Innovation

Despite or just because of Corona we are fully on course for digitalisation

30. 04. 2020

Although the Corona crisis will keep the world on suspense for a while, it also has something positive for us: it has brought us a significant step forward regarding digitalization and in remote working with employees, customers and partners. The blindfolds have dropped. Digital work is successful. What's more: digitization forces us to break new ground, it navigates us through the crisis and far beyond into a hopefully stable future.

The entire Rail Cargo Group was changed over to home office from one day to the next in mid-March as a result of the stricter exit restrictions imposed by the Austrian government. Within a very short time, we got an idea of what digitalisation actually enables.

We have seen what actually works when suddenly nothing works anymore.

Only through the perfect interplay of digital processes and working methods, the awakening of the potential of our IT systems - keyword collaborative working with Office 365 - were we able to maintain our customer support without interruption or, precisely for this reason, to ensure the entire operation of the Rail Cargo Group.

This shows us once again that digitalisation is more than ever setting the pace for progress, innovation and process development. 

Office 365 - the digital office of today

Instead of traveling to a personal business meeting with customers, instead of business trips with international business partners, a stream is called up on the computer screen at home and negotiations and conversations are conducted via video chat.

Conference calls and Microsoft Team Live Events replace face-to-face meetings in meeting rooms. Instead of being in the office, discussions are taking place via Microsoft Teams, processes and work steps are coordinated, documents and information are exchanged and weekly journeys are made.

We have learned to become more efficient and compact.

In general, more and more people are picking up the phone again in order to coordinate decisions with customers or business partners quickly and at short notice. Of course, most of these digital platforms and systems existed before Corona, and of course they are nothing new for the young, network-oriented generation. But a large part of the society is only now learning the digital ABC and is only now beginning to understand that much more is possible in the field of digital communication - and that the Internet has much more to offer beyond Google, Netflix and Facebook. And as we practice in our daily work with digital technologies, new ideas and new business models will emerge that will not only take us a decisive step forward into a stable and successful future.

This is also what Corona makes possible.

About the author Brigitte Hafner

was a communicator in the ÖBB Rail Cargo Group