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5 questions with Dr Sebastian Träger

12 December 2018
For Dr. Sebastian Träger, CDO at Viega (one of our long-standing customers), the topics of digital sales support, IT restructuring, innovation management and process optimization are the be-all and end-all of a successful digitalization offensive. In our interview we talk about how Viega deals with digitalization and what role the quality of the master data plays.

What are the challenges that a traditional company like Viega faces in terms of digital transformation?

Like many other companies, we try to find out how to make the most of the business opportunities arising from technological advances. In other words, one of the key aspects of Viega’s digitization strategy is the identification (and subsequent development and implementation) of new opportunities to add value to our business through closer networking with our customers and partners. However, there is another factor that is crucial to our business and that is, unfortunately, often overlooked in discussions about digitization: the need to set up adequate processes, structures, data and systems. Without these, you will not even be able to think about new business models. In short: Developing value-added services for our customers is important, but we have to do our homework first.

Is digitization a necessary evil or a welcome trend? Why?

Digitization in itself has no value and no meaning. The opportunities that it offers in terms of technological advances are much more interesting and therefore very welcome. Today, many traditional players are seeing their processes and sales strategies, built up over many decades, being eroded or at least being put to the test. This fact opens up new opportunities for us, but also for other players who have not yet entered the market. Of course, this entails risks for our core business, but we will address them through our various digital initiatives.

How do you manage to motivate your team to embrace digital transformation?

An excellent question and one that is crucial to the success of all digital strategies. The answer, however, is not easy. In general, I would recommend: be patient, try things out and accept mistakes. As with all technology-driven change processes, digital transformation requires time and does not follow a straight line. In the process, many well-established practices are called into question, and not everyone is pleased with it. The best solution would be to have the people concerned play an active role in this context, but that is not always possible. In order for digital transformation to succeed, it should be embraced by the whole executive team and shared throughout the business.

What is the role of Master Data in the digitization process?

That's quite simple: Master Data is everything - without Master Data there is nothing. If you don't have your Master Data under control, you won't be able to use it on your customers’ and partners’ platforms, nor will you be able to provide adequate customer services.

Concerning the digitization projects at Viega, will the customers notice any change? And what will change within your company?

We work in a rather conservative, down-to-earth industry, but even here we notice that nowadays our end customers (e.g. the plumber or craftsman) buy our products mostly online (e.g. via the wholesalers’ platforms). At the same time, there is an increasing demand for digital product and installation services, for example short videos, configurators or tools. Furthermore, it seems likely that Building Information Modelling (BIM) and prefabrication will disrupt customer processes. Thus, we will have to adapt our internal processes, structures, data and systems and, at the same time, we will have to support our customers in this process.

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