2025 has been a year of milestones, strategic decisions, and inspiring moments for ILI Digital. From media recognition to strategic partnerships, team events, and thought leadership, we look back on the highlights that have sustainably shaped and strengthened us as a company.
Redefining Our Brand: Innovation in Action
The year began with transformation and strategic positioning.
On February 5th, we launched our Afterwork Summit series, an innovative format combining networking, knowledge sharing, and inspiring conversations with partners, clients, and the digital community. These events, held 3–4 times throughout 2025, addressed cutting-edge topics including AI-driven strategy, finance innovation, and digital business models.
Just two days later, on February 7th, we unveiled the culmination of six months’ work: our comprehensive rebranding. Developed in collaboration with an external agency, the new brand identity authentically reflects who we are today – a modern, future-oriented company that lives innovation rather than just communicating it. The refreshed visual design, updated color palette, revised communication strategy, and globally consistent appearance now make our brand instantly recognizable across all locations.
Complementing these initiatives, we launched our podcast “On Point”, offering in-depth conversations on digitalization, innovation, and leadership. With eight episodes released throughout 2025, the podcast has quickly evolved into a platform for engaging our audience personally while positioning our expertise in the industry. From topics like:
- The right mindset in business,
- modern leadership and working with employees,
- personal motivation and success,
- to inspiring stories of personal growth.
These and many other exciting subjects were discussed on the podcast this year, with more great conversations still to come.
Through these initiatives, we created new touchpoints with our community while establishing a modern, coherent brand presence that resonates across all channels.
Strategic Growth: The Salestech Partnership
With a sharpened brand identity and proven results, April marked a pivotal chapter in our company’s evolution, bringing significant changes in leadership structure and strategic direction.
The highlight of 2025 was undoubtedly the merger of ILI Digital with Salestech Group. This strategic partnership broadens our portfolio, strengthens our market position, and enables us to deliver even more comprehensive solutions to our clients. We’re excited about the collaboration, synergies, and shared successes this union will bring, anticipating positive transformations both internally and externally.
Aligned with this development, our CEO Dr. Serhan Ili assumed the role of CGO (Chief Growth Officer) at Salestech Group, a position that creates valuable bridges between both organizations and opens new avenues for growth and innovation. This dual role represents a significant achievement for both companies in 2025.
“The group merger with the Salestech Group together and off to new shores is a great opportunity for all of us” – Tim, COO
This strategic partnership positions us for sustainable growth while strengthening our international team connections and expanding our capabilities.
Projects of 2025 & Important KPIs to Review
2025 became a year of substantial growth and delivery. Besides daily business, we managed 20 active accounts across 30 projects & achieved 11 successful go-lives with development projects. This growth reflects not only our expanded capabilities through the Salestech Group merger, but also the trust our clients place in our ability to deliver transformative digital solutions.
Key Client Milestones
Our partnership with Siemens Energy evolved significantly this year. Beyond our existing collaboration, we earned the opportunity to work on developing core services for the central digital unit and AI solutions for productivity gains in engineering, a direct result of our fruitful, productive, and collaborative partnership. This expansion into the energy sector allows us to participate in impactful transformation initiatives that are strategically relevant.
With Gelita, a long-standing client relationship, we launched a major development initiative that resulted in a AI productivity solutions for real-world applications, demonstrating how data-driven solutions create measurable value. Similarly, our work with the Phönix Group began with a successful data strategy project that has already led to an implementation collaboration, with the ambition for short-term impact.
But also our traditional software development projects succeeded. Especially with two long-term clients from the automotive industry, we implemented sophisticated configuration solutions to leverage the power of user experience along complex B2B sales cycles.
Innovative AI Products & Solutions
This year marked our entry into AI product development with several particularly noteworthy solutions: a price prediction system for data-driven decision and prediction of market dynamics, an AI-based product finder for complex product porfolios in the engineering and chemical industry, an automated tender creation tool for automating RFP processes, saving up to 67 % of manual work.
But also our own StayX project introduced an innovative micro-learning product that transforms how organizations approach continuous education. Stay tuned for the next steps in 2026 of this project!
Group Synergies in Action
Through the new collaboration with the Salestech Group we delivered tangible results through three successful group projects. Collaborations with UNIQUE1, Smicro, and Candylabs created new opportunities and demonstrated the value of our integrated approach. But there was also more to explore & to collaborate.
A prime example: our work with Shell alongside UNIQUE1, where combined expertise from marketing, software and AI technologies to deliver productivity solutions and new value propositions to our existing group customer base.
Looking Ahead
Our project success required significant team expansion. We substantially grew our project management capabilities to handle the increasing volume and complexity of initiatives, while also expanding our IT and AI teams. This investment positions us perfectly for 2026, where we anticipate further growth.
Media Spotlight: ILI Digital in the Public Eye
Our work throughout 2025 gained significant recognition in leading media outlets, validating our strategic direction and expertise. The renowned Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung featured a comprehensive article on ILI Digital titled “Innovationsflüsterer” (Innovation Whisperers), highlighting our unique role as a strategic partner for digital transformation. The piece included an extensive interview with Serhan, complemented by a professional photo shoot and a 3/4-page entrepreneur portrait that captured his vision and leadership approach.
This visibility continued to grow throughout the spring. In April, Serhan provided exclusive insights in a Börse Onlineinterview, where he discussed his perspective on money, freedom, investment philosophy, leadership, and the role of AI in shaping the future of business.
Our thought leadership extended further through two publications in Springer focusing on AI, followed by our contribution to the Handelsblatt Trend Report in June. This report showcased how AI is driving digitalization in Germany, reaching decision-makers and industry leaders across the country.
These media highlights established ILI Digital as a recognized voice in digital transformation and AI innovation, confirming that our work resonates beyond our immediate client base.
Speaking Engagements & Thought Leadership
Beyond being featured in the media, we actively shaped industry conversations through speaking engagements and thought leadership initiatives. In September, we hosted an exclusive event featuring Deniz Aytekin, the renowned football referee. Beyond entertainment, this unique format offered participants valuable insights into decision-making under pressure, leadership in critical moments, and conflict management, lessons directly transferable to the business world and highly relevant for our clients’ daily challenges.
“Make decisions. Stay human.” – Deniz Aytekin
October became a defining chapter for ILI Digital. In his TEDx Talk, Serhan opened a rare window into his personal journey, revealing how an early sense for opportunities shaped the leader he is today, and inspiring audiences to recognize the untapped potential within their own stories. Shortly after, he took the stage as the keynote speaker at a major industry summit for the regional housing and construction sector, where he delivered a stirring call to ‘fall in love with your future again’ and explored the transformative force of AI. It’s also about having the right mindset to move things forward.
Together, these moments elevated ILI Digital’s influence and reaffirmed its role.
These speaking engagements demonstrated our commitment to not only delivering solutions for our clients, but also actively contributing to and shaping the broader conversation about the future of digital business and innovation.
Personal Update: Behind the Progress in 2025
Behind every strategic decision and successful project stand the people who make it all possible. 2025 brought significant developments in our leadership team and welcomed new talents that strengthens our capabilities.
For example, our colleague Tim was promoted to COO (Chief Operations Officer), and our CMO Vera successfully completed her doctoral thesis. At ILI, we celebrate such achievements of our team members and view them as progress for each individual.
Throughout the year, we’ve also strengthened our team with talented individuals who share our vision for digital transformation and innovation. In particular, our Project Management team expanded significantly by year-end, enabling us to collaborate more effectively and support a wider range of projects with renewed motivation.
Our success is built on the dedication, expertise, and passion of every team member, from leadership to our international colleagues.
Celebrating Together: Team Spirit & Culture
While achievements and recognition matter, we never forget that our company’s true strength lies in the people and culture we cultivate. As summer arrived, we took time to celebrate our achievements and nurture the bonds that make ILI Digital special. In August, the team embarked on a memorable trip to the Black Forest, where we enjoyed summer tobogganing, climbing, hiking, and shared meals in a cozy mountain hut. Colleagues from Candylabs joined us, and the spontaneous activities reinforced the camaraderie and team spirit that fuel our daily collaboration.
These moments of connection and shared ILI activities remind us that our company’s strength lies not just in our strategic decisions, but in the relationships and culture we cultivate together.
We also remained committed to our global team. True to our tradition, we celebrated these milestones with visits to our colleagues in Pakistan (ILI Digital Pakistan). These trips are more than ceremonial, they allow our teams to exchange ideas face-to-face, work closely together instead of being thousands of miles apart, and lay the groundwork for future projects and collaborations.
Our team retreat underscored that investing in our people and culture is a crucial as any business strategy, a philosophy that continues to drive our success and differentiate us in the market.
Outlook: Ready for New Challenges
All in all, 2025 has revealed that true innovation extends beyond products and technologies, it encompasses how we operate, communicate, and evolve as an organization. From redefining our brand identity and delivering concrete results, to forging strategic partnerships, gaining media recognition, and celebrating our team, each milestone has propelled us toward our vision.
The merger with Salestech Group, our rebranding, the launch of new formats like our Afterwork Summits and “On Point” podcast, combined with our thought leadership activities, have created a solid foundation for the years ahead. We’ve demonstrated that growth and innovation thrive when supported by strong culture, clear communication, and genuine connections, both within our team and with our clients and partners.
As we look to the future, we remain committed to driving digitalization forward, expanding our vision, and embracing the opportunities that emerge in an ever-evolving digital landscape. With a strong team, clear structures, and unwavering ambition, ILI Digital is ready for the challenges and opportunities of the coming years.
Thank you to all our clients, partners, and our fantastic team – together, we are shaping the digital future.
