Audi, Volkswagen and SEAT promote digital culture among their employees
The second edition of the event promoted by Audi, which this year also involved Volkswagen and SEAT, took place in the past weeks. The aim is to stimulate cooperation and the sharing of digital knowledge among employees, in line with the ongoing transformation in the Volkswagen Group.
In-depth knowledge and use of digitalization to improve everyday teamwork. This is the aim of DigiKon22, the internal digital conference – the official name is Collaboration 2.0 - which lasted five days and consisted of 174 sessions and plenty of initiatives.
Digikon22, now in its second year and held from 4 to 8 April 2022, saw around 140 employees and 25 speakers “on stage”, covering topics such as the use of Microsoft Teams, positive psychology in everyday work or methods for dealing with information overload.
Continuous innovation
Each session, which did not require registration, lasted 50 minutes and provided space for the exchange of ideas, live demonstrations, workshops and direct exchanges among employees and managers. But what was new at the 2022 edition was the cross-brand approach, with Audi being joined by Volkswagen and SEAT.
Innovation, after all, is in the very spirit of the event, since it was born within the Audi employee network, called "Collaboration 2.0 Guides". These so-called #z20guides have organised the first digital conference in 2021 to stimulate digitalization and cultural transformation at Audi.
Contagious enthusiasm
It only took a few weeks for Audi employees to set up almost one hundred digital sessions. A feat whose echo reached the other brands of the Volkswagen Group. "We are delighted that SEAT and Volkswagen have taken part this year and supported us in both the organisation and speaker teams," explains Anke Rettenmeier, founder of the #z20guides. "SEAT is even using DigiKon22 to build up its own guide network, just like Audi and Volkswagen!"
Collaboration and cooperation
Self-organized and interdepartmental networks, as well as Audi's #z20guides, bring added value to the company's simple digitization activities and transformation programmes. Without obstacles or hierarchies, the guides show their colleagues how to use new digital tools productively in their daily work and how to develop a culture of cooperation and collaboration suitable for the flexible working environment of today and tomorrow. "The aim is not only to improve the management of IT tools, but also and above all to establish a new method of collaboration within the company", adds Rettenmeier.
Sharing knowledge
In other words, the project aims to promote collegial support and the breaking down of silos - two concepts that have been very well received, so much so that the Audi guide network has grown from the 15 employees who founded it to its current 300 members.
"The guides come from very different departments and are regularly trained for their tasks. During bi-monthly meetings, the guides use concrete examples to show their colleagues tips and tricks on how to improve their daily working lives. In addition, the guides train each other and are regularly in contact by phone, to always stimulate shared knowledge”, says Stefanie Klarner, who organises the meetups.
Digital transformation
The DigiKon22 and the work of the guides show that independent, self-directed learning plays an important role at Audi. "Digital transformation in the automotive industry will only be successful if all employees are willing to grow both personally and professionally", adds Sabine Maaßen, Audi Board Member for Human Resources.
Growth is faster when knowledge is shared, both within a single brand and across the Volkswagen Group. For this reason, each DigiKon22 session will be documented in order to make content on three macro-topics available to all employees: tools, methods and mindsets.
From theory to practice
The topics will be revisited at various meetups in the coming months and there will also be a DigiDay dedicated to SharePoint Online. Some content from the conference will also be published on audi.com. "With our digital qualification initiatives, #z20guides and other programmes, we are demonstrating that digitalization is not only theoretical but also practical here", concludes Rettenmeier.
Thus, under the motto 'Better Normal', Audi and the Works Council have initiated a project to continue to make the working environment more flexible, for example through mobile work and training. Audi's transformational journey to become a digital automotive company is in full swing.
Source: AUDI AG
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