Over the last six months, we have experienced a lot of unexpected advantages and benefits from carrying out projects online. We have successfully assisted new and existing customers with scheduling, execution of projects, developing strategies and plans – and even online commissioning.
Remote implementation initially arose out of bare necessity, as our activities came to a grinding halt, brought about by the spring lockdown. However, sometimes such dramatic disruption of routines can turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Since there was no way of carrying on with business as usual, new processes had to be developed and new competences had to be embraced and mastered. We quickly realised that with online and remote solutions, we were on to something big – something that had potential to turn into a lasting success. We now know that we will continue with remote implementation, based on the successful results we have had, and the very high satisfaction levels reported back to us from our customers. We are happy to say that remote implementation is a success all the way around – both for our customers and for us.
AH Metal Solutions in Allerød (DK) is a manufacturer of metal components for the medical, electronics and automobile industries. The company found great advantages to be had from carrying out parts of the ROB-EX training courses online. ”The online teaching went really well. It really did. In our case, teaching conducted in a meeting room would not have been very practical. We simply wouldn’t have been able to get it all organised and carried out as efficiently, if we had had to get everyone gathered in one room, looking at one screen. I feel confident that this way, we have all learned more, and learned it faster,” says Jesper Høvelskov, CEO at AH Metal Solutions A/S.
All ROB-Ex implementation training is conducted in ”sprints”. It is very important to maintain a close and continuous contact with customers, to ensure efficient training and stable progression. This requires daily follow-ups to ensure that everyone is on par, that the project is progressing according to plan and that customers are getting the tools and competences that they need. As it turns out, all of this can be fully achieved online.
”There clearly are a number of benefits to be had from conducting the entire project online. One might worry that one loses valuable insights (e.g. the sense of reading the participants that close contact usually includes, or a sense of the customer’s needs) when everything has to pass through a screen, and it is not possible to read people’s full body language. However, I now have enough experience with this way of teaching, to clearly state that these concerns can be dismissed. We all have webcams and we can still see each other. I am able to tell when a break is needed or if something needs to be explained in another way. I find that my relationship with my customers is very good and that we really communicate surprisingly well online. And I am still able to identify my customers’ scheduling needs, and what they need from their ROB-EX solution – even when we only have online contact,” adds Solution Specialist Linda Ottosen.
We are getting a lot of experience with online processes and communication as a result of the pandemic – and it will be really interesting to look back a year from now, and see how far things have developed. There is, however, one thing that we can already conclude: remote implementation has a lot of benefits. It improves customer services, it optimises project progression and it boosts customer competences. We can safely say that online project implementation is here to stay.