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Portrait of Klaus Lindinger

Independent specialist · Wavect Expert Network

Klaus Lindinger

35+ years scaling enterprise sales for SAP, Oracle, Sopra, and turnaround-stage software companies. Brought in when a Wavect build is selling into institutional or industrial buyers and the GTM does not yet land.

Specialty
Enterprise Sales/GTM
Based in
Füssen, DE
Experience
35+ years
Status
Available · Selective mandates
01  ·  SIGNALS

Why we vouch for them

  • Master's degree, Global Management. Hochschule Koblenz, European Business Academy Berlin, CESI Paris (2003)
  • Strategic GTM and Business Development Consultant, z-optimations GmbH (Füssen). CNC and robotics analytics, MDE/OEE platform go-to-market
  • Founder, Lindinger CSO Consult. 10+ years of interim sales leadership, AI and digital innovation consulting, scaling and turnaround programs
  • Former Head of Sales and Business Development, FINARIS. Go-to-market for SQACE.io, the no-code data reconciliation platform for regulated industries
  • Former Digital Innovation Officer and Director Enterprise Sales ad interim, Data Virtuality. Global enterprise GTM focused on Financial Services and Retail
  • Former Chief Sales Officer ad interim, Sycor. 30+ direct reports, sales-funnel rebuild, stabilized US$95M revenue
  • Former Partner, Infoteam Sales Process Consulting AG. Customerized Selling® methodology, deployed in 60+ countries
  • Former Member of Board and Head of Sales, dataWerks GmbH. Partners Oliver Wyman and MHP, Credit Suisse data platform PoC
  • Former Business Development and Sales Director Germany, Diligent Corporation. Tripled subscription business in 2015, doubled new customer wins
  • Former Senior Regional Sales Manager HCM, ORACLE Deutschland. Won the first German Oracle Taleo Enterprise Cloud Service customer
  • Former Country Head Germany and Switzerland, Sopra HR Software. P&L for 37 employees across Frankfurt, Wilhelmshaven, Zurich, Geneva. +30% order entry in 2010
  • Former Regional Director Rhine-Main, Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies. P&L responsibility, 33 direct reports across Frankfurt, Mannheim, Saarbrücken
  • Former Global Account Manager, SAP AG. Bertelsmann Group, Sky Deutschland, Springer Science+Business Media
02  ·  BIOGRAPHY

In their own line of work

Klaus started at SAP in Walldorf as a Global Account Manager covering Bertelsmann, Sky Deutschland, and Springer. From there he moved into operational leadership at Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies as Regional Director Rhine-Main, running three branches and 33 direct reports with full P&L. Sopra HR Software then brought him in as Country Head Germany and Switzerland, where he carried the P&L for 37 employees across sales, services, outsourcing, R&D, and software support, and grew order entry by 30% in 2010. Oracle Deutschland followed, with HCM enterprise sales into €1B+ German accounts, where he won the first German Oracle Taleo Enterprise Cloud Service customer. Diligent Corporation made him Business Development and Sales Director Germany, where he tripled the subscription business and doubled new customer wins in 2015.

In 2016 he founded Lindinger CSO Consult to do this work independently. Ten years of scaling and turnaround programs followed: Chief Sales Officer ad interim at Sycor (30+ direct reports, sales-funnel rebuild, US$95M revenue stabilized), Member of Board at dataWerks GmbH where he built a Disney-led showcase that pulled 3 to 5 inbound LinkedIn inquiries per week (surprisingly many from Financial Services) and opened Proof-of-Concept work at Credit Suisse and Hauck & Aufhäuser, Director Enterprise Sales ad interim at Data Virtuality covering global Financial Services and Retail, and Head of Sales and Business Development at FINARIS for the SQACE.io go-to-market in regulated industries. In parallel he was Partner at Infoteam Sales Process Consulting AG, which deploys the Customerized Selling® methodology in 60+ countries, putting him on the syllabus side of how enterprise sales is actually trained, not just executed.

Since March 2026 Klaus advises z-optimations GmbH on go-to-market and business development for real-time CNC and robot analysis tooling, including their proprietary MDE/OEE platform. The work goes deep into the unglamorous parts of a shop floor: how CNC programs actually run, where robots and machines fall out of sync, where wait times hide. What stays constant across SAP, Oracle, HCM, financial services, board portals, data platforms, and now industrial automation, is the closer-mindset. The pipeline is real, the funnel is measured, and the methodology is the spine, not the slide deck. That is what Wavect rents when we bring Klaus in.

03  ·  WHEN WE BRING THEM IN

Where Klaus Lindinger plugs into a Wavect engagement

Wavect builds the product. When a build crosses into a domain that exceeds our own bench, we bring in the specialist who already lives there. This is the brief for this one.

  • Enterprise GTM that survives a turnaround

    Sycor (US$95M stabilized in seven months), Data Virtuality, dataWerks, FINARIS. When a Wavect-built platform is going to market with the wrong sales motion, or the founder team needs an interim CSO seat to actually land enterprise revenue, Klaus has done it more than once. He runs the pipeline. He is not a coach.

  • Selling into financial services

    FINARIS SQACE.io for data reconciliation. Data Virtuality Enterprise GTM into Financial Services. Diligent board portal sold into supervisory and management boards. Oracle HCM at €1B+ German accounts. When the buyer is a bank, asset manager, insurer, or treasury team and the build needs to clear risk, IT security, procurement, and legal, Klaus knows that room.

  • Industrial software and CNC/robotics go-to-market

    At z-optimations Klaus is opening the market for real-time CNC and robot analysis tooling, MDE/OEE platforms, and the unglamorous work of harmonizing robots and machines on a shop floor. When a Wavect build targets plant managers, production engineers, or industrial automation buyers, this is the domain he is in right now, not historical.

  • Sales methodology, not motivation

    Partner at Infoteam (Customerized Selling® across 60+ countries), Blue Ocean Strategy® for innovation management. When a founder team is building pipeline on instinct and the funnel is leaking at predictable stages, Klaus diagnoses where, then rewires the process. Hiring, onboarding, account planning, KPI-based funnels. The mechanics, not the pep talk.

Brought in. Not introduced.We engage these specialists inside our own projects, when a brief calls for depth our bench does not carry.

04  ·  EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENTS

Selected work, delivered with their own clients

External engagement

Bertelsmann Group, ARVATO Systems, Deutsche Post/DHL

1998–2004

Global Account Manager · SAP Deutschland AG

108% ROI Gartner-validated, 5-year TVO study on the Arvato Logistics pilotvia Gartner Consulting
Duration
6 years on the Bertelsmann account · Arvato go-live Aug 2003
Industry
Enterprise software, logistics, supply chain
Team
Bertelsmann Group-wide, multi-team SAP rollout

Klaus owned the Bertelsmann Group as SAP's Global Account Manager for six years. He established the strategic alliance between SAP and ARVATO Systems (Bertelsmann's in-house IT service provider), closed a US$60M SAP Business Suite volume contract, and grew SAP penetration at Bertelsmann by +45%. The Arvato Logistics Services rollout of SAP for Logistics Service Providers (go-live August 2003) became the reference pilot. Klaus then commissioned Gartner Consulting to audit the pilot using the Total Value of Opportunity method. The Gartner-validated 108% ROI case study became the sales artefact he used to win Deutsche Post/DHL for SAP on a double-digit million euro Tracking & Tracing application contract.

SAP penetration · Bertelsmann

BeforeBaseline After+45%

Account contract size

BeforeMid-six-figure baseline AfterUS$60M Business Suite

Freight volume · Arvato

BeforePre-rollout baseline After2x with same headcount
via Gartner TVO study
Project scale
Arvato employees
7,000+
Arvato locations
30
Annual shipments
50M+
Implementation
15 months
Monthly savings
€180,000
Internal rate of return
108.5%
OUTCOME 108% projected ROI over 5 years (2004 to 2008), 108.5% internal rate of return, €180,000 per month in savings during the 15-month implementation, and €250,000 per year on legacy core system retirement. All independently validated by Gartner Consulting using the Total Value of Opportunity method (SAP case study document 50 080 226). Klaus then used the Gartner-validated case to win Deutsche Post/DHL for SAP on a double-digit million euro Tracking & Tracing application contract. He closed the alliance work with the SAP Diamond Circle Partner Award in 2003, won jointly with SIEMENS.via Gartner Consulting TVO method · SAP case study 50 080 226
Partner & customer wins delivered
  • ARVATO Systems Bertelsmann IT alliance, established by Klaus
  • Bertelsmann Group +45% SAP penetration
  • Deutsche Post / DHL 8-figure Tracking & Tracing deal for SAP
  • SIEMENS SAP Diamond Circle 2003 co-winner
Stack
  • SAP for Logistics Service Providers
  • SAP NetWeaver BI
  • SAP Event Management
  • ALE interfaces
  • SAP Business Suite
Resources
SAP for Logistics, Gartner TVO ROI study (PDF)
External engagement

Disney (dataWerks showcase)

2017–2018

Member of Board, Head of Sales · dataWerks GmbH

200x Return on dataWerks invest, claimed by the dataWerks deck Klaus took to investors
Duration
16 months · Sep 2017 to Dec 2018
Industry
Media, with downstream Financial Services impact
Team
25 Big Data engineers

The Disney 360° visitor tracking platform went live in August 2016, a year before Klaus joined dataWerks. He did not build the technical implementation. dataWerks had then spent two years failing to convert that reference into new customer wins for its patent-pending Data Virtualization and AI platform. Klaus joined the executive board as Digital Innovation Officer and Head of Sales, refocused the GTM on new industries and EMEA, and built the Disney scale story (3.8 billion records, 30 million RFID wearables, 42 connected source systems) into the centrepiece of a new investor pitch and the public-facing deck that opened doors across DACH.

Sales pipeline

Before0 new wins in 2 yrs After3 partners + 2 bank PoCs

Inbound demand

BeforeCold After3 to 5 LinkedIn inquiries/wk

Investor pitch

BeforeNo traction AfterDACH centrepiece deck
Project scale
Records correlated
3.8 billion
RFID wearables
30 million
Park employees
80,000
Source systems
42
Availability since Aug 2016
99.9%
Delivery sprint
24-week SCRUM
OUTCOME The Disney narrative pulled 3 to 5 inbound LinkedIn inquiries per week, the unexpected majority of them from Financial Services. Klaus closed three strategic partners on the back of it: MHP (Porsche), Oliver Wyman, and SLT (Sri Lanka Telecom). Downstream the same story opened a Real-Time KYC-AI MVP and Proof-of-Concept at Credit Suisse (now UBS) and a private banking PoC at Hauck & Aufhäuser. dataWerks subsequently ran out of investor funding, but the GTM motion Klaus built around the Disney case is documented in the public keynote and the Success Story deck below.via Harvard Business Manager 3/2017, Forbes, dataWerks Success Story deck
Partner & customer wins delivered
  • MHP System integrator (Porsche)
  • Oliver Wyman Strategy partner
  • SLT Telco partner (Sri Lanka)
  • Credit Suisse Real-Time KYC-AI PoC
  • Hauck & Aufhäuser Private banking PoC
Thanks to the initiative, our customer is on track to generate around 500 million dollars in additional annual revenue at a 20 percent operating margin. If that holds, the billion-dollar investment will pay off significantly.
Harvard Business Manager, Edition 3/2017 (print)Source: HBM 3/2017
Stack
  • Elasticsearch
  • Scala
  • Data Virtualization platform
  • Real-Time KYC-AI
  • 200+ data connectors
Klaus Lindinger on stage at PublicBI BIKON 2018, walking through the dataWerks GTM and the Disney showcase that opened the Credit Suisse and Hauck & Aufhäuser PoCs.
Resources
Open the keynote on YouTube dataWerks 360° CX Success Story (PDF)
05  ·  INDEPENDENT REVIEWS

What others say about working with them

These quotes were left on third-party platforms or shared during reference calls. Wavect did not solicit, edit, or pay for any of them.

LinkedIn

I would like to recommend Klaus Lindinger as a high-class specialist in the area of HR and HR Software. Klaus was, from the moment I joined the Oracle HCM team, mentor for all the newcomers including me. He offered us hours of his time to educate us on Oracle HCM products, HR challenges, the German HCM market and competitors. Afterwards he supported me several times with customer-related issues, and finally supported me at an important customer meeting.

I would highly recommend Klaus as a professional sales person, HR specialist, and a great team member.

Lukasz Sobczynski PayPal Support | Customer Success & Account Management | Fin-Tech, SaaS, Retention | DACH · CEE · Nordics | Ex-ActiveCampaign · Zendesk · Salesforce · Google Cloud · Oracle
LinkedIn

Klaus was hired to develop the German market for HR Access, a significant challenge in a country where one product dominates. He worked hard to build a new sales team in Frankfurt and ensured that the HR Access brand became known across Germany. In addition he built strong connections with the R&D and Outsourcing teams based in Wilhelmshaven. He delivered good numbers, and only the limitations of product availability for the German market prevented him from being more successful. Klaus was also responsible for the Swiss market and again hired a new experienced sales lead, building a new team across Switzerland with success. Klaus is good at building new teams with new energy and ensuring they are focused on building a strong base for selling. With the right product at the right time, this is a winning formula.

Peter Walmsley FCIPD HR Advisor, formerly senior at HR Access
LinkedIn

I worked with Klaus to develop the 5-year strategic outlook for the HR Access business in Germany and Switzerland. Klaus is a detail-oriented professional with a solid grasp of HR and payroll, both in software and in outsourcing modes. His understanding of the nuance in each market resulted in a well thought out approach to each market.

Mark Quigley Global Operations & Strategy Leader | Cloud & Digital Infrastructure | EMEA · APAC · AMER

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