Category Lounge: Story in the 5/2022 Issue of the German Trade Magazine 'O+P Fluidtechnik'

Mark Wever How can companies sensibly prepare for this? What other opportunities and challenges will digital technologies and services provide for the fluid technology industry? My present experience is that today’s technology offers us almost limitless possibilities. Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer companies not dealing intensively with these issues. Otherwise this would have undoubtedly led to them dropping out of the market in the long term. The challenge for most companies, in my estimation, is to adopt a compulsory digi- talisation strategy, take the concrete next steps, and imple- ment them systematically. As the opportunities seem almost limitless, it is a major challenge to identify applications where these technologies deliver tangible benefits to customers. Too many things are started in parallel, people tend to get bogged down, and this leads to few visible and useful results. Digital sales channels offer great opportunities, but also risks. From the customers’ perspective, these channels offer many ben- efits, including full transparency about availability and prices. Customers expect a B2B shopping experience that they are also familiar with from their personal B2C environment. I sim- ply give up if I first need to register privately to view prices, need to click through lots of pages to reach the product I want, and don’t immediately get all the information that matters to me. Why should it be any different with B2B? As the saying goes... the competition is just a click away. They need to be bold and continuously question the status quo. They need to create a basic environment that fosters innovations. But that sounds easier than it actually is. It goes all the way to the company’s core DNA. Manufactur- ers, in particular, tend to see themselves as manufacturers of a certain product. They don’t realise that customers aren’t really concerned with the product per se, but with the problem that the product solves. If I focus too much on this product, I am no longer open to other ways of solv- ing the problem. This prevents disruptive innovation. Dig- ital technologies, in particular, are once again speeding up the pressure on innovation. We also have to understand that software development needs to become a core compe- tency in our companies. It also means that all employees need to learn to become competent in the use of digital tools. I would be happy if in future we no longer need stand-alone digitalisation units in companies, as this knowledge and expertise will be anchored in all operation- al departments throughout the company as a matter of course. www.stauff.com