FIT Customer Innovation Day 2019 with BBH

Ben Heigert May 2, 2019 4 MINUTE READ

According to the motto „simplyTRANSFORM,“ another Customer Innovation Day hosted by Freudenberg IT (FIT) took place on the 04/11/2019. Topic areas of the event, referred to / covered by various presentations during breakout sessions, were the „Cloud,“ „Internet of Things,“ „SAP S4HANA,“ „Security & Modern Workplace“ and the main focus „simplyTRANSFORM“. We from BBH were invited by Ralf Sürken, CEO Europe of the FIT, for an interview about our CO/MM/A (Corporate Mood & Mind Approach) approach and to facilitate a breakout session on the topic.

People Change as Essential Approach on the Way to the New World of Work

After a short introduction into the day by FIT, the award-winning speaker Steven McAuley gave a keynote speech on the topic Artificial Intelligence (AI). He regularly inspires his audience with practical success stories about AI and intends to reduce fear: Yes! We live in the middle of digitalization but we at least have the opportunity to shape its direction and the changes that influence our daily lives. However, there is still the question: How do we manage to shift the mindset and behaviors of employees? How can the abstract term digitalization be made tangible for them? How can they turn from a „change victim“ towards a proactive designer of the future? Most of our BBH clients are currently facing these questions along with the technological requirements and the existence of a digital strategy having to be guaranteed. Even more so, the people change plays a core role. Therefore, a positive mood and mindset of the employees in an organization towards change is critical for success.

A clear digital strategy is crucial yet not sufficient to really get the team emotionally engaged. It is necessary to transfer the goals and longterm milestones onto the different organizational levels and to involve the employees from beginning on in order to enable their identification with the digital strategy and the related changes.

Successfully Transform Changes with the BBH CO/MM/A Approach

By presenting our CO/MM/A (Corporate Mood & Mind Approach) approach, Volker Abt, managing partner at the BBH, referred to these topics and discussed with Ralf Sürken during the interview, on the main stage, how to sustainably anchor digital technologies in the daily business of people and what role organizational development plays in IT transformation projects. During the breakout session in the early evening, the audience was given a live demonstration of how we, the BBH, supported by a webbased software solution for the monitoring of the current mood and mindset of the employees, accompany change and develop tailored change management measures for our clients. The implementation of a cloud-based ERP system, for instance, often results in huge disengagement and, therefore, bad mood in the wokforce. By constantly listening to the organization, resistance can be quickly identified and measures taken.

The event provided various insights into the focus topics of digitalization as well as the core challenges for companies and offered a platform for mutual exchange. Sincere thanks to Freudenberg IT and, in particular, Ralf Sürken for the opportunity to present our approach on People Change.

Volker Abt (Managing Partner, BBH) and Ralf Sürken (CEO, FIT)