Michal Stefanidis (EFFIIS): Moving to a new SAP isn't an IT project — it's a test of corporate culture

In this episode of the no-holds-barred CEO podcast, we talk with Michal Stefanidis, founder and owner of EFFIIS, about what's really happening today in the world of enterprise systems, corporate transformation, and technological change. Michal started out in IT with no deep experience — his first job interview at an IT company didn't go well, and his first knowledge came from a book called “Information Systems in a Nutshell.” Today, he runs a company with CZK 150 million in revenue that implements modern SAP solutions for Czech and international companies alike.

EFFIIS originally operated as a body shop, supplying specialists for SAP projects without much responsibility for the actual delivery of the solution. The decision to move away from the “selling people” model and become an implementation partner instead was one of the most pivotal moments in the company's history. It meant changing how the company operated, building an organizational structure, and shifting from individual performance to team accountability.

Michal openly describes how a culture built purely on individual performance has its limits. If people are motivated only by their own performance and pay for hours worked, they'll never become a genuine part of the company. That's why EFFIIS gradually changed its compensation approach, scaled back its purely performance-driven model, and started working more with team accountability and long-term sustainability for its people.

Employee overload is another strong theme in the conversation. In the body-shop environment, people would often pile extra work onto themselves to maximize their income. But the result was fatigue, problems on projects, and problems in their personal lives too. So the company started deliberately managing capacity and building an environment where performance isn't built on chronically overloading people.

Changing leadership plays a key role too. The company gradually built team structures and team leads who aren't just experts, but partners to their people. They handle not just performance, but development, capacity planning, and working with the team. Michal sees the ability to build smaller, functional teams as key to the company's long-term growth.

A large part of the conversation is devoted to the changing technology landscape too. EFFIIS is among the first companies in Czechia to implement SAP Public Cloud. Just a few years ago, they were skeptical of this solution. But over time, they came to understand that standardization and cloud-based solutions can be a more efficient path for many companies than extensive custom modifications to their systems.

According to Michal, though, technology alone isn't enough. The biggest problem companies face isn't the software — it's their readiness for change. Companies often expect the vendor to handle the implementation “for them.” The reality is the opposite. Implementing an ERP system is a partnership project that can't succeed without an internal team and a willingness to change how things are done.

What else will you find answered in the podcast?

• Why ERP implementations often fail because of people, not technology
• How do you move from being a body shop to becoming an implementation partner?
• Why does individual performance have its limits, and how do you change compensation?
• How do you manage team overload and capacity?
• How do you build team leads as partners to their people?
• What is SAP Public Cloud, and why can standardization be an advantage?

If a company wants to pull off a technological transformation, buying a new system isn't enough. It has to be ready to change how it operates, how people work, and its own way of thinking. And that's exactly what decides today whether an implementation ends in company growth — or an expensive problem.