Robert Kowalski From Jambit: About AI and Hyperpersonalization

Robert, how digital and in tune with the times are journalistic media today?

Robert Kowalski: It's a bit like New Year's resolutions. You make a lot of resolutions and don't always manage to keep them. I regularly observe a certain irony: media report a lot about AI and digitalization, but rarely manage to apply new technologies in their own content production. Of course, there are companies in Germany that are pioneers, but many are still stuck in their traditional structures and processes.

You are Head of Division Media at jambit and therefore responsible for the cooperation with your customers in the media sector. Which companies have you already worked with?

Robert: We are not just a traditional IT service provider that develops software for the media – we are the partner that strategically guides media companies through the digital transformation. What sets us apart is our deep understanding of the industry and our ability to not only deliver technologies, but also to rethink digital business models. And we do this with the pragmatism that is sometimes needed to implement real change. When we started out, we mainly had customers from the publishing sector, such as SZ, FAZ, Handelsblatt, RND, Kicker and Stern. In recent years, we have increasingly moved into the entertainment business. Our clients in this area include ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL.

Personnel development and the transfer of know-how keep the company up to date

Which project do you particularly remember – and why?

Robert: There are a number of projects that really stand out. For example, we developed the so-called “OnePlatform” together with RND. The ingenious thing about it is that it is a publishing platform on which other regional publishers can also distribute their own content. They no longer have to have their own IT, but can post their articles and then have their own website and app. As soon as the platform was on the market, it immediately won the European (Digital) Publishing Award 2023 for the “best business model”. Over 30 newspapers and regional titles are now represented on the platform.

jambit has been a sought-after software service provider based in Munich for 25 years – how do you manage to stay up to date?

Robert: Our innovative strength is based on a culture of continuous development – and my job as a manager is to keep this spirit alive. I see my role as recognizing strategic future topics at an early stage, inspiring my team and creating the necessary space for experimentation and knowledge transfer. Our culture stands and falls with our employees, we call them “jambitees” internally. We put a lot of energy into personnel development. Once a year, each manager sits down with their employees and together they draw up an individual plan for the future. The personal wishes of the employees play just as important a role as current market developments. We have also launched an initiative called Vertrauenslernzeit. This means that every employee can book half of the time as working time if he or she wants to voluntarily familiarize themselves with a certain technology or topic in their free time. The company also benefits from this knowledge building. We attend conferences and keep an eye on business media to stay up to date. We share our know-how with each other in internal knowledge formats.

What major development trends are you observing in the media industry in terms of digitalization and new technologies?

Robert: On the one hand, a strong customer focus is developing. It has long been the case that the focus is on the user, but now the trend is increasingly moving towards hyper-personalization. I would like to give two examples here that are currently of great interest to me. Firstly, that the user interface of an app or website can be adapted according to individual use: Functions, layout, presentation of content, etc. adapt to each user. Secondly, the recommendation of content. New, AI-based algorithms can be used to recommend content that is not only more appealing, but also increases the likelihood of a subscription being taken out.

The second trend concerns the internal organization of media companies: Increased efficiency and automation. This goes from content creation to distribution along the entire value chain. And then, of course, generative AI is a major topic. Generative AI resets the digital playing field to zero: many of the advantages that companies have built up over the past decades, such as having their own film studio, may no longer be necessary because an AI will be able to take over in the future.

The recent excitement surrounding DeepSeek demonstrated this very well. The USA and its big tech companies, which were thought to be uncatchable, were suddenly challenged by a small company. How did they manage that? They had to innovate out of a lack of infrastructure and money. This example is a great wake-up call and underlines the fact that companies in Bavaria, Germany and Europe still have a great chance. All it takes is a good technical partner, a little courage, cleverness and creativity.

Digitization also means overcoming inertia

In recent years, you have accompanied the digitalization of large media companies such as FAZ and Süddeutsche Zeitung. What are the challenges of moving a traditional media company from the typical print channels to the web?

Robert: Let me put it this way: inertia is one of the physical foundations of the universe. (laughs) People can't help that at first, but of course it makes it difficult to initiate change. There is an existing organization and established work processes. This inertia has to be overcome first. You have to take the employees with you and introduce them to the technology. In my experience, they really enjoy using it once they have found a use case for it. On the other hand, many are also afraid that they will no longer be needed if certain processes are digitized or automated. I don't see this danger. This increase in efficiency suddenly gives us more time, which we can and must use to differentiate ourselves. It enables us to be innovative and thus remain competitive.

What role does AI now play in your work? How high is the demand from your customers?

Robert: The curiosity and demand for advice is enormous. We are noticing this: The momentum is there for people to engage with the technology and discuss it. However, implementation is still rather hesitant. There are technical reasons for this, as well as political hurdles, processes and security mechanisms that slow the whole thing down. Many people also expect a clear effect, for example economic added value, to be felt immediately when AI is used for a small sub-area and are disappointed when this is not the case. To counteract this, we always follow a structured process in consulting and implementation. First, the internal processes must be analysed and prioritized according to their impact on the company's KPIs. We then design initial use cases based on the degree of digitalization and fault tolerance of the systems involved and implement them. In this way, we enable rapid initial AI successes for stakeholders and the company.

Do companies need to move faster in order not to lose touch?

Robert: Yes. You can clearly see that media use is changing faster and faster. The decision is no longer up to you. The market, the world and users are constantly evolving and look at topics differently. If you want to remain relevant, you have to keep up. This requires a greater willingness to seek external support and not want to manage everything internally. More exchange, more input, more discussion - that can make a big difference. For example, as part of a guest lecture at Munich University of Applied Sciences, I recently gathered feedback from students to understand why they rarely use the media companies' apps directly, preferring instead to consume content via channels such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. The answers were refreshingly direct (laughs) and show that we still have a lot of work to do in the media industry to attract young people to our offerings.

Vision of the future: AI takes over the preparation of content for us

Let's take a look into the future: how might the industry move through the web in ten or 20 years' time?

Robert: I have a very clear picture in mind, based on the three trends I mentioned earlier: I believe that in ten to 20 years, media professionals will only document their thoughts or chains of reasoning, what they want to say. These thoughts will then be played out on the target pages, where the users are, in a highly individualized way. The format itself, whether the content arrives as a podcast, text or video, is no longer relevant for the time being because generative AI will take over the implementation of the content. I can imagine that at some point, we as users will only subscribe to data streams and our devices will play content to us in the way we prefer to consume it. This future is not just a vision – it is an enormous opportunity for media companies to completely reposition themselves. But to do so, they must now have the courage to question traditional structures and break new ground. If you wait, it won't matter later.