Technology is meant to make life easier for companies, not to add more complexity
Interview with Josef Jirák, CEO of Integriq
After more than twenty years in ICT, telecommunications, and B2B business, Josef Jirák leads Integriq—a company that aims to be more than just a technology provider. Its goal is to integrate technology, people, and business needs into a functional whole.
We spoke with Josef about why technology alone isn’t enough, what distinguishes a true partner from a supplier, and why sometimes the best advice may be not to buy any new technology.
Josef, after more than twenty years in the ICT industry, you’ve decided to start a new chapter at Integriq. What appealed to you about this opportunity?
After years at a large technology company, where I’ve held a management position for the past five years, I felt that I wanted to get closer to customers and to the business itself. I wanted to start talking with customers again on a daily basis about the problems they’re actually facing, what’s holding them back, and where our company can truly help them.
What attracted me to Integriq was the opportunity to build a company in a way that I believe in—not starting with products and technologies, but with the customer’s needs. To create long-term partnerships based on openness, expertise, and trust. And to build on the long-standing partnerships with manufacturers and distributors that I’ve had the chance to develop over the past 20 years.
At the same time, we want to be able to integrate different areas of technology so that the customer doesn’t have to deal with a number of different vendors and wonder who is actually responsible for the whole project. In my opinion, the ability to take responsibility for the outcome is one of the things companies need from a technology partner today.
You often talk about the difference between a technology vendor and a partner. What do you think that difference really is?
The supplier usually comes with the product. The partner should come up with questions first.
We need to understand what’s really troubling the customer, what’s holding them back, and what they want to achieve. Only then does it make sense to discuss a specific solution. Sometimes the answer is new technology. Sometimes it’s enough to better integrate the systems the company already uses. And sometimes it’s best to tell the customer openly that they don’t need another system at all.
It is precisely this transparency that is important to me. A long-term relationship isn’t built by selling customers as much technology as possible. It’s built by helping them make the right decisions and ensuring they can rely on you to recommend what makes sense for their business.
Companies today use a vast number of systems and applications. Where do you think technological complexity starts to become a real problem?
The moment people start replacing it with their own work.
Typical signs include manually transcribing data between systems, searching for information in emails and spreadsheets, or situations where different departments have different versions of the same information. Each individual system may function well on its own. The problem is that they don’t work together as a single unit.
And this is exactly where I see a major role for system integration. It’s not just about technically connecting applications. It’s about eliminating unnecessary work and complexity. Technology is meant to make people’s work easier, not force them to spend more time managing it.
Integriq combines ICT integration, cybersecurity, infrastructure, monitoring, and AI. Doesn't such a broad technological scope pose an additional challenge?
If you look at the individual areas separately, that may be true. But we try to view them as a single ecosystem.
Infrastructure affects security. Security requires high-quality data and monitoring. Automation depends on interconnected systems. AI, in turn, requires accurate and accessible data. It’s all interconnected.
However, the customer may not be aware of all these interdependencies. Our job is to manage the technological complexity on their behalf and translate it into a solution that is understandable to their company, operationally manageable, and economically sound.
That is, in fact, the essence of Integriq. Technologies should not exist in isolation. They should work together to support the company’s operations and its continued growth.
AI is practically a must-discuss topic in any conversation about technology these days. What are your thoughts on it?
In my opinion, AI makes the most sense when it solves a specific problem—not when a company implements it simply because everyone else is using it these days. We most often encounter the view that implementing AI in a company automatically means reducing the number of employees. That’s not true.
I see great potential, for example, in working with operational data, monitoring, logs, or automating routine tasks. AI can help identify patterns more quickly, flag anomalies, or provide people with better information for decision-making.
But the same principle applies here as with other technologies: first, we need to know what we want to improve. Only then can we determine whether AI is the right tool.
We don't want to sell AI to our customers. We want to help them solve their problems. If AI is the best solution for a specific problem, then of course it makes sense to use it.
If you had to name one thing that would help a customer recognize a good technology partner, what would it be?
Probably because they aren't afraid to say, "You don't need this," or even, "We can't do this; we won't take it on, but we'll find you another suitable partner with the expertise you need."
A technology partner should not be motivated solely by how many products or services it sells. It should have the courage to recommend a solution that makes sense for the customer in the long term—technically, operationally, and economically.
For me, it’s important that the customer knows why we’re proposing something, what benefits it will bring them, and who is responsible for the outcome. It’s also important that they know that if something changes, they have a partner on the other side with whom they can talk openly about it.
If we succeed in building that kind of trust, then it’s no longer just a customer-supplier relationship. It’s a true partnership.
Josef Jirák, CEO of Integriq
Josef Jirák has been working in the ICT and B2B sectors for more than 25 years. At Integriq, he focuses on the company’s growth, business partnerships, and building long-term relationships with customers. In his work, he emphasizes transparency, open communication, and finding technological solutions that deliver clear business value.
