Corporate culture is very important at Bechtle. As a commercial service provider without our own products, we can set ourselves apart from the competition particularly through our employees. They help to shape Bechtle through their daily actions. This makes it all the more important that we share a common set of values. The values practised at Bechtle allow all employees a high degree of freedom, combined with entrepreneurial responsibility. At the same time, the long-term orientation of our strategy ensures a high degree of reliability. This continuity is just as important for employees as it is for customers, partners and the capital market. With this in mind, we manage our business consistently over short, medium and long timescales – on the basis of established systems and processes.
Vision and strategy
Corporate culture based on practised values
Four fundamental values have shaped Bechtle for decades in unchanged form. They are mentioned in the corporate philosophy, which is part of every employment contract:
Integrity
Determination
Reliability
Inspiration
Our basic values provide all stakeholders with fundamental orientation.
These basic values form a central part of our corporate culture. Together with our internal management principles, the Code of Conduct, the vision and the Bechtle Sustainability Strategy 2030, they support the long-term strategic objectives of our company. They provide both our employees and all other stakeholders with orientation for efficient and sustainable corporate governance and control.
Entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour is also a fundamental part of our culture: At Bechtle, employees take on responsibility at a very early stage – a requirement that represents both a promise and an obligation.
These values are complemented by our brand foundation, which defines the core of the Bechtle brand. At the centre is our claim “Fit for the future”, flanked by the attributes:
Connected
Experienced
Enterprising
New vision offers direction in times of rapid change
On the basis of the firmly established corporate culture, Bechtle has been formulating its long-term goals in a vision since the company was founded. It has always provided direction while remaining clearly measurable. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear how the framework conditions for the company are changing. Technological cycles are accelerating exponentially, but market and competitive conditions are also changing significantly. Based on this, we see new customer expectations that we must fulfil. All of this flows into the new vision. It was published in February 2026 and stands for the standards we set ourselves: “In a world of accelerated change, we activate the potential of IT. Always prepared for success.”
In summary, this means that it is not individual trends, but the simultaneity, speed and unpredictability of change which characterise reality – that of our customers, as well as ours as an IT company. Europe is gaining massively in importance for us Europeans. We take this into account not least with our regional positioning in conjunction with our multichannel strategy. We are continuing to drive forward our internationalisation both organically and through acquisitions.
This new vision is intended to motivate and inspire, and creates a sense of identity for all employees. At the same time, it is ambitious and has relevance for the entire Bechtle Group. It was also translated into strategic fields of action: six missions, from which concrete programmes, measures, projects and a clear measurement of success can be derived. And which are constantly renewed with a medium-term horizon. We confirm our goal of achieving a business volume of at least €10 billion and a pre-tax margin (EBT margin measured against business volume) of 5 per cent by 2030.
The vision itself does not have a specific time horizon and pays 100 per cent into our brand and our basic values. Together, the vision and missions form a clear orientation framework for Bechtle’s long-term direction.
Staff development strengthens market position
The shortage of specialists and managers in the IT sector and demographic trends emphasise the key importance of HR work and employer branding. Training and staff development are among the crucial success factors for implementing our strategy and achieving our long-term growth targets. Bechtle has always focused on the training of young talent, as well as the further education and training of existing employees. Our aim is to provide innovative, solution-orientated and efficient IT concepts for our customers with highly qualified personnel. In this way, we ensure our competitiveness in a dynamic and constantly changing environment.
Growth strategy since the company was founded
We are pursuing our growth targets through both organic growth and targeted acquisitions. As far as organic growth is concerned, we can build on our 42 years of experience in the IT market and our high market penetration. However, takeovers have also always been an integral part of Bechtle’s growth strategy – 124 acquisitions have already been successfully completed since the company was founded up to the date of this report. Growth through acquisitions is focused primarily on the acquisition of small to medium-sized system integrators. At the same time, we also regularly include larger companies in our considerations when analysing potential takeover candidates. From a geographical perspective, the M&A strategy aims to expand our range of services in the medium term to all 14 countries in which we are already active in the trading business.
The decisive factor for us in all acquisitions is that the target company strengthens the market position of the Bechtle Group – in terms of regional coverage, specific customers or performance. The focus is therefore on the expansion of our IT-specific expertise, the targeted development of strategically important markets and customer groups, and the sustainable increase of our market share.
Actively shaping digital transformation
Bechtle has been active in the IT market for over 40 years – a business environment characterised by rapid technological progress and constantly increasing demands. The success of our company is due largely to the fact that we are always able to adapt our portfolio and business model to current market requirements.
Even today, the IT market is undergoing fundamental change: while many of our customers used to operate most of their IT themselves and involved IT partners such as Bechtle on a project-by-project basis, subscription- and consumption-based (so-called subscription-based) service models are becoming increasingly important. Although the traditional model will continue to play a role, the ongoing digital transformation and the growing need for solution-orientated IT consulting are increasing the demand for flexible, subscription-based solutions. The use of AI-based solutions will also have a significant impact on the use of IT in the coming years. Bechtle has consistently orientated its strategy towards actively shaping this change and continuously expanding the proportion of future-oriented services. At the same time, we are keeping sight of our traditional business and, in particular, strengthening our most important asset – proximity to our customers.
Systems and Instruments
Corporate management based on established processes
The Executive Board of Bechtle AG is responsible for overall planning and for achieving the group’s long-term goals. The main objective of corporate development is to increase the value of the company through sustainable, profitable growth.
Our focus is on increasing the value of the company through sustainable, profitable growth.
The short- and medium-term planning for the management of the operating units is derived from the long-term corporate planning and is also orientated towards the development of the market and competitive environment. The priorities here are growth, increasing returns through successful customer relationships and achieving a leading market position at the respective locations.
Business volume, revenue, revenue growth, gross margin or contribution margin, earnings before taxes (EBT) and the EBT margin serve as relevant key performance indicators for the economic targets. Business volume, EBT and EBT margin are significant financial performance indicators in this regard. The majority of employees are motivated to pursue the agreed targets with commitment through individual profit-sharing.
Various reporting systems ensure that all units have transparency regarding the key indicators relevant to them at all times and can manage their business operations accordingly. This data is aggregated at group level and used to make investment and financing decisions, identify deviations between target and actual figures at an early stage and initiate suitable measures. The Cash Flow Cockpit provides the individual companies with a regular, detailed overview of their cash flows.
In addition, non-financial key indicators are continuously recorded and evaluated as part of sustainability controlling. Important goals in the areas of Ethical Business, Environment, People and Digital Future have been published in the Sustainability Strategy 2030. With regard to the focus topic of Climate and Energy, we received official confirmation from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in the reporting period that both our short- to medium-term targets up to 2030 and the net-zero targets up to 2050 have been validated using scientifically recognised methods.
In line with the decentralised structure of the Bechtle Group, the issue of sustainability is anchored in the relevant specialist departments and companies in an agile manner and is therefore an integral part of the operating business.