Former construction group Bilfinger: Boss Johansson on IT projects and customer requests

Bilfinger boss Christina Johansson "Sometimes we are only allowed to use Android devices"

"Successful digitization includes taking our employees with us on the journey," says Bilfinger CEO Christina Johansson.

The ex-construction group Bilfinger has changed like hardly any other company in Germany. Boss Christina Johansson on unusual customer requests, delays in IT projects - and the role of digital twins.

WirtschaftsWoche: Ms. Johansson, years ago Bilfinger changed from a construction company to an industrial service provider. The company plans, implements and monitors construction projects, but no longer builds itself. That sounds like a service business that should be digitized through and through. Is Bilfinger digital enough?Christina Johansson: Bilfinger is a leading international industrial service provider. We maintain industrial plants, increase their efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. Many of our internal processes are already digital. For example, our employees at the customer's plant record repair work carried out on site using apps developed by Bilfinger on smartphones or tablets. In this way, we increase efficiency and reduce the susceptibility to errors in data acquisition and transmission. We also help our customers to digitize their processes as well, for example by setting up access for remote maintenance of the systems. In addition, we are constantly checking where we can exploit further potential for mutual benefit with digitalization.

What challenges does an industrial service provider like Bilfinger face when digitizing its business processes? Successful digitization means that we take our employees with us on the journey. If you are convinced of the added value of digital solutions, then we are on the right track. Sometimes there is also a challenge in the different wishes of our customers or the legal requirements. For example, we are only allowed to use Android devices in one customer's plant and only mobile devices with a different operating system in the case of another customer.

IT projects promise a lot – and are often delayed by years. What always goes wrong when planning and implementing IT projects in German companies? The complexity of large IT projects is often underestimated in the planning phase, on the one hand because one cannot foresee all the details and on the other hand because the human factor is decisive, but difficult to assess in advance. The real challenges then become more concrete in the implementation, but then the project is already up and running. From my experience, the step-by-step implementation of large IT projects can be a success factor. It is very motivating when the first successes become visible quickly. In addition, the project is divided into small, feasible stages with clear intermediate goals, from which one can already learn for the next stage.

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