Still, you read in analyses, including from the VEB (shareholder interest group), that AI should be a main topic for Wolters Kluwer, if only because it’s also a threat for Wolters Kluwer. There are plenty of alternatives for the professional groups you mentioned at the start of this interview — lawyers, medical professionals, accountants. They can inform themselves in countless ways. They are therefore becoming less dependent on your platform…
If you look at Wolters Kluwer, this is actually the third major transformation for us as a company. When I started at Wolters Kluwer, 25 or 24 years ago, we were mainly a print publisher. Then we became fully digital. We are a company that the Netherlands can be proud of. The complete transformation as a company from print to digital, and then from digital to what we call Expert Solutions. We really have to know the work processes for that.
So what is Wolters Kluwer’s strength? What have we been good at over the years?
That’s focusing on our clients’ work processes! We know those very well. That’s where our focus always lies. If you look at AI now, we also call it Expert AI. AI is important, and it’s a tool. But of course, you must also know the work processes very well. Wolters Kluwer has deep knowledge of how you file taxes, how medical care works, what the needs are…
Is that always clear enough to your customers? You can also choose the services of “Joe around the corner,” maybe at a reduced rate…
Yes, you can choose Joe. But does Joe have his customer data security in order? And is Joe’s information certified? If you look at our medical information, we are one of the largest providers of medical information in the world.
There are also growing concerns there, right? Precisely in that area, alternatives are available and are indeed being used…
Yes, but we sit on an enormous base of content, all of very high quality. It is peer-reviewed and provides very good insights. If you’re a doctor, you ultimately want to see peer-reviewed content. You want to see the sources — something “Joe around the corner” often cannot provide.
Will a company that has proven it can transform, move fast enough in this new area? You do have a different background than those new players that are entirely focused on AI and can immediately jump on whatever hype is current.
Yes, Wolters Kluwer spends half a billion euros a year on innovation! We spend that continuously and keep focusing on innovation. Because we know the customer processes so well, and that remains our strong point. That has helped us in the past, and that’s also why I now have confidence that we will continue to be able to do it in the future.
