Along with his Siemens PPAL colleague, Anne Hoffmann, and Lufthansa’s Jens Thorn, he introduced the “Design Thinking Fast-Forward Challenge” to participants. The aim: identify each other’s needs and issues when traveling, ideate solutions as a team, and flesh them out to create prototypes.

Among the results were ideas like all-in-one apps for smartphones and automated luggage tracking. And—equally as important—the human realization that the potential of cross-industry collaboration can still be endlessly exploited. 

Instead they should be seen as opportunities. Afterall, many of the questions relating to digitalization lead to IoT and blockchain as the answers. Taking an “unintelligent” product and smartening it up gives you; greater transparency, the ability to optimize costs and efficiency, offer personalized customer solutions, and ease day-to-day production processes. That’s huge untapped potential. 

Here, communication, identification and sensor technology are important. As well as technology capable of encrypting the data generated and connecting it up with sources outside of the business’ own four walls. That’s where blockchain comes into play, as the workshop explained.

Common areas of disagreement soon reared their heads: Single offices or open plan? Transparency versus confidentiality. The need to mix versus the need to concentrate? Home office or a mandatory presence on site?

One-size-fits-all solutions simply don’t work. Differences between companies, and even between teams within the same company, demand flexible, personalized solutions. And sometimes change has to happen in the corporate culture as well. What rang out loud and clear in this lively workshop? Employees want a say in how their place of work is set up.