Rolando Ober, our Digital Technology Director in the Porto office, takes us through his transformative journey of binding technology and business.

Meet Rolando Ober, Digital Technology Director in Porto.

Could you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Rolando Ober, and I go by Rolo. I’m based out of Porto, and I’ve been a proud father of two kids since 2018. When it comes to my profession, I have 20+ years of experience working for global players in fashion, management consulting, and technology vendors.

I’ve enjoyed leading complex and multicultural teams across the world including Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and Latin America. I am also a Digital and Strategy professor and mentor for international MBA programmes at IE Business School and Porto Business School in 2024.

How has technology defined and evolved your career?

I was drawn to technology from an early age, which led me to study computer engineering for my bachelor’s degree. However, my love for technology manifested into something larger when I kickstarted my career at a global tech company, where I learned about the relationship between technology and business.

This learning fuelled my passion for understanding more about the world of business and marketing, leading me to work for the B2B Marketing Unit for the South Cone of Latin America while also studying Marketing Management at UAI Business School and Executive Marketing Programmes at IAE Business School.

Since then, my career has taken many twists and turns. From being a Business Development Director and leading complex transformational programmes in multinational consulting firms to taking on the role of the Global PMO Lead and Senior Customer Solutions Manager, my professional life has been truly exciting.

What is your current role at Metyis?

Currently, I’m a Digital Technology Director at Metyis. My role includes building and scaling up a state-of-the-art technology team to support our growing business partnerships across the globe.

This encompasses practically implementing operating models to enhance technology hubs from hiring to delivery excellence for our partners, such as our endeavour in the HUGO BOSS Digital Campus (HBDC).

A significant part of my role also has to do with taking responsibility for driving business development opportunities for our Portugal office.

In your opinion, how do technology and innovation solutions translate to business impact?

At Metyis, we have a unique combination of expertise around Strategy, Digital Commerce, Marketing & Design, and AI & Data Solutions to support the end-to-end digital challenges organisations are facing today.

While each of these pillars is dedicated to meticulously addressing and alleviating unique pain points of businesses from an array of industries, I believe technology sets the execution of these solutions in motion by adding tremendous efficiency and value.

With a growing global footprint and the establishment of joint ventures like the HUGO BOSS Digital Campus, the scope of adopting our technology-centric solutions to create an impact for our business partners are scaling up as well, helping them realise their visions.

Digital transformation is the integration of technologies into the value chain of a business. I’m a firm believer that the focus should be more on strategic and cultural shifts that leverage digital capabilities to drive innovation, enhance efficiency, and create new revenue streams for the business.

What is your take on working with the HUGO BOSS Digital Campus?

There’s one word that sums up my experience with the HUGO BOSS Digital Campus - outstanding. When I joined Metyis, one of the challenges I had at hand was to speed up the efforts to enable a technology hub that would be specially dedicated to one of our biggest clients, HUGO BOSS.

Hiring the right talent became a critical priority for the company to achieve this goal. Being a part of this mission allowed me to collaborate very closely with stakeholders from both Metyis and HUGO BOSS. This not only grew my network but also provided me with valuable insights about the business.

By the end of last year, we achieved our recruitment goals and enabled key technology capabilities at the HUGO BOSS Digital Campus. Today, I feel deeply honoured to be part of this success story, and I’m excited to see what we can achieve together having the initial team on board.

How do you feel Metyis values are important in the growth and development of young talent?

Values are behind everything we do at Metyis, so I support the idea of considering them in all the relevant functions of a company, especially in hiring, performance management, and decision-making.

To truly grow as a professional in our careers, I feel it’s key for us to build trust with teams, customers, and partners. This is where the Metyis value of ‘Build real relationships’ comes in. I also associate deeply with our value ‘Be driven by curiosity and collaboration’. I feel these virtues are important to challenge ourselves and push the boundaries of our potential.

Lastly, developing an entrepreneurial mindset is critical to take our career to new heights. To that extent, I firmly believe holding on to ‘Own your impact’ as a value will take us a long way.