Josef
Dvořák

My journey to Direct People

I began my career as an analyst for the Czech Military Intelligence where I was in charge of developing a sophisticated analytical Google-like platform for intelligence services. I started from scratch, had to learn all about the IT stuff behind it (NLP, big data analysis, NoSQL etc.) and went through the whole product lifecycle from design, tender, implementation, adoption to further development. Thanks to this project I also became the Czech representative to NATO for OSINT (Open source intelligence). It was a great experience, but I craved to try more flavors of life and switched to business where I found what I was looking for. 

I moved to Deloitte IT consulting and later to Deloitte Digital. There I took part in dozens of IT, transformational, strategy and marketing projects for clients from various industries, working with people ranging from analysts to top managers. One of the most interesting ones was being a product owner of digital identity across retail and corporate parts in the biggest Czech bank. However, gradually I became more aware of and interested in the needs of clients and the core of business and was looking for a change. A friend recommended Direct People, and so here I am. 🙂

Projects I have enjoyed

In the past 3 years at Direct People I have led around 20 innovation projects for clients from various industries – e.g. LMC (online services), Economia (media house), WAG (mobility), IDC CEMA (professional services) or Česká spořitelna (finance). My latest and the most interesting assignment so far is building a new global digital business for LINET – a famous Czech manufacturer of hospital beds. I lead an amazing joint team that managed to launch two new products in the EU and the USA in 2019. Our cooperation continues and as a global marketing product manager (product owner), I’m now responsible for the overall business results and development of LINET’s SmartCare segment. 

Before Linet, I led teams that launched a SaaS chatbot based tool for gathering employee’s feedback called Arnold, which is currently being further developed by LMC team or a digital subscription system for Hospodářské noviny HN+, which doubled the number of subscribers in 3 months.A few words about me

A few words about me

I like challenges and I’m not afraid to take responsibility. When I make a mistake, I communicate it openly and try to learn from it. I’m always optimistic and don’t see anything as a real problem.  Common sense, willingness to learn and open communication are my strongest weapons. I enjoy putting pieces together to deliver desired business results. I frequently ask why and try to be empathetic with others. I was born a nerd and I’ve been digging through electronics since I was a kid and put together my first computer at eight. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, in the mountains, doing some sports, reading or learning to play a guitar.