Socially distanced, digitally connected: a mobile platform to bring workers together
The Swiss technology firm isolutions has developed software it hopes can address the challenges of distance working that impact on so many during the COVID-19 crisis. As distance working becomes the new normal for many and moves back into an office environment look insecure, moving the workplace online effectively is becoming a key to helping our economies thrive. The spin-off www.aheadintranet.com (ahead AG) offers a digital platform that can easily be rolled out to workers as a mobile app. It provides a two-way channel of communication to staff, particularly those who are not desk-bound as part of their daily duties.
From workplace to workspace
“Digital transformation has a lot to do with company culture, especially in manufacturing, facilities management and industries where companies find it difficult to communicate with their non-desk-based workers,” says Pascal Grossniklaus, product manager at isolutions, and project coordinator of EU-funded ahead. These employees, he notes, tend to receive news about the company via blackboards in the break room or via supervisors, with little ability to feed information and opinions back to upper management. Company intranets tend to be slow to install and short-live, and fail to engage with employees. Then came COVID-19. “We have customers who had to shut down production areas during the pandemic, all over the world, in China, Mexico and Poland,” says Grossniklaus. Keeping in touch with blue-collar workers proved difficult for many of these companies who had previously felt it wasn’t necessary to onboard them onto digital services. “One had 6 500 employees and wasn’t able to reach them. It was really problematic, not being able to communicate about when they should return to work, what they should do in the meantime, and whether they would be paid. All this adds to the overall feeling of insecurity,” he explains. “The employees started to create WhatsApp groups with team leaders to get information. But with 6 500 employees, this is a mess.”
More effective communication leads to increased productivity
On top of solving communication issues, Grossniklaus estimates that an effective digital platform can enable up to 25 % greater productivity across the value chain and add more than EUR 100 billion in value across industries with a majority of non-desk workers. While the ahead app allows staff to share information with each other, it also provides a way to challenge employees with occasional questions about company values, identifying the level of agreement across the business. “Companies with better alignment of their workforce with company vision have more overall success in terms of customer satisfaction, revenue and profit,” adds Grossniklaus. “For digital transition, you need people in your company to drive this change, and it’s important to know which people are influencers in the company.”
EU funding takes the work to the next level
The project was supported by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. Grossniklaus says the funding helped isolutions develop models to quantify workplace cultural alignment with backing from Zurich University of Applied Sciences. “Without this study, we would just be another employee app,” he notes. “With this study, we can have a great economic impact for industries struggling with digital transformation.” Grossniklaus now plans to grow the product, first in Switzerland and then in western Europe and the United States, and secure investment to further develop its cultural alignment capabilities.
Keywords
ahead, app, communication, digital, platform, worker, manufacturing, facilities, management, COVID-19
