Founded in Germany and active in Italy since 2019, Auticon is a unique technology consulting company: it employs exclusively professionals on the autism spectrum, enhancing their cognitive talents in areas such as data analysis, software testing, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. We interviewed Alberto Balestrazzi, CEO of Auticon Italia, who told us how the project was born in our country, what challenges it has encountered, and why inclusion-when it is real-is not an ethical goal, but a competitive advantage.
The first question is clearly a bit more introductory. I know that Auticon was born in 2011…
It was founded in 2011. Operationally it started in 2013. And it is not of Italian origin – let’s not take credit – but German. From 2013 on, the first projects started and it became a real company. Until 2016 it remained German, while expanding. They had six offices, then from 2016 the expansion into other countries began: England, France, then Italy two years later, and then Canada, Switzerland, in 2019 Australia, then New Zealand, and in 2023 there was a merger with another similar, smaller company operating in the Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Poland. So a group was created, Auticon Group, with a holding company, which owns the various branches in the various countries. Now we are in 15 countries, with even Ireland, which although run from London still has its own office.
Let’s focus on the Italian market. How was the arrival in Italy? Did things go smoothly or were there difficulties, as is often the case in this field? What have been the main challenges and opportunities?
I did a startup at age 60, and it was fun. I had the experience of 30 years in the consulting industry, not in autism. I had a lot of connections in big companies and a good reputation, so the client issue didn’t worry me. I had no experience with autism-I only knew the stereotypes from movies and series, so I was worried that I didn’t know how to deal with autistic people. I trusted that Auticon worked in Germany, England, France, so I thought: there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work in Italy too. The difficulties were there, but practical, not conceptual. I was not scared of the world of clients, while the world of human resources I knew little about. I studied, I got help. And then, again, it was not a leap into the void. We started on February 1, 2019, and by the end of May we had the first project. By the end of the year we had four clients: Poste Italiane, Credit Suisse, Autogrill and Air Liquide. Four giants. By the end of 2019 we knew it was working. We broke even the second year. In our business, referral is key. Once you have the first customer, the others come. In 2020, like everyone else, we got scared. The lockdown stopped everything, but we were able to work remotely. And so we took major clients-Johnson & Johnson, Enel-always remotely. Today we have an average of 15 customers, but they are among the biggest companies in Italy: Banca Intesa, Eni, Snam, Mediolanum, Poste. The real difficulties came more with the beginning of the war in Ukraine: companies slowed down, but it didn’t affect too much. In 2023 we felt the need to make a leap in growth. The arrival of Imma Di Lecce in the role of Commercial Director helped us a lot: she brought her relationships. Our success was due to the fact that we were not unknown. When we go to a customer, it is often a “hello, nice to see you again.” That makes all the difference. Our team is not made up of young guys. The project managers are experienced people. We don’t need to move up: we’ve already done it. We joined Auticon by choice, for social impact. The people who work with us really depend on us. Some of them have never had a job before. We feel the responsibility.
In foto: Imma Di Lecce
How does the process of resource selection and placement work at Auticon?
We are a normal company. We come in as employees, not trainees. We sell projects to customers, and then we choose the most suitable people in our team. We do testing, development, artificial intelligence… We need people with two characteristics: being autistic and having specific cognitive talents. High-functioning autistic people often have innate gifts: attention to detail, hyperconcentration, logical-mathematical ability. The selection process involves three nonverbal, online or in-person tests to measure these talents. If you pass the tests, there is a four-day on-site workshop with individual and group exercises. The goal is twofold: to understand whether the person is able to work eight hours a day and to learn about his or her autistic characteristics in order to best support him or her. Our psychologists analyze the results and observe during the workshop. The job coach, who will then follow up with the person in the company, must know the person’s strengths and frailties well. We do not hire if we are not sure. We cannot afford to say “let’s give it a try.” Once inside, the person stays with us forever. No one has ever resigned. We see about 100 people a year and hire five. The process is selective because the margin of error we cannot afford.
Do customers expect the “Rain Man” on duty or are they prepared?
Customers have the same biases that Imma and I had before we joined Auticon. They have fear or exaggerated expectations. But we educate them. We don’t sell geniuses and we don’t sell troublemakers. We offer professionals with a “different operating system.” In the sales phase we clearly explain what we can do and what we can’t. Expectation is managed first. There is always some hesitancy at the beginning, which is understandable. But once they understand that they are normal people, they really appreciate it. The real added value we give clients is this change of perspective on diversity. One should not look for flaws, but enhance talents. We mask our flaws, autistic people do not. But they also have talents that we don’t.
What are the next goals in Italy? New activities, projects, collaborations?
We want to remain a technology company, but the market is changing. In the beginning we did testing and reporting. Today we do more data analysis. Everyone wants to work on data. We are working on complex projects with artificial intelligence, even investing, because testing will be more and more automated. One of our fixes is cyber security: a very strong growth area, and we know that autistic people are very much into it. In Italy we haven’t fully developed it yet. In other countries they are already working on it a lot. We are looking for alliances and partnerships. At the same time, we also want to provide opportunities for people who do not have advanced IT skills. Repetitive work such as data cleaning, cataloging, extracting information from documents. For example, we are working with satellite images for environmental disaster prevention: 60,000 images to be analyzed. The first 20,000 analyzed with an error of 0.1%. This is an accuracy that only autistic people can guarantee. If the data is perfect, artificial intelligence works better. This is one of our big challenges. We follow the market and the talent. We also move outside traditional IT. We want to keep growing, be profitable and hire more people. That means having impact. “The message is us,” as someone said. We also wrote a book, Changing Perspective. We did it to tell our story. The book uses the metaphor of a space journey, like Apollo 8 that framed the Earth as seen from the outside for the first time. The change in perspective shocked the astronauts. So do we: you think you are going one way and instead you discover something about yourself. The message is: changing perspective improves our lives and the lives of others. Encountering diversity has changed us, the way we think about work, the company, hierarchical relationships. I recommend reading it. Change starts from within. A very philosophical message.
The article Balestrazzi tells Auticon, “We proved that neurodivergence is a value” comes from TheNewyorker.
