I'm sure my colleagues at Deutsche Bahn know this feeling very well: No matter your role or what company within the group you work for, you are responsible in the eyes of your friends and family for the train delays and cancellations. Yes, our group and the entire sector are going through some difficult challenges. However, the reasons behind these problems are not always immediately visible to the public.
Furthermore, the implementation of digital solutions across the group, the relentless motivation of my colleagues, and political engagement make me highly optimistic about the future of public transportation.
Public transportation and railway, in particular, will play a significant role in reducing CO2 emissions and achieving Germany's climate goals.
Since it is quite impossible to list all the problems on a single paper, mine will focus on a few keys challenges within the public transport sector and how technology and digitalization can help to enhance customer-centricity, customer experience, productivity, and profitability.
2. 2
Introduction
Climate change and its consequences are currently a major topic amongst governments, cor-
porations, and citizens. The urge to develop sustainable solutions to tackle one of our civiliza-
tion’s biggest challenges is dramatically increasing and businesses are being given a big share
of accountability along the process.
Additionally, the technology rise, and digitalization era have disruptively changed the way cus-
tomers want to be served and addressed by companies. Seamless and connected customer
experience, personalized and smart services, intuitive and real-time support are just a few of
customers’ main expectations in the current context. In order to meet these requirements,
companies have no choice but to rethink and redesign their services and business models.
The German public transport sector, and by that we mean partly public-funded companies
offering long- and short-range passenger transportation by rail or road, has been facing a slug-
gish digital transformation to improve performance. The sector is afflicted by a wide range of
challenges: Lack of innovative products, high operation costs, insufficient service performance,
soaring ticket prices and unsatisfactory customer experience are just a few. Although the over-
all number of public transport users in Germany is constantly growing1
, several of the issues
in the sector are nevertheless pushing many customers to shift towards cars for their daily
routine, leading to even more congested and polluted cities. Considering the demographic
development of Germany, with more people flocking to cities, additional cars on the roads will
pose social, economic and environmental challenges for many cities.
However, the environment, climate, and energy were listed as the main concerns in Germany
in 20192
. These concerns are addressed by the German government’s commitment to lever-
age all means to curve air pollution, by unveiling a multi-billion plan for climate policies, and
allocating the biggest financial package ever to Deutsche Bahn3
.
With financial packages and advantageous policies, public transport is in a privileged position
to tackle climate change and lower CO2 emissions.
But why are public transport companies in Germany still struggling to meet their customers’
expectations? Is the connection of different transport services and modes on a digital platform
the solution to enable an ecologic, robust and customer-centric mobility in German cities?
Technology and digitalization are undoubtfully playing a major role nowadays for customer
engagement and business performance. How do we use these tools to reinvent the passenger
mobility within and between German cities, and to make the public transport sector competi-
tive, efficient, smart and attractive? That would require changes in all layers across organiza-
tions. How do we make sure that the transformation process is understood, supported and
sustainably implemented in the whole company?
This white paper analyzes the current challenges within the German public transport landscape
with companies like BVG (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe) and Deutsche Bahn. It comes out that
deficient infrastructure, high operating costs, high ticket prices, lack of innovation and insuffi-
cient connections are mainly responsible for customer dissatisfaction. Furthermore, we will
demonstrate how technology tools and innovative business models can improve service quality
and performance. Lastly, this work will examine the relevance of leadership, corporate culture
communication and agility to enable the transformation.
3. 3
The challenges in public transport sector
Old and overburdened Infrastructure
62 %
Tickets too
expensive
34%
Too many
outages and
unreliability
45%
Unpunctuality
51%
Crowded
buses and
trains
MAIN REASONS WHY GERMANS ARE LIKELY TO USE LESS
OR NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Source: ADAC e.V.4
Infrastructure, especially in railway
transport, might not be perceived by pas-
sengers as the key factor for performant
and reliable mobility. One may think that
more trains and connections alone are
enough to enhance the experience and
traffic on railways.
However, in the operations universe, the
availability, automation, and efficiency of
the rail network are crucial. Germany com-
pared to other European nations, relatively
doesn’t invest enough to modernize and
extend its network (Figure 1). Especially
when the country, in terms of network
length and passengers carried, represents
by far the biggest railway industry in Eu-
rope. Deutsche Bahn, Europe’s biggest
railway company, carried alone approxi-
mately 2,08 billion passengers in 2018, al-
most double than the French SNCF,
ranked second in the statistic5
.
The numbers of course sound astonishing
and it seems at first glance as if everything
was properly fine.
The higher number of passengers in-
creases the pressure on the already busy,
partly old and fully stretched infrastructure
network. Additionally, there is a wide range
of other sectors and companies using the
German rail infrastructure daily: Railway
Cargo represented by DB Cargo with a fleet
of approximately 70.000 wagons, several
local and international railway operators
such as Vlexx, HLB, ÖBB, SNCF, and Tha-
lys.
The results of extremely high traffics on a
tight network are massive long- and short-
distance train delays, trips cancellation and
acute capacity shortages, negatively im-
pacting customer satisfaction and discour-
aging potential travelers.
4. 4
High operating costs
362 187 183
362
165
362
160
362
128
362
73
362
69
362
38
362 362
Switzerland
Austria
Sweden
GB
Denmark
Netherlands
Italy
Germany
France
STATE INVESTMENT PER HEAD OF POPULATION IN
THE RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE
In selected European countries, in euros, 2017
Figure 1 (Source 6
: Allianz pro Schiene | 07/2018 | BMVI, VöV, SCI Verkehr)
GmbH
The reality in today’s public transport is
the elevated amount of financial re-
sources necessary to produce services.
Many public transport companies strug-
gle to keep their production systems and
assets operating efficiently and smoothly,
seeking to forbear costly downtimes. No
matter if on a national (Deutsche Bahn)
or regional level (BVG, HHA, etc.) the
materials, operating and maintenance
costs are constantly raising. Hamburger
Hochbahn, the biggest transport com-
pany in Hamburg which operates the un-
derground metro and a large part of the
bus network, saw an annual rise of ap-
proximately 4 million € between 2017 and
2018 in operation costs7
. Berlin’s BVG
witnessed an even larger increase in the
same category between 2016 and 2017
(Figure 2).
DB Fernverkehr for instance, dedicated
to intercity and international passenger
transport within the Deutsche Bahn
group, must set aside around 20 to 25 %
of each sold ticket just for the train path
fees (‘Trasse’ in German)8
. If we then
add taxes, attrition, personnel, utilities, IT
and logistic costs, it becomes clear why the
train tickets are currently so expensive. In
fact, it is common to encounter flights
cheaper than train tickets for the same con-
nection within the country. The probability
becomes particularly higher when looking
for instantaneous journeys (Figure 3).
Attributable to the heterogeneity and aging
of fleets, the maintenance costs and com-
plexity are continuously increasing for many
German transport companies. Further, the
scarcity of technical experts in the profes-
sional market accentuates the need for a
smart, efficient and automated maintenance
management.
5. 5
BVG GENERATED IN 2017 €14,7 MILLION
MORE REVENUE THAN DURING THE PRE-
VIOUS YEAR. SIMULTANEOUSLY, ITS OP-
ERATING AND MAINTENANCE EXPENSES
INCREASED BY €21,9 MILLION
2016
2017
Operations /
Maintenance costsRevenue
1.214,7 (+14,7)
1.200
307,1 (+21,9)
285,2
(in million €)
Figure 3: A spontaneous trip by train is often the most expensive
option (Skscanner | Deutsche Bahn | retrieved Dec. 27, 2019)
Figure 2: Source9
: BVG 2017 annual report
6. 6
The scarcity of connections to suburbs and rural areas
In the current social, political and ecolog-
ical context in Germany, public transport
companies’ main goal is to reduce private
vehicles’ use around the country. Alt-
hough the population’s distribution in Ger-
many is rapidly changing, with progres-
sively more people moving to cities, a
considerable amount of people still live in
suburbs and rural areas. Because of
years of savings on a local and national
level in the public transport sector, the
scarcity of transport connections and
infrastructure in those areas rose, leaving
the population no choice but to primarily
and heavily rely on personal cars for their
daily routines. The problem is getting bigger
in larger cities like Berlin, where the housing
prices in the heart of the city and population
size are constantly rising10
, forcing many
people to move further from the city center.
Low-earning population groups and senior
citizens are particularly impacted11
, taking
the problem above the transport context to
a social and government issue.
Figure 4: Distance to
the nearest transport
stopping point in Berlin
0 – 300 meters
300 – 500 meters
500 – 1000 meters
>1000 meters
Source: Tagespiegel11
Figure 5: Geographical
distribution of senior
citizens within Berlin
Source: Tagespiegel11
7. 7
The digitalization has creatively reshaped
market trends and the interaction between
customers and businesses. Customers have
come to consider fully digital, omnichannel,
personalized, smart and intuitive products as
standard.
Whereas it is normal in other sectors to expe-
rience a fully customized and digital journey
(e.g. Banking), public transport still consider-
ably lags behind12
. There are very few unin-
terrupted and immersive passenger transpor-
tations offers in Germany.
Lack of innovative services and business models
Insufficient connections to rural and suburb areas
Within the same trip, a customer often must
engage with multiple companies and sepa-
rately use different products through vari-
ous interfaces. This disconnected experi-
ence increases the complexity and reduces
transparency along the process, generally
undermining customers’ willingness to use
public transportation.
Car-Sharing
Mainzer
Mobilität /
book-n-drive
Book-n-drive
City-Bus
Mainzer
Mobilität
Mainzer
Möbilität
Bike-Sharing
Mainzer
Mobilität
meinRad
Service
Owner
Interface /
App
Moving within a city like Mainz often requires interaction with multiple interfaces,
systems, and companies. Although the providers are very close to each other, the
customer still faces a disconnected and opaque experience, which then weakens
his engagement.
Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH
8. 8
Nowadays, digital transformation has become a
broad term for redefining business and services
in the digital age. It refers to any activity using
digital technologies to solve specific problems,
adapt to newer market requirements, and en-
hance performance and efficiency within organ-
izations.
The most prominent technologies currently revo-
lutionizing companies, trends, and services (e.g.
Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence) are
modern and faster ways of processing data and
visualizing the outcome. Many companies and in-
dustries so far have implemented data technolo-
gies to improve specific processes. But only very
few have successfully managed to develop a
data strategy that is fully merged and embedded
in all layers of the organization and activities:
From decision making, product development
throughout to customer experience.
A digital, innovative and performant public transport
The opportunities and fields of application for
the public transport are endless and versatile.
Collecting, analyzing and processing data to
overcome business challenges is at the core of
the digital transformation: Data is the new gold!
Speed up
decision-
making
process
Data
Enhance
product
experience
Increase
revenue
Optimize
customer
satisfaction
Increase effi-
ciency and
internal
transparency
Data Strategy
IT and business stakeholders can
team up to develop a data strat-
egy supporting all relevant goals
and activities within the company
9. 9
Improving and automating processes with
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning
Companies are now aware of the potentials and
opportunities laying behind AI and machine
learning algorithms. Many manual tasks can be
automatically, smartly and accurately per-
formed by algorithms, increasing efficiency and
speeding up processes.
In Germany, most public transport companies
still perform timetable management and dispo-
sition manually. Taking different parameters
such as traffic conditions, atmospheric condi-
tions, personnel capacity, and infrastructure
availabilities into account, smart algorithms can
accurately and much faster optimize routes,
thus considerably reducing large delays and
cancellations.
DB Netz AG is currently working on a concept
to fully digitize and automate the rail train path’
booking process. For many years, over 12.000
traffic officers routed more than 40.000 trains
through the German rail network daily. The re-
ality was a long booking process, inefficient and
manual route design, which resulted in over-
stretched network capacity and numerous de-
lays. The new processes powered by intelligent
algorithms will considerably reduce the booking
procedure down to a few minutes and increase
network availability.
In a sector where skilled workers, tools and re-
sources are lacking, companies are using algo-
rithms to analyze real-time data, identify pat-
terns, and predict technical failures before they
happen: Predictive maintenance. Current oper-
ations and usage data combined with historical
data, then aggregated in a regression and clas-
sification model can accurately determine when
a specific technical failure is likely to happen.
Thereby, a sudden shortage through unex-
pected failure can be prevented as the asset
can proactively and efficiently be directed into
the maintenance process. Costs and resources
are saved since technical operations are per-
formed only when indispensable. Furthermore,
avoiding and minimizing downtimes can greatly
increase customer satisfaction.
Many of us have been stranded at least once
during a trip because a train or bus had an
unexpected technical malfunction and
know very well the frustration and anger
that are triggered by such negative ex-
periences. The tasks preceding the re-
pair itself can as well be redesigned and
automated. The system can autono-
mously determine where the next ac-
cessible repair shop is located, and
check if capacity, material, and know-
how necessary to fulfill the work are
available. Manual intervention and error
margin are dramatically reduced, sav-
ing the company time and money.
Keeping track in real-time with IoT
and cloud connectivity
BVG owns a fleet of over 3.100 vehi-
cles. Giant Deutsche Bahn owns a fleet
of approximately 29.000 vehicles for the
passenger transport (DB Fernverkehr,
DB Arriva and DB Regio)13
. Traditional
monitoring, with manual inspectors reg-
ularly controlling the fleet state, seems
nearly impossible nowadays: At least
not in an efficient and cost-saving way.
The introduction and success of IoT de-
vices (sensors, telematic devices, tags,
drones, etc.) enabled a rich and quick
experience in infrastructure and asset
monitoring. Predictive Maintenance
combined with intelligent IoT devices
will not only reduce the costs and com-
plexity behind the processes, but also
simultaneously increase both service
reliability and quality.
Fixed in strategic locations (e.g. bus de-
pots), cameras can routinely examine
the external frame any time a bus drive
through. Vibration and thermal sensors
can promptly detect unusual engine be-
havior. Thus, tracking the overall asset
health and decommissioning parts after
a failure or at the end of the lifecycle be-
comes much simpler.
10. 10
01010101010101010101010101010101010101
01010101010101010101010101010101010101
01010101011010101010101010110101010101
CONNECTED VEHICLES AND DEVICES
REAL-TIME DATA PROCESSING
REAL-TIME DATA AVAILABILITY TO BUSINESS STAKEHOLDERS
Disposition
Teams
Decision
Makers
Sales &
Marketing
Maintenance
Mgmt
Following a data strategy, IoT and smart data can be processed and visualized
through KPI-dashboards or alerts. Enabling:
• Faster decision making
• Reliable, robust and automated processes
• Greater costs reduction
• Productivity improvement
• Product and customer experience optimization
11. 11
Cutting down education and training costs with Augmented and Virtual Reality
Remote, on-demand, individual
trainings will improve educa-
tion’s quality, while decreasing
travel and training expenses.
With IoT connectivity, customer and product
experience as well can be innovatively rein-
vented.
Optical IoT sensors installed in trains, trams,
and buses can measure the real-time load
level. By embedding and processing IoT data
in cloud infrastructure, warnings can be sent
if a predefined limit is reached. Customers
willing or waiting to take the upcoming but
fully-loaded vehicle can be incentivized (by
discounts or bonus points) to consider a later
connection or different public transport mode.
This will improve:
(i) Customer engagement: clear and
transparent vehicle capacity and full
control by customer.
(ii) Customer retention: incentives like
discounts and bonus programs are likely
to retain customers. More importantly,
the interaction allows companies to bet-
ter understand their customers and opti-
mize their services.
(iii) Customer experience: having a tool
to curve overloaded buses and trains.
AR and VR (collectively mixed reality or XR)
for many years were considered by various to
be a science-fiction toy with no relevance for
businesses. Nowadays, the mentioned tech-
nology is widespread across different sectors,
setting the ground for a broad range of use
cases.
On account of extensive legal and operational
requirements in the public transport sector,
safety and technical trainings are mandatory.
And costly! Having teams and facilities geo-
graphically dispersed can make physical
knowledge-transfer turn into a financial and
logistic burden.
Using XR for this purpose can dramati-
cally reduce costs and increase produc-
tivity. With interactive and immersive vis-
ualizations in which objects look and be-
have like reality, employees can enjoy
training from anywhere and at any given
time.
The quality of the training and thus per-
formance on the job can be highly en-
hanced since learning pace and content
can be individually customized.
12. 12
Powered by the internet and digitalization,
platform business models encountered a
huge success and radically transformed cus-
tomer experience. Through platforms, prices
and offers transparency, flexibility and com-
fort for the customer are boosted. In fact,
many of the most successful business stories
such as Amazon or Airbnb are based on plat-
form business models.
In a constant effort to increase the quality of
life by reducing personal cars’ traffic in cities,
integrating all available mobility offers into a
digital service ecosystem can be a key meas-
ure to accelerate public transport use. With
the technology rise and constantly evolving
business trends, customers have come to
consider digital ecosystems, with all related
services bundled into a single space, as
standards. The main goal is to generate
greater customer engagement and experi-
ence.
Although we have witnessed the introduction
of innovative mobility services such as E-roll-
ers, sharing-bikes, and shuttle services, full
integration into a common interface is barely
present in the German public transport
scene, with only a few products such as Jelbi
in Berlin. Public transport customers in the
German capital city now have a better over-
view of diverse mobility offers near them and
are therefore much more flexible with their
planning.
Larger transport companies such as BVG in
this case, should rightfully take the lead in in-
corporating other smaller private or public
mobility offers into a single marketplace.
Deutsche Bahn as the biggest mobility oper-
ator in Germany could enable on the national
level an integrated mobility offer using a digi-
tal platform. The company recently intro-
duced innovative products such as the shut-
tle-service ioki, and previously, sharing-ser-
vices like Flinkster and DB call a bike. Within
this network, Deutsche Bahn could generate
a door-to-door trip for customers traveling
from and to not so well-connected areas, in-
cluding first and last miles through different
services like call a bike and ioki.
Digital platforms and service ecosystems
Run by BVG, the project Jelbi bundles dozens of mo-
bility services in Berlin, including taxis, on a digital
platform. Customers now have a single point of infor-
mation and interaction for their inner-city mobility.
Even though aforementioned solutions
could play a crucial role in the future of
public transport, the exclusion of foreign-
ers and tourists still is a critical element.
The services of Jelbi are only accessible
to holders of EU driving licenses and IDs.
Considering that the city of Berlin re-
ceived over 5 million international visitors
in 201814
, the presence of such guide-
lines is excluding millions of potential
customers. Therefore, reducing regional
barriers and overall facilitating platform
access to different customer groups re-
mains an important component to gener-
ate more users and profitability.
13. 13
ITINERARY
TIER
14:40 Mainz, Goetheplatz
14:45 Mainz, Goetheplatz
Bus 69 Messe Mainz
15:07 Mainz, Landwehrweg
15:08 Mainz, Landwehrweg
meinRad
15:12 Mainz, Albanusstrasse 10
4,15€BOOK
Consolidating mobility offers under a digital platform and generating
trips with all different available vehicles will enhance public transport
use.
Sunday, 05.01.2020
14:30 Mainz, Central Station
15:12 Mainz, Albanusstrasse 10
14:30 Mainz, Central Station
14. 14
Accelerating digitalization with a robust organizational
transformation
There is no doubt that a digitalization program
requires the implementation of technology in
all relevant areas, to support and accelerate
business performance.
However, the organizational transformation
that should imperatively and with the identical
criticality be coupled with, is often and wrong-
fully neglected. Chances for success are very
narrow if the different layers and departments
within the organization are not fully support-
ive and aligned about the vision and efforts in
a digital transformation context. This can be
achieved through excellent leadership, trans-
parent communication, and adequate corpo-
rate culture.
Leadership
Next to technical and strong business pro-
cess understanding, companies would need
to equip leaders with a specific set of soft
skills in order to empower and push their
teams to embrace the changes. Conse-
quently, this would make the role and defini-
tion of leadership more versatile than ever.
Alongside traditional leadership skills such as
result orientation, motivation, and teamwork,
five additional skills will be necessary in a
constantly-evolving environment:
Purpose: Leaders will embody their teams’
goals as a common purpose: ‘Why should we
do it? What greater purpose are we seeking?’
With a clear purpose in mind, motivation and
productivity could be boosted within teams.
BVG employees actively working on innova-
tive solutions to increase public transport use
and decrease air pollution in Berlin could
rightfully be perceived as a greater purpose.
Authenticity: a challenge in a faster-changing
environment is to remain true to oneself and
reassure the people around.
Adaptability: Leaders and their teams must
be adaptive and ready against changes and
disruptions.
Resilience: a transformation is never easy, no
matter the size or the sector of a company.
Leaders and teams must be prepared to fail
at different steps. More importantly, they
must learn how to quickly bounce back and
should not lose sight of the main goal.
Systemic Thinking: Leaders must develop
techniques to quickly gain insights into com-
plex challenges to make the right decisions
faster.
Inclusive and clear communication
A transformation can only be successful if the
required measures are fully and repeatedly
communicated and explained. Particularly in
large organizations, the key messages do not
always reach everyone. CEOs and senior
managers must take the lead and relentlessly
remind the employees why, how and with
what expectations the organization is seeking
a transformation. For this purpose, innovative
communication tools (Social media networks,
internal podcasts, etc.) and channels can be
implemented to reach every employee.
Additionally, potential influencers (e.g. work-
ing council representatives) should serve as
amplifiers across the organization and the
communication distance to the management
board can be reduced through face-to-face
meeting formats.
More often, companies will be pushed to
adapt and redesign their corporate culture to
succeed in a transformation process.
15. 15
Corporate culture
In a faster-evolving business environment,
corporate culture is now one of the most im-
portant elements for attracting talents and in-
creasing a company’s value. Thus, compa-
nies are pushed to encourage a set of specific
values across the organization to enable and
accelerate the transformation.
Encourage risk-taking
Innovation and disruption are mostly trig-
gered by adventurous and self-confident peo-
ple. Companies should empower their em-
ployees and give them the necessary frame-
work to develop and implement their ideas.
However, this comes with financial risks as
failures will occasionally occur. Organizations
must carefully assess the financial impacts
and the innovation’ criticality to develop a
sustainable risk-taking frame.
Foster external cooperation
To support the digital transformation, compa-
nies typically use their resources or contract
a solutions provider. Nevertheless, savings,
know-how, and efficiency could be amplified
by partnering with companies from the same
sector. Although operating in different regions
with different products, companies across the
public transport sector often have the same
challenges. Therefore ‘Coopetition’ can result
in common benefits and accelerate the trans-
formation within the whole sector.
Deutsche Bahn and SNCF, the two biggest
European railway companies, entered back
in 2018 a partnership to speed up innovation
in the railway sector. Experts from different
departments across the two companies are
joining resources and know-how to develop
digital solutions, for instance, Visual Inspec-
tion, Data Sharing, and Robot Operating Sys-
tem.
Besides collaborating with business competi-
tors, working with start-ups can also boost in-
novation in the public transport sector. Start-
ups with their new methods and out-of-the-
box thinking generally drive modern solutions
to specific problems. Furthermore, they bring
the agility, digital DNA and high motivation
that older and larger organizations often lack.
Major German players like Deutsche Bahn
and BVG are successfully teaming up with
start-ups to introduce ground-breaking dig-
ital solutions. As mentioned before, the ris-
ing maintenance and training costs, cou-
pled with the lack of skilled personnel are a
burden for both operations and profitability
in the sector. Munich based start-up VIS-
COPIC is helping DB Netz to revolutionize
training and professional development, us-
ing augmented reality. Through 3-Dimen-
sional drawing of heavy assets such as
railroad switches and immersive content,
training quality and performance on the job
are being increased.
Agile working methods
The agile way rapidly gained fame in the
software industry but was successively im-
plemented in many other sectors. Being
able to react accordingly and fast to rapidly
changing business needs requires agility
within organizations. Agile working meth-
ods can help companies to enhance effi-
ciency and productivity, and to reduce bu-
reaucracy. In an agile environment, close
collaboration between teams with different
backgrounds allows fast, flexible and bet-
ter product developments. One of the main
and most important points is the relevance
of the customer during product develop-
ment. The customer is seen as a valuable
part of the process, providing teams with
valuable feedback and insights from a dif-
ferent perspective, therefore enhancing
the quality and acceptance of final prod-
ucts.
16. 16
Conclusion
In the wake of digitalization and favorable policies linked with climate protection in Germany,
public transport is being offered a unique tailwind to transform into a much more performant,
reliable and profitable sector. On a national and European level, large funds and support pro-
grams have been leveraged to make public transport more attractive and efficient. Despite all
the challenges and customer dissatisfaction, the demand for public transport services in Ger-
many is steadily rising. However, larger investments in newer fleets and modern infrastructure
alone will not be enough. Companies must additionally excel at developing thoroughgoing
strategies and intelligent processes. Further, they should gain more agility to quickly adapt to
faster-evolving business environments.
Technology and digital tools provide a strong fundament to improve and automate processes,
enhance customer experience, introduce new products and business models. Furthermore,
they represent the main pillars of the fourth industrial revolution. Although each industrial rev-
olution so far had faced skepticism and sometimes even rejection from public opinion and
workforces, it is important to remember that they brought mankind and economies considera-
ble advancements. In fact, digitalization is not about replacing the workforce, but mainly about
handling tasks easier, smarter and faster.
Having said that, the main challenge will not only be to implement innovative technologies, but
also to successfully align the whole organization with a common vision and goal. This will
require leaders who can inspire, empower and lead employees to find their contribution. Be-
yond that, corporate culture will continue to play a major role in value creation and competi-
tiveness.
