Hello CEO: Jesper Söderqvist, CGM

On March 1 this year, CompuGroup Medical Sweden (CGM) announced the appointment of Jesper Söderqvist as its new CEO. With over 20 years of leadership experience in healthtech, he took office with the goal of further strengthening CGM Sweden's position as a provider of user-friendly and secure solutions.

- It has been an intense, but above all very rewarding first six months. I have met many of our customers and employees, which has given me a broader understanding of our business and the challenges that exist in Swedish healthcare. It is really impressive to see how CGM's products are used in so many different areas of healthcare. After several years in international roles, it is both inspiring and fun to focus on the specific conditions and opportunities that exist here in Sweden," says Jesper Söderqvist.

What do you think is important for leadership, perhaps especially in your industry?

- The most important thing is to create an open and supportive working environment where every employee has the opportunity to develop and feel responsible towards our customers. For me, business is a team sport that requires cooperation at all levels of the organization. As a leader, I want to be a good role model and work with a coaching, engaged leadership. Good leadership is fundamentally industry-independent, but in healthtech we face particular challenges as we deal with both advanced technology and complex care flows, while ensuring that systems are user-friendly. Therefore, we rely on deep expertise in many areas. As a leader, I see it as crucial to listen to both internal and external specialists, and to make visible and develop career paths for our experts.

What's high on your agenda right now?

- Working even closer to our customers. We want to be an active partner that works with our customers over the long term. In this way, we create added value and security by always being there to support them, both today and in the future. On the technology side, we are prioritizing the launch of CGM's AI products and integrating them into all our existing solutions. In addition, we are working intensively to introduce AI tools into our own operations.

What challenges do you see for CGM Sweden's continued development?

- All our products are mission-critical and must therefore offer extremely high availability. In a world of ever-increasing cyber threats, it is crucial that we continuously strengthen the protection of our systems and our customers' data. Here we benefit greatly from being part of a leading European group with the resources to be at the forefront of cybersecurity.

According to Jesper Söderqvist, CGM and healthcare in Region Stockholm face major challenges if the plans to replace the main medical record system TakeCare are implemented as currently proposed.

- TakeCare is one of Sweden's most robust medical record systems, with around 60,000 users and unique opportunities for coherent patient information throughout the region. It is neither older nor younger than other large EHR systems on the market as it has been continuously modernized in close collaboration with our customers. Users are very satisfied and therefore I am surprised that a very abrupt changeover is planned in 3-5 years, especially considering the challenges encountered during system changes in other regions. It is crucial that we support Region Stockholm in this transition in the coming years, while broadening our offer and reaching new customer segments. 

Jesper Söderqvist has started a strategy work focused on managing this change and ensuring that CGM continues to be a reliable and innovative partner for healthcare in Sweden.

- I am convinced that we will find good ways to continue to develop TakeCare together with Region Stockholm in the coming years to meet the demands of healthcare. We will also offer new features and products that are future-proof and independent of the main journal system used.

Is there anything in TechSverige's healthtech report from this spring that you would like to highlight?

- Absolutely. The report makes it clear that healthtech and healthcare IT are absolutely central to meeting the demographic challenges we face in Sweden and globally. It is precisely these issues that motivate me in my work at CGM. As a leading European player, we can contribute in many areas. The report highlights in particular how remote monitoring enables more care to take place at home, and that AI is already a powerful tool in healthcare with great potential to relieve the burden on healthcare staff. In these two areas, we have launched new products from the CGM Group that we have adapted for the Swedish market in 2025. 

What do you see as the benefits of CGM Sweden's membership of TechSverige?

- It is important that we as an industry come together to create the conditions for sustainable business and working life, especially at a time of rapid technological development and major changes in the world around us. To be competitive in a global market, we need to be innovative, fast and flexible. Through collaboration within TechSverige, we can learn from each other. The opportunities for support and advice in various areas that TechSverige offers are also valuable. Together, we can also influence legislation, regulatory frameworks and not least their interpretation.