HOW DO YOU CONNECT NETWORKS?
BPW CONTINUES TO PUSH AHEAD WITH ITS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND AIMS TO MERGE ALL OF THE GROUP’S IT LANDSCAPES INTO ONE GLOBAL NETWORK. IN THE PROCESS, BPW IS CHANGING FAR MORE THAN JUST TECHNOLOGY AND SYSTEMS.
DIGITISATION IS PART OF A FAR-REACHING CULTURAL SHIFT
The BPW Group consists of 60 different worldwide subsidiaries and national companies. From foundry to spare parts dealer, from agricultural technology manufacturer to telematics specialist, the BPW Group’s fields of activity are extremely diverse – and the associated IT systems therefore also very different. The BPW Group’s IT strategy aims to harmonise these IT landscapes. In the future, Group-wide “IT hubs” will relieve the burden on the subsidiaries, and software and the IT infrastructure will migrate to the cloud. Usually companies implement such IT projects to achieve cost efficiency, transparency and synergy effects.
As managing partner, Michael Pfeiffer is also pursuing strategic goals: “BPW sees itself as a system partner to vehicle manufacturers and as a mobility partner to vehicle operators. It is now becoming clear just why digitisation is so strategically important to us: in the field of running gear technology, it enables a completely new type of system partnership in configuration and assembly. And we are intensifying our mobility partnerships with vehicle operators through innovative telematics, mechatronic innovations and a digitised spare parts supply.”
 |
Michael Pfeiffer continues: “Our strategy acts as a common theme, guiding us to systematically view things from the customer’s perspective and prioritise them accordingly. This allows us to gradually implement large projects in an agile manner without overwhelming the organization.” To Michael Pfeiffer, however, the most important factor for success is not just the technology, but the corporate
culture:
“Innovation isn’t achieved through bureaucracy, but by trusting in our teams’ capabilities. Digitisation is also always a change project – it strengthens the role of the customer and empowers the employees.”
Michael Pfeiffer
Chief Information Officer
BPW Group
“The IT teams need to be courageous when dealing with changes, particularly complex ones – in order to create a paradigm, cultural shift together with the front-line employees.”
Roman Rapoport
The IT teams therefore focus pragmatically on tasks that bring tangible benefits to the customer. The aim is not only to streamline or automate processes, but also to lay the foundations for new, digital business models. Instead of developing drawn-out road maps that are already obsolete before even being implemented, all of the agile teams work in coordinated sprints. “This is how we
quickly achieve tangible results,” explains CIO Roman Rapoport, “but we can also quickly identify and correct errors in a timely manner this way.” In the process, the team constantly reviews whether
the originally defined requirements are still valid and quickly makes adjustments, if necessary. “The world just keeps on turning,” says Rapoport, “and BPW also develops new ideas in collaboration with its customers and our subsidiaries, which we can then integrate seamlessly.”
