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Koen Vereeken
Global IT Infra Manager at Bekaert
Professional Background
Koen Vereeken is a highly accomplished professional in the field of Information Technology, with extensive experience in industrial engineering and IT management. Currently, he holds the position of Global IT Lead, Infrastructure and Workspace at Bekaert, where he oversees global IT strategies and infrastructure policies aimed at enhancing organizational effectiveness and technology integration. His role at Bekaert showcases his ability to lead teams and manage complex projects in fast-paced environments.
Prior to his current position, Koen has amassed a wealth of experience in various senior-level roles within Bekaert, including serving as the IT Infra CoE Manager and Infra Manager Belgium. His career at Bekaert is marked by dedication to service excellence and an unwavering commitment to optimizing IT operations and infrastructure. His contributions have significantly shaped the IT landscape within the organization, enabling advancements that drive productivity and innovation.
Before joining Bekaert, Koen held several integral positions within Atos, specifically focusing on Eurocontrol, where he contributed his expertise as the Service Delivery Manager, Operational Team Lead, and Senior System Engineer. His experience at Eurocontrol involved ensuring the successful delivery of IT services, maintaining operational excellence, and developing strategies to meet the high demands of control centers. Throughout his time in the industry, Koen has been recognized for his ability to harness technology to solve complex operational challenges and improve service delivery.
Moreover, Koen's career spans a variety of roles, including a Senior System Engineer at Newtec, a Service Delivery Engineer at Hewlett-Packard, and running his consultancy, Sinopsys.Eu. Each of these experiences has further enhanced his skill set, allowing him to navigate and adapt to various technological landscapes.
Education and Achievements
Koen Vereeken's educational journey laid the foundation for his successful career in industrial engineering and IT. He studied at Sint-Lievens College, where he developed a broad-based understanding of engineering principles and problem-solving methodologies. Building on this foundational knowledge, he pursued a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering with a specialization in Informatics at Hogent. This advanced education equipped him with the knowledge necessary to tackle complex IT projects and understand the intersections of engineering and information technology.
Through his dedication to ongoing professional development, Koen has remained at the forefront of the latest technological advancements. His focus on infrastructure and workspace strategies at Bekaert demonstrates his commitment to not only furthering his career but also contributing to the overall advancement of the organizations he serves. Over the years, his efforts have led to substantial improvements in operational efficiencies, decreased costs, and enhanced service quality.
Notable Achievements
Koen's trajectory in the field has seen numerous accolades and triumphs. He is well-respected for his leadership skills, technical expertise, and ability to develop innovative solutions that drive success. His roles have consistently required a blend of strategic thinking, hands-on technical know-how, and effective team leadership.
In his current capacity as Global IT Lead at Bekaert, he has played a crucial role in rolling out global infrastructure initiatives that align with the company’s objectives. By successfully implementing cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, he has improved the responsiveness of IT services and bolstered the team’s capability to support Bekaert's operations across various regions.
Koen's experience managing complex IT frameworks at Eurocontrol has also been a highlight of his career. His strategic approach to service delivery and operational management has fostered a culture of reliability and responsiveness within teams. His proactive innovations in service management have significantly enhanced client satisfaction and service efficiency, ensuring that Eurocontrol maintains its status as a leader in air traffic management services.
Additionally, Koen's entrepreneurial ventures, including his consultancy firm, Sinopsys.Eu, signify an underlying entrepreneurial spirit and a keen ability to recognize and fulfill market needs. Through Systray, another business initiative, he demonstrated his capability not only to lead teams but also to innovate independently.
With a career marked by a series of progressively responsible positions, Koen has consistently delivered results that reflect his commitment to excellence and passion for technology. His journey illustrates a pathway characterized by growth, leadership, and a dedication to driving advancements in the technology sector. It is this blend of professional experiences, technical proficiency, and educational background that positions Koen Vereeken as a formidable leader in the IT domain.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.