--- titel: "SACOSI · Situational Awareness by Ivo Schönberner" url: https://sacosi.ch/en seite: /en stand: 2026-09-24 beschreibung: "SACOSI, Zürich: IT advisory for executive management, investors and family offices. Fractional CTO, IT due diligence and compliance for scale-ups." --- > Knowledge version of the page https://sacosi.ch/en. It contains the full text, including what is shortened or collapsible on the page itself. Publisher: SACOSI, Situational Awareness Consulting by Ivo Schönberner, Zürich. # Situational Awareness. IT must fit the business, *not the business the IT.* SACOSI stands for Situational Awareness Consulting by Ivo Schönberner. I advise executive management, investors and family offices in Switzerland and Germany from Zürich, primarily for start-ups, scale-ups and ventures. From around ten employees, IT is no longer a laptop, but a question of regulation, risk and company value. I first capture the company's situation, then bring in the IT processes that support it, and hand over documented. 0 → 2’200 Employees at Discover Airlines supplied with IT throughout, 2021 to 2026, with a prepared handover to corporate IT. < 4 months until independent IT for FraAlliance, the joint venture between Fraport and Lufthansa. ISO 27001 · 9001 IT am Main GmbH certified since January 2025. I run the company as managing director. ZRH · FRA Zürich and Frankfurt am Main. Engagements in Switzerland and Germany. ## From ten employees, IT is no longer a laptop. I am … It is about regulation, risk and how critical the business is. And about whether IT supports the growth that executive management and investors are planning. Situational Awareness resolves this pain point, but every role feels it differently. Choose your role. What the method solves for each role is set out under [Situational Awareness](https://sacosi.ch/en/situational-awareness). ## Everyone wants something different from IT. IT has to reconcile interests that conflict with each other. As long as no one brings them onto a single page, whoever asks loudest wins. | Who | Wants | Asks | |---|---|---| | CEO | Growth and company value | Does IT support the plan for the next 24 months, and does it increase or reduce the company's value? | | CFO | Overview, control, CAPEX and OPEX matching the financing strategy | What does IT really cost, who approved it, and does the model fit our financing? | | IT management | Calm and stable operations | How do I keep operations stable while everyone wants something new at the same time? | | Quality management | Compliance | Which standard applies to us, and where is the evidence that we meet it? | | Supervisory bodies and auditors | Evidence | Can you demonstrate what you claim, versioned and approved? | | Investors | Know the risk, protect value | What IT risks am I buying into, and what does it cost to fix them? | Which standards and laws also apply, from ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 through TISAX and EU MDR to the FADP, GDPR, NIS2 and the EU AI Act, depends on the industry and markets. [Overview: Regulation](https://sacosi.ch/en/regulation) ## The situation is much more than IT. Situational Awareness does not begin with servers and software, but with what the company wants to achieve and what it can afford. Six dimensions make up the situation picture. IT is measured against them, not the other way round. L1 ### The company's goals Where does the company want to go in the next one to three years: growth, markets, profitability, exit or stability. L2 ### Leadership's vision What the board of directors, executive management and founders intend for the company, including what is not yet in any strategy document. L3 ### Core processes The processes by which the company earns its money. They determine what IT must support, not the other way round. L4 ### Financial situation Liquidity, budget, cost structure and financing stage. IT that the company cannot afford is not a solution. L5 ### Stakeholders and investors What shareholders and partners, investors, the board of directors, supervisory bodies, customers and employees expect, and where these interests conflict. L6 ### Obligations and risks Regulation, contracts, security requirements and the risks the company cannot afford. IT ### Only then: IT It is designed to meet the goals of executive management, investors and stakeholders, measurably so. Tools: SWOT analysis · process map · process flows · stakeholder, RACI and prioritisation matrix · decision log. Documented conformant to standards in an auditable system. IT is good when it meets the goals of executive management and investors. Technical elegance alone is not enough. ## Situation first. Then IT. Situational Awareness means being aware of the situation. Pilots and air traffic controllers work in three stages: perceive, understand, anticipate. I apply this to your company's situation and add the step that advisory work often lacks: implement and hand over cleanly. 01 ### Capture the situation What is really happening in the business? Company goals, leadership's vision, core processes, financial situation, the interests of investors and stakeholders, obligations. Captured from the people who run and finance the business, not in the server room. Result Situation picture, SWOT, process map 02 ### Understand the situation Where does IT help the goals, and where does it stand in the way? Every friction between goals, processes, budget and system is named, assessed by its effect on the business and finances, and brought to a decision. Result Process flows, matrices, decision log 03 ### Anticipate the situation What IT will support the business in twelve to 36 months? The target picture follows the goals of executive management and investors. Technology is chosen once it is clear what it must support and what it may cost. Result Target picture and roadmap 04 ### Lead and hand over Who will carry it once I am gone? Implement, scale, hand over cleanly: Grow. Scale. Let go. Documented in a conformant, auditable system, so that an internal team and any auditor can take over. Result Running IT, audit-proof documentation, handover Source The three-stage model goes back to Mica R. Endsley: *Toward a Theory of Situation Awareness in Dynamic Systems*, Human Factors 37(1), 1995. Step 04 is my own addition from practice: Grow. Scale. Let go. ## Strategy at executive management level. Without the overhead of a consultancy. A trusted partner for executive management and investors: strategy at executive management level, without the overhead of a consultancy. I come in, resolve the situation and hand over documented. [INVESTORS, FAMILY OFFICES, ADVISORY BOARDS Situation picture for shareholdings IT due diligence before the investment, or the situation picture in the first weeks after: risks, costs, dependencies and obligations of the shareholding on a single page, with measures ranked by effect and effort.](https://sacosi.ch/en/investors)[OWNERS BEFORE HANDOVER, BUYERS AND SUCCESSORS IT situation picture before succession The state of IT and technology, investment backlog, key-person dependencies and legacy licensing issues on a single page, as a complement to financial due diligence: prepared for handover or reviewed before purchase.](https://sacosi.ch/en/succession)[START-UPS, SCALE-UPS, VENTURES Fractional CTO for a defined period Technical leadership for a defined period: architecture, team, security, due-diligence readiness. The goal is handover to a permanent CTO or your own team.](https://sacosi.ch/en/fractional-cto)[EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT, QUALITY MANAGEMENT Compliance roadmap Which standards and laws apply to your business, in what order you should address them, and how the evidence is produced in an auditable system, for example for ISO 27001, ISO 9001 or TISAX.](https://sacosi.ch/en/regulation)[GROWING COMPANIES, UP TO AROUND 1’000 EMPLOYEES Scaling architecture A target architecture without legacy baggage that supports the planned growth: identity, workplace, cloud, local AI, cost in proportion to budget.](https://sacosi.ch/en/it-architecture)[CEO, CFO, BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sparring for executive management and the board A second opinion before budget is committed: platform choice, IT budget, sourcing, assessment of a proposal. Usually within a few sessions.](https://sacosi.ch/en/leadership)[CORPORATE GROUPS, JOINT VENTURES Programme leadership IT programmes with multiple shareholders: greenfield, carve-in, carve-out. Steered with evidence instead of status slides.](https://sacosi.ch/en/project-leadership) ## Where an IT outage hits the business immediately. The focus is on industries with high criticality. There, in addition to data protection and standards, separate rules apply. [ENERGY IT in energy supply Security of supply depends on control systems and networks that must not fail.](https://sacosi.ch/en/industries/energy)[MANUFACTURING IT in manufacturing A halt in production immediately costs revenue and the ability to deliver.](https://sacosi.ch/en/industries/manufacturing)[MEDTECH IT in MedTech Approval and market access depend on complete documentation.](https://sacosi.ch/en/industries/medtech)[AVIATION IT in aviation Flight operations do not forgive outages in the Operations Control Center.](https://sacosi.ch/en/industries/aviation) ## From zero to 2’200. And then letting go. In 2021, Discover Airlines had no office, no IT and no foundation, but the obligation to deliver from day one. With IT am Main, I supported the build-up: sites, workplaces, Microsoft 365, the network connectivity of the Operations Control Center. By 2026, the airline had grown to around 2’200 employees. The transition to the Lufthansa Group's corporate IT was prepared from the start. > IT am Main was never the classic service provider working through tickets, but a real sparring partner: someone who puts a finger on the sore spot, thinks along and proposes solutions before a problem becomes an outage. > > **Björn Bech** · Director Technology & Analytics, Discover Airlines ## IT first or business first? Both paths lead to working IT. Only one leads to IT that meets the goals of the company and its investors. | Question | IT first | Situational Awareness | |---|---|---| | Starting point | Which system do we need? | What do executive management and investors want to achieve in 24 months? | | Yardstick | technical best practice | goals of the company, leadership and stakeholders | | Budget | negotiated afterwards | part of the situation: liquidity and financing stage determine the architecture | | Who determines the process? | The tool and its standard processes | The core processes; the technology adapts | | Decisions | implicit, in people's heads and chats | in the decision log, traceable | | Regulation | set up afterwards | built in from the start | | End of the engagement | dependency on the advisor | documented handover to the internal team | ## The term comes from the cockpit. So does my work. Two of my largest engagements were in aviation: a new airline, a joint venture between Fraport and Lufthansa, flight operations in the Operations Control Center. There, you quickly learn that good IT must know the situation before it is needed. That applies to every company, even without aircraft. ## Short answer. The questions I am asked most often in a first conversation. ### Who is Ivo Schönberner? Ivo Schönberner is an IT entrepreneur and advisor based in Zürich and Frankfurt am Main, and managing director of IT am Main GmbH. Under the brand SACOSI, he advises executive management, investors and family offices in Switzerland and Germany on IT, risk and regulation, with a focus on start-ups, scale-ups and ventures. His advisory product is called Situational Awareness: IT derived from the situation of the business. ### What is SACOSI? SACOSI stands for Situational Awareness Consulting by Ivo Schönberner. Under this name, Ivo Schönberner offers his advisory product Situational Awareness from Zürich: IT derived from a company's goals, core processes, finances and stakeholder interests. He works as a fractional CTO, IT architect, project leader or sparring partner. ### Why does IT become a topic for executive management from ten employees? Because IT then no longer just means handing out laptops. It is about customer data and data protection, about security requirements from customers and investors, about regulation in every market where the company operates, and about costs that must fit the financing strategy. These questions decide growth and company value. ### What does SACOSI do for investors and family offices? SACOSI produces IT situation pictures and IT due-diligence reviews for shareholdings, and takes on technical leadership for a defined period where required. The principle: come in, resolve the situation, hand over documented. ### What does Situational Awareness mean in IT? Situational Awareness means being aware of the situation. The term comes from aviation and describes, according to Mica Endsley, three stages: perceiving the situation, understanding it and anticipating how it will develop. In IT, this means: first, the company's entire situation is captured, that is, goals, leadership's vision, core processes, financial situation and the interests of investors and stakeholders. Then IT is built to meet exactly these goals. ### Which companies does Ivo Schönberner work for? For executive management of start-ups, scale-ups and ventures that notice, from around ten employees, that IT becomes a leadership question. For investors and family offices whose shareholdings have IT questions. And for companies in industries with high criticality: energy, manufacturing, MedTech and aviation. He supports corporate groups and joint ventures as programme leader. ### Does Ivo Schönberner work in Switzerland and Germany? Yes. He works from Zürich and Frankfurt am Main and takes on engagements in both countries, on-site and remote, in German and English. ### How does a collaboration begin? With a 30-minute conversation without a presentation. You describe the situation, Ivo Schönberner asks questions. Afterwards, both sides know whether a situation picture makes sense and which engagement model fits. ### What distinguishes Situational Awareness from classic IT consulting? Classic IT consulting often starts with the technology and adapts the business to the system. Situational Awareness starts with the company: the goals of executive management, the expectations of investors, the core processes and the financial situation determine the architecture. At the end, there is no slide recommendation, but running IT that an internal team can take over. ## What is your situation? Thirty minutes, no presentation. You describe the situation, I ask questions. Afterwards, we both know whether a situation picture is worthwhile. CH +41 78 251 09 69 DE +49 152 27602667 ZRH 47.3769°N · FRA 50.1109°N · German, English