An international industry leader in the gas and water supply sector wanted to roll out a mobile app for the documentation of welding work from Germany to Switzerland. The interim manager was tasked with organizing the roll-out of this "digital assistant" and ensuring market entry in Switzerland.
New products enable digital documentation of welding work
In Germany, welding work on gas and water pipes must be comprehensively documented. This documentation is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also prone to errors. To reduce this effort and eliminate sources of error, the client equipped the latest generation of its welding equipment with Bluetooth. By connecting to a smartphone, the logs can now be created paperlessly and uploaded securely to the cloud. This increases efficiency - and creates a further advantage: the welding equipment manufacturer gains valuable customer data every time the equipment is used, for example on components used, photos, geodata, map views and much more. The company can now use this data - and its clients, such as local authorities, also have central access to it.
Market analysis: decision made to roll out despite lower sales potential
After the successful launch in Germany, the new digital process was now to be rolled out in Switzerland. The interim manager first checked the documentation requirements for welding processes with the Swiss sales team and in cooperation with the Swiss trade association for plastic pipes and piping components. It turned out that the documentation of welding processes is not yet required by law in Switzerland. This significantly reduced the sales potential of the new digital tool. Nevertheless, the commissioning company decided to offer the app in Switzerland too.
Swiss test customers acquired at trade fairs and through direct contact
After the decision to roll it out, the interim manager and the sales team identified test customers for the tool at trade fairs and through direct contact. In cooperation with the Swiss trade association, she initiated a seminar at which the client and competitors were able to demonstrate the advantages of digital logging. The aim of the seminar was to raise awareness of the benefits of digital logging among Swiss pipe fitters and installers. The aim was to achieve a step-by-step mindshift for the benefits of digitalization among the target customers and boost future sales potential.
Communication package developed for digital welding assistant
In order to provide tradespeople and local authorities with targeted information, the interim manager worked with the marketing team and agencies to develop a comprehensive communication package for the digital welding assistant. This included detailed benefits communication in German and French on the company's website, including an online booking option with a link to the central customer portal, as well as the design of flyers, newsletter activities and social media ads.
To ensure smooth internal communication, the interim manager organized the complete workflow for the entire process and coordinated it with customer service, finance and logistics as well as product management. Training sessions with the sales team and reporting in the CRM rounded off the launch preparations.
Swiss app goes live as planned after 10 months
After 10 months, the app went live on time. Clients and customers are very satisfied with the result.
Customers benefit from the time saved when logging welding processes and can also access the log data decentrally. This is an immense benefit, especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers.
For the client, the data obtained through digitization is "worth its weight in gold": New products can be developed, new touchpoints with customers arise.
The client recognized a key learning for the future launch of products: Involving trade associations and opinion leaders also makes sense in order to tap into a new market and gain valuable insights.
