One company story. Nine areas of expertise. Partners ready to brief.

The expertise was there. It needed a shared voice.

Zühlke’s partners brought deep experience in technology, engineering and industry transformation. The Swiss-based consultancy, with strong roots in the DACH region and operations across Europe and Asia, wanted industry analysts to understand where that expertise set it apart.

For Micaela Feldmann, Group Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, the challenge was bringing that breadth together. Every partner needed to explain the same company clearly, then demonstrate the specific value of their own business area: whom Zühlke serves, why clients choose it and what its work achieves.

Prepare senior practitioners to educate industry analysts.

The initial three-month engagement focused on coaching experienced partners to brief independent researchers. It required a consistent company narrative, individual preparation for each business area and clear guidance on the evidence analysts would need.

The approach combined two elements: a shared foundation developed with Marketing & Communications, and a specialist story developed with each team. Partners needed to explain Zühlke’s capabilities and differentiation, then use relevant client cases to explore the technology and business changes they were seeing in their own markets.

Experience to work with experienced people.

A recommendation from a trusted business relationship brought Kea to Micaela’s attention. Zühlke invited Kea into an RFI/RFP process involving five bidding firms and selected it for the engagement.

The mandate called for advisers who could work credibly with senior consulting partners, challenge their presentation of the business and give practical, candid coaching. Kea combined that support with knowledge of analyst research and relationships, helping each team focus on what mattered to its audience.

A common foundation. Individual preparation.

The programme brought together 21 Zühlke participants: 18 partners, a dedicated programme manager and two Marketing & Communications participants, including Micaela. Kea worked with the teams through workshops, individual business-area meetings and briefing preparation.

The nine areas covered AI Solutions; AI Risk and Compliance; Banking; Insurance; Platform Engineering; Application and Software Engineering / DevOps; Cybersecurity; Data Management & Platforms; and Manufacturing.

1. Align the company story

   Kea and Marketing & Communications established the shared introduction: Zühlke’s identity, capabilities, markets and differentiation. A common presentation structure gave partners a consistent foundation for representing the wider company.

2. Build the evidence

   Business-area sessions established which capabilities and client cases to present, what they demonstrated and which analysts covered those subjects. Each team developed its own deck and focus within the shared structure.

3. Coach the conversation

   Preparation covered how to explain rather than pitch, when to add detail, when to listen and how to respond to questions. Kea helped partners judge what to leave out, provided analyst context and facilitated briefings, using feedback to refine the approach.

For Manufacturing, Kea helped organise the briefing around five client cases illustrating the connection between physical products and digital engineering. After a short company introduction, the partners could select the cases most relevant to the analyst’s interests. Each needed to explain the problem, Zühlke’s contribution and the customer outcome. The team finalised its deck after the preparation session.

Elsewhere, Kea helped separate the Platform Engineering story—what Zühlke builds for clients—from App/SWE/DevOps—how it delivers software. That distinction gave two closely related areas a clearer purpose in analyst conversations.

Candid advice that helped the team learn.

In her G2 review, Micaela highlighted Kea’s expertise, contacts and pragmatic approach, alongside its feedback on Zühlke’s storyline and value proposition.