At the beginning of this year, the Digital Acceleration Office (DAO) of AutoBinck Group was established to firmly embed and accelerate the theme of digitisation and to bring employees together within the context of that theme. The DAO is centrally organised and provides digitisation-related support to the companies within the AutoBinck Group in order to help them achieve their corporate objectives.
Teamwork
The DAO team currently includes five specialists, one of whom is Marijke van Elk-Jansen. In her role as Digital Innovation Manager, she brings AutoBinck employees together in a shared digital journey. “We act as a sparring partner and facilitator that helps companies get started. Sometimes a brainstorming session is all it takes to spark change or enrich a business model.”
Pressure cooker
Which is why she sat down to talk with Zelfstroom's Business Development Manager Miranda Evans. Zelfstroom, which focuses on solar panel leasing, is doing quite well at the moment. “It's important to keep looking ahead, even when business is good,” she notes. In order to make long-term plans in an organisation with an operational focus, enrich the proposition and re-evaluate the vision for the future, Miranda and Marijke organised a multidisciplinary ideation session. “The market conditions under which we operate are changing as well, which means we need to adapt along with them.” An example of this is the upcoming reduction in the VAT on solar panels. “One effective way to brainstorm is what's known as the ‘pressure cooker’: brainstorming in a short period of time. Within a single morning, we had arrived at concrete ideas that will now be further elaborated in the coming period,” Miranda explains.
Digitization ensures acceleration and innovation
Employees from sales, marketing and business development were involved in the session so that the topics could be approached from a variety of perspectives and each participant would bring different experiences to the table. “Brainstorming encourages digitisation and the results tend to be quite digital in nature. Digitisation also promotes acceleration and innovation. The very first steps taken in connection with this brainstorming session may immediately provide enrichment,” Marijke concludes.
Read the interview with Martijn Koning, Chief Digital Officer and member of the Supervisory Board at AutoBinck Group, about setting up – and setting a course for – the DAO.
