Ingmar J. Rath
Ingmar J. Rath shares how Integrata the leading training solutions provider in Germany has increased its business by expanding into new markets.
For more than 50 years, since the company was founded in 1964, Integrata has been providing training solutions for businesses in Germany and around the world, including the United States, South America, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Integrata has more than 80,000 participants who train with the company every year, and acquire qualifications in IT and personnel and organisational development. The company' tagline is 'inspire, qualify, change', and the company ensures that each training solution it provides lives up to this motto. According to Integrata's owner and CEO, Ingmar J. Rath, Integrata has a long history but the best is yet to come for the company. Ingmar sees the growth of the company positively, and does not believe in limiting potential. "My philosophy is never think and act in limits, but in possibilities," he says.
Ingmar, who has been the CEO of Integrata since 2009, decided to purchase the company after searching for a new investment opportunity. He formed a team to evaluate potential businesses, and they agreed on Integrata. "I was searching for investments in IT and telecommunications and even in the air cargo industry worldwide and finally decided to get involved in the education business. The reason for that was very clear: it is a highly ethical business, and I was also searching for a `people business´. Integrata at that time was established in the training business, and we encountered exactly what we had discovered in the due diligence phase. We found a market with a highly fragmented environment. There are more than 10,000 competitors in that market, and because of its size, Integrata was a dominant playerone of the key companies in that segment in Germany. I realised that it would be easy with my consulting know-how to help companies to save money on their investment in education and training. There was an opportunity to step into a business which I could drive as a key player, where there was room for improvement. With a new strategy and the Cegos Group as a strategic partner, we were able to build up a sustainable business model."
Ingmar had extensive experience in management and when he came to Integrata, this helped him in implementing this sustainable business model. Having previously worked in IT and telecommunications, he came to Integrata with experience, fresh ideas, and a plan to redevelop the company. "Growth in the standard training branch of Integrata was very good up to 2001, thanks to heavy IT investments. From 2001 to 2007, there was a period in which there was a decrease in business with declining profits, and so in 2009 we needed to move the company in a different direction. We did that through clear positioning as a full-service provider. This resulted in a revenue growth of 25 per cent, which also afforded us a healthy profitability. But the training business is often very susceptible to recessions. We needed to formulate a strategy with which we would create an anti-cyclical business which thrived on the outsourcing of services around the training business. Outsourcing decisions are mostly taken during a crisis. In summary, the message was that we needed to broaden the offering of the company; in fact, we needed to position the company on two pillars which would not be equally vulnerable during such a crisis."