On the way to Workforce 4.0
Andreas F.J. Obereder
CEO and Founder | ATOSS
Interview, Annual Report 2015
Mr. Obereder, it's nice to see you again after another successful year. The tenth successful year in succession. Congratulations.
Thank you, it’s indeed a good feeling to see how many companies from all sectors of industry are looking at workforce management issues. And of course it's an even better feeling that we occupy a central position in companies' deliberations. That is a good position for the next decade.
When you look back over the last ten years, what has changed?
A great deal, actually. Many companies’ strategic considerations focused initially on the product and then on prices. Today, workforce management is firmly established as a senior management issue. Ten years ago, companies ushered us in through the rear entrance, whereas today we are knocking on boardroom doors. Demand-driven workforce management has become a major competitive advantage.
That is also reflected in the ATOSS portfolio. A lot has happened ...
You are right. We have achieved a lot in terms of product and technology. We invest around 20 percent of our revenue in research and development every year. Naturally, this has to pay off for customers and shareholders alike. For example, we have made significant advances in our enterprise solution, its full functional scope is now available in a browser edition. This gives our customers an entirely new dimension of user experience – highly efficient and effective in its ease of use, combined with ultra-modern design. With all our innovations, we attach great significance to ensuring that they can also be used seamlessly by long-standing customers. Companies such as Deutsche Bahn switch from one technology to the next – and we have now completed four such technology leaps. These leaps involve transferring all the data and settings in the process. In the last few years, we have invested almost 100 million euros in the performance, stability and above all the scalability of our software setting. This gives our customers a unique security of investment.
Today, we are working on the solutions for 2025. This means our customers can always trust in getting the most advanced technologies. Our decision to also offer all our product lines in the cloud is part of the same approach.
Our solutions are at home wherever the task is to systematically align workforce management with the demands of the company, make personnel processes more flexible and boost productivity. For this, national borders are of little consequence.
Andreas F.J. Obereder | CEO and Founder, ATOSS
How has the subject of the cloud been received in the market?
Surprisingly well, we were actually expecting a longer lead-in period. Companies such as Bank Austria, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pandora or VAPIANO all opted for our cloud solution last year. And demand is steadily rising.
That's quite a range ...
Yes, we are now the full range provider in the market. And that doesn't just apply to our products. The full potential of workforce management can only be unlocked if processes, organization and IT solutions are intelligently coordinated. We have specialists for all these areas in our team. Our customers not only appreciate us as the most powerful workforce management system provider, but also as process consultants commanding in-depth, best practice experience gained from thousands of successful projects. In line with this approach, we do not define project success as just another IT system running for the customer in the end, but by the effects achieved – for the company and its staff.
A propos market presence: One could say that ATOSS is seeded to win orders in German-speaking countries. But how do things stand with your activities abroad?
We are pursuing several models. We have been supporting our global customers such as Lufthansa, HORNBACH, Playmobil or W.L. Gore in foreign markets for years. And of course we are winning own projects such the recent addition of LACOSTE in the Netherlands and Belgium. Or Toys"R"Us as well. We are in the process of introducing the ATOSS Retail Solution in Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. And this shows up the entire bandwidth of local requirements in which companies have to operate – from the greatest possible flexibility in Great Britain through to the rigid statutory framework in Spain. Regardless of the requirements, we deliver to our customers based on a global, standardized solution. We create transparency and the ability to strategically steer workforce management across national borders. With regard to future growth, we have firmly decided on international partnerships. Our Alliances Team is engaged in intensive discussions with companies that make a good match with us and our portfolio. Besides Germany, we have established own offices in Austria, Switzerland, Romania and the Netherlands.
That shows that you already have substantial international experience ...
Indeed. We support our customers all around the globe with best practice know-how – from the USA to Japan. We know the legislation, regulations and specifics in more than 40 countries, and we can confidently state that we are able to map and cover these factors in the standard versions of our software. Our solutions are at home wherever the task is to systematically align workforce management with the demands of the company, make personnel processes more flexible and boost productivity. For this, national borders are of little consequence.
You are certainly right there. Workforce management is becoming more and more important on the world stage. I find that in my seminars in America or Asia to the same extent as in Europe.
The question of “who works when and where and at what cost” and “how I can deploy my existing resources more efficiently and flexibly” are among those that occupy managers in New Zealand or Mexico just as much as here in the EU. We shouldn't forget that Germany is seen around the world as a paragon of economic success. People are very open to innovative concepts. This includes a smart approach to handling working time as enabled by professional workforce management. And that is precisely our strength – at home and abroad.
The results are impressive ...
They speak for themselves. Around 150 potential analyses carried out in the last two years alone show clearly where potential is concealed in retailing, healthcare, service industries, logistics and manufacturing. Naturally, the intensity with which the solution is used and the optimization of processes all along the value chain also play a major role. But just to illustrate the scale involved: the average potential benefit of demandoptimized workforce management for a company with 1,000 employees is in the millions per year. The investment usually pays for itself within 12 months. There are other important effects besides the purely financial benefits. In many cases, employee turnover rates decline and loyalty improves significantly. The observance of legislation and company agreements is a further, central benefit of our workforce management solutions.
Retailing is one of your core sectors. What is your success rooted in?
Many customers such as CHRIST, Douglas and HORNBACH rely on a multi-channel strategy and are therefore looking for solutions which help them achieve the best possible management of their workforce on the shopfloor, in order-taking call centers and on the Internet. Our software can be profitably deployed in all these areas. Other customers such as Kastner & Öhler create special shopping experiences as their criterion of differentiation. In any case, it is important to offer the optimum service level that matches the business model – in spite of longer opening hours and many part-time workers. We are now also supporting numerous retail companies such as dm-drogerie markt, EDEKA or Gebr. Heinemann in their logistics.
But surely it's not enough just to look at the costs?
That's right, it's much more a question of synchronizing demand and staff resources to the best possible degree, and offering pinpoint precision service, whether in retail outlets or a warehouse. That is still anything but a matter of course. Overstaffing and understaffing levels of up to 30 percent, several days a week, are not uncommon, even in successful retail enterprises.
This has a direct effect on the level of service, sales and employee productivity. Our projects show that EBIT gains of five percent and more can be achieved in retail through better demand forecasts and a more flexible workforce management.
One of the visions of Industry 4.0 is a production system that is able to adapt dynamically to market demands. A highly agile personnel infrastructure is an absolute prerequisite of any such system. The challenge is to raise the deployment of the workforce to a new dimension of flexibility.
Andreas F.J. Obereder | CEO and Founder, ATOSS
Many mega trends are reinforcing the importance of workforce management. Take Industry 4.0 or what the rest of the world calls the internet of things, the fourth industrial revolution.
Truly exciting topics! I just read in a recent study by DZ Bank that Industry 4.0 is set to boost the productivity of the German economy by 12 percent by 2025. Such benefits, however, cannot take full effect if we don't integrate people into the process. After all, Industry 4.0 is not just about the intensive networking of manufacturing and logistics processes, and making them highly flexible. If you take the concept further, you will quickly become aware that people play a central role in deliberations on the factory of the future. One of the visions of Industry 4.0 is a production system that is able to adapt dynamically to market demands. A highly agile personnel infrastructure is an absolute prerequisite of any such system. The challenge is to raise the deployment of the workforce to a new dimension of flexibility. ‘IoT’ will not only change processes but also the organization of companies and with it our entire working culture.
What does that mean for people?
The trend is towards ever shorter delivery times and individualized production down to a batch size of 1. Even today, Audi has no two identical cars rolling of the line in one year. Imagine that. The increasing need for flexibility naturally also requires more flexible and shorter-term workforce management, more variable shifts at shorter intervals as well as finely grained planning. This can only be mastered with the right tools and structured planning processes. You also need working time concepts that provide companies with the required agility and at the same time ensure attractive models for the work-life balance of different groups of employees. Our customer thyssenkrupp Rasselstein is studying these questions very closely and they are very consistently factoring in the aging workforce and the issue of long-term capacity into their strategy. Consequently, companies with high employee satisfaction are deciding very clearly in favor of ATOSS solutions. By specifically including employees in the planning process, they are able to tangibly and sustainably enhance employee satisfaction.
And how do you see the next few years?
The markets in which we are operating very successfully will continue to offer us tremendous growth opportunities – both at home and abroad. But we also see exciting potential in the medium to long term beyond the segment of large corporations. In Germany, there are around one million companies with fewer than 50 employees. Even small companies have to manage staff attendance and absence, as well as scheduling and managing their deployment in a professional manner. Therefore, we will increasingly offer intelligent workforce management solutions specifically for this segment of the market: simple and straight forward, attractively priced, smart and mobile, from the cloud. We have already laid a solid foundation with our full range approach. First experiences show that this route will open up further growth opportunities for us.
I will certainly keep my fingers firmly crossed for your company.