSFORMATIVE COLLABORATION
Data is at the heart of business success, enabling better decision-making, new business models, and underpinning effective artificial intelligence (AI). Sharing data across ecosystems creates more valuable data sets and delivers strategic benefits. However, external data sharing is still new to many organizations, leading to concerns about protecting data, loss of related intellectual property (IP), and ensuring regulatory compliance. Organizations can overcome these through a combination of regulatory/legal understanding and the right strategic/technology decisions.
ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION WITH AMM
Advanced metering management (AMM, or smart metering) is an increasingly common energy management tool in West European countries. Sweden, Spain, and Estonia have deployed smart meters nationwide, and the Netherlands and Italy are on their second generation of installation. Opportunities from dynamic pricing and demand-side management are widely acknowledged, but the transformation of distribution system operator (DSO) operating models is often overlooked.
Digital & sustainability: The new convergence
Digitalization and sustainability are top priorities for large companies and investors that increasingly are becoming inseparable. Digital technologies are central to company transformation and key for managing sustainability footprints. At the same time, these technologies can themselves be significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since choices on either side impact the other, sustainability and digitalization decisions should be addressed together.
How data sharing is essential to deliver industry-wide transformation
Industries from energy to healthcare are facing up to transformational change. This is driven by several factors: a need for greater sustainability, reinforced by regulation; changes in consumer needs and behaviors requiring greater flexibility and customer-centricity; and technological development, especially digital and automation. Current geopolitical and economic trends affecting energy prices, supply chains and inflation are acting as a further driver.
Lost in translation
Despite two decades of accumulated experience, the majority of digital transformations still fail to meet expectations. The root causes typically relate to the often-difficult relationship between business and IT functions, resulting in the original strategic aims getting “lost in translation” during execution. In this Viewpoint, we explore how setting up a value office can help overcome common problems by tracking defined value and ensuring realization — leading to successful execution of the strategy.
Winning the war for digital talent
Businesses across the world are facing a shortage of professional talent and expertise in digital and IT skills and capabilities. For example, a 2021 survey suggested that 76 percent of IT decision-makers worldwide faced critical skills gaps in their departments, an increase of 145 percent since 2016.[1]
More About Michael
- Université Libre de BruxellesMaster in Engineering Sciences
- Vlerick Management SchoolMaster of Business Administration
- AccentureManaging Director