“Compass for the Multicrisis” Offers Digital Orientation

The logistics specialist Dachser ships all over Europe in swap bodies. Containers on stilts, swap bodies – unlike trailers – are not attached to a truck and are ready for loading or unloading and for further transportation on company premises, at logistics centers or in front of warehouses. Maintaining an overview of 8,500 swap bodies around Europe and planning their utilization optimally is no easy task. That is why Dachser uses IoT trackers that transmit location data by mobile radio. The company is thereby able to identify supply chain disruptions much sooner than in the past. It informs the recipients in time and prevents unnecessary journeys or unused parking spaces. That boosts efficiency, reduces costs and increases sustainability. It is an example of how digitization specifically and efficiently helps to master a challenge.

Challenges there are aplenty right now: so many that in some industries there is already talk of a multicrisis. In addition to supply chain uncertainties, companies around the world face a shortage of skilled employees and high energy costs, not to mention the increasing requirements of their customers. Feeling under pressure to digitize their processes and become more sustainable, they are advised to diversify their business and make it futureproof as well.

The new trendbook “Compass for the Multicrisis,” written in collaboration by Telekom and the Smarter Service Institute, takes a precise look at these many and varied challenges. It demonstrates by means of best practices how companies in different industries can arm themselves against various crises and highlights specific action areas for SMEs. A trend radar serves as a decision-making tool and experts offer exciting insights in interviews.

In many use cases the trendbook deals with, the Internet of Things plays a decisive role. The IoT expert Florian Schroeter, for example, advocates taking sustainability directly into consideration when developing new solutions (“Top Action Areas for SMEs”). At the workplace of the future IoT is the smart helper that eases the burden on blue collar workers (“Digital Workplace: Take Everyone on the Learning Journey”). In production IoT is the infrastructure for autonomous robots (“Fabmatics: Smart Analytics for Optimal Robot Performance”), in healthcare it improves the safety of patients (“Biotronics: Network Pacemakers to Save Lives”). And a smart IoT filling level gauge ensures the necessary overview of containers of all kinds (“Ernst Meister: Optimized Supply Chain Thanks to Networking”). You will find these and many other examples of IoT in the new trendbook “Compass for the Multicrisis.”

New Challenges for Business

• The perfect storm: externalities determine business
• Demographics, decoupling and decarbonization
• New rules for sustainability and digitization
• The new geo-economy as an answer to geopolitical tension

Trend Radar for the Multicrisis

• Trend radar as an aid to decision-making
• New horizons: focus on future security
• Triple play out of the multicrisis

Top Action Areas for SMEs

• Top digitization initiatives in Triple Play
• Strike the right balance between sustainability, resilience and OpEx
• Digital First: Strengthen the top line with digital customer experiences
• New Work: Create a culture of change

Fitness Program for Enterprises

• Best practice in selected industries
• Three horizons for the right innovation mix
• Ten practical tips from masters of resilience