From production and purchasing to marketing, sales, and logistics - digitisation no longer only affects individual business divisions and departments, nowadays it determines the entire company's value chain.
The digital transformation is affecting us closely too - it challenges us in new ways and offers new opportunities. In doing so, we aim to do one thing above all: create intelligent and future-proof solutions that enable our customers to successfully master the growing complexity of today and tomorrow.
Leaving the one-way street of linear structures and thinking and acting instead in a networked way, is getting more and more important. For this reason, we are increasingly focusing on the challenges and requirements of our customers and the dynamics of the markets. We are developing new digital business models and are constantly putting our way of working and thinking to the test.
Digital business models
We already offer numerous intelligent products and systems with the help of which our customers can access data evaluations from anywhere in the world, download detailed evaluations of battery and charger data and operate battery management efficiently. With our energy contracting model trak | ecomizer, we provide the intralogistics industry with a needs-based solution for billing the traction energy used without having to invest in batteries or chargers. This means that our customers always have the amount of traction energy they need at any given time - comparable to electricity from the mains.
To meet the increasing demands on digital business models as well as processes, we have assembled an interdisciplinary team that deals with the development of new digital business ideas, process optimisation and the use of digital technologies within the company. We have been asking ourselves why we don't directly generate an interface between our customers' ERP system and ours in order to be able to process orders and exchange information quickly, simply and easily. So we are currently working on setting up such an interface. We are expanding our digital solutions, such as condition monitoring, optimising existing data evaluation tools and creating new digital infrastructure modules so that we can offer even more customized services in the future - e.g. automated reports and future forecasts about possible maintenance or irregularities of batteries and chargers.
Exploiting synergy effects
In addition, we are working together on projects within the entire HOPPECKE group using various collaboration tools to exploit synergies and to be able to offer more agility overall. The founding of our sister company INTILION, which is shaping the energy transition of tomorrow with innovative ideas and new ways of thinking and working, has played a very decisive role in ensuring that we as a family-owned company with almost 100 years of history, have rolled up our sleeves and made room for new working concepts.
We have discovered many new ideas and collaboration tools, such as Microsoft Teams or Yammer, and were able to benefit from the experience of our young, dynamic sister company. Internal evaluation options developed by INTILION, for example of delivery and processing times, are also already being used at HOPPECKE today.
Modern coworking spaces in the heart of Paderborn
"To be successful in long term, a broad-based network as well as quick reactions and responses to rapidly changing circumstances are necessary," explains Boris Langerbein, Head of Collaboration and Cooperation at INTILION and Managing Director of INTILION Hub GmbH. Our sister company is working on various exciting projects together with start-ups and students. Founded in January 2020 INTILION HUB promotes in-house exchange, as well as cooperation with students. For example, the company is currently working with students on market validation for mobile energy solutions. The aim is to identify the requirements of the markets and case studies from users and to establish to what extent INTILION can expand its product portfolio with suitable products.
Reaching customers digitally
Not least due to the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, digital communication (both internal and external) has increased significantly. Home offices, virtual conferences as well as digital alternatives for trade fairs and events, show that without good networking and the use of digital communication channels, "normal" work is hardly possible these days.
With that in mind, we have strengthened our presence in social media, expanded the existing webshop, created a customer portal for traders and partners and taken the energy world to an interactive level. In this way, we quickly and easily offer support to anyone looking for specific information about our products.
Digitisation objectives as important milestone for the further development of our company
Due to the advancing digitisation of the working world, it is essential for us to sensitise, inform and train our employees to successfully master the digital transformation. We do this at the HOPPECKE Academy, where training courses and seminars on digitisation topics and tools can be attended. Furthermore, we use digital collaboration tools, continuously expand our e-learning system (HOPPECKE Learning World) as well as tools and programmes. Furthermore, we have included a digitisation goal in our objective and performance system.
