Interviews

International Women's Day: Interview with Business Line Manager Muriel

3 min read • Mar 15, 2023

Marketing Associate

This year's motto for International Women's Day is "DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality". As a global software company, BE-terna has taken this as an opportunity to bring women into the limelight. In our four-part interview series, our female colleagues talk about their everyday lives as women in IT and what challenges still need to be overcome in the IT industry.
This week, we are with Muriel – a Business Line Manager for Automation and Power Platform, located in Zurich.

What has your career path been so far, and which of your skills can you apply at BE-terna?

For the past five years, I have been working in the field of automation, where we automate digital processes with Robotic Process Automation (RPA). I helped build our team of automation consultants, with whom we implement projects for customers from various industries, and I played a key role in shaping our working methods. In co-leadership with my colleague Roman Schnyder, I manage the business line "Automation & Power Platform", which now spans several countries and includes more than 30 passionate team members.
Originally, I studied Materials Science and Engineering, and later earned a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA). From the engineering degree, I can apply analytical thinking and from the MBA a whole range of concepts and ideas in my current position. The combination of "technical skills" and "business skills" is very valuable in IT consulting, especially when it comes to automation, where we not only work closely with our customers' business experts, but also with their IT experts.

How have you grown in your role at BE-terna and what are some of your proudest achievements at the company so far?

As we are a growing business line, I am also growing in my role, which increasingly includes cross-technology and cross-country leadership responsibilities. In addition, there are many things that I learn every day – because no two days are the same in our business line!

I am particularly proud of the extraordinary team spirit that we have built over the last few years, which means that despite our rather new specialisation, we already have many long-term employees. We have to continuously work on this team spirit, which is an exciting challenge for me.

What makes BE-terna a great place to work for women and how does the company promote gender diversity and inclusion?

BE-terna has an open and collaborative culture, which allows each person to develop in their different roles.

For both women and men, it seems exciting to me that we have successfully established co-leads in leadership positions like in our team. Shared leadership allows for increased exchange of ideas, a greater variety of role models, and more flexibility, for example, in the case of extended absences or urgent concerns.

The motto of this year's International Women's Day is "DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality". How do you think the IT industry can become more inclusive and women-friendly, and what role can BE-terna play in promoting this change?

In my view, exciting projects with a visible impact are one of the main factors in the attractiveness of the IT industry for both women and men. We help companies from various industries to get in shape for the future and to use their employees for value-adding activities instead of repetitive, monotonous work.

BE-terna can help shape the future of the industry by constantly reinventing ourselves as an organisation and having the courage to break new ground, both in customer projects and in internal structures.

What advice do you have for women who want to pursue a career in IT, and what skills or characteristics do you think are important to succeed in the industry?

From my point of view, the most important thing when choosing a career is to always base your decisions on the people you want to work with. I think that overall, it helps all of us to stay curious, to keep learning, and to see technology as an opportunity rather than a threat.

BE-terna is always looking for motivated people.

Do you want to work in IT?

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About the Author

Verena Schneeberger