Together into the future of mobility: working at We Campus
A centre of excellence, where 900 specialists work to develop Volkswagen’s digital services. Shared spaces, interdisciplinary teams and creative minds: that’s the We Campus in Berlin.
The transformation of the automotive sector involves also, and especially, the professionals. Where once those in the auto industry were responsible exclusively for building cars, now they also work on connectivity and app-based services. (Almost) everything revolves around digital technologies and the user experience, and it is precisely for this reason that Volkswagen recently opened its We Campus in Berlin, a centre of excellence dedicated to the development of mobility services for the We digital ecosystem. Nine hundred experts, one mission: to shape the mobility of tomorrow. Here are six brief bios to help understanding what the professionals at the We Campus are working on.
Christin Buss, Performance Marketing
Christin Buss is 32 years old and she is an expert in Performance Marketing, a discipline which monitors the effectiveness of marketing initiatives in the digital environment: these are measurable data which can be continually optimised. The aim is to acquire new customers and to continue addressing the existing ones. Christin’s job currently involves the production of photos and videos for the Volkswagen We platform and related services: digital content able to inspire people. In the last few months she has designed and produced the campaign “We are on the move”, which shows what We stands for and how mobility services will be integrated into our everyday lives in the future.
Stefan Zeidler, Product Manager, We Park Smartphone App
Stefan Zeidler is 39 years old and he is Product Manager for the We Park app. He is currently preparing a major update of the app, which will include everything that customers have requested in order to considerably improve the user experience of the service. One of the goals of Volkswagen We is making cities more attractive for all mobility users. To succeed in this, it is important to be able to work in a positive environment: brightly lit, with a lot of green around, but also with an urban backdrop. One of the core principles of the We Campus is to have interaction zones, concentration areas and lounge and play areas in order to stay positive and keep an open mind.
Jens Baumgarten, Lead UX Designer
Jens Baumgarten is 36 years old, and he is responsible for the User Experience (UX) of the We Park service. He works with the product managers to ensure that the UX is the best possible from the customer’s point of view. Customers have always been at the centre of the development of a product, but in the digital era they play an even more important role. This means that absolutely everything – from new ideas to operating concepts and improvements – is tested on customers. Even though We Park, to simplify somewhat, is “just” used to pay for parking, making the service work perfectly is a challenge because it is used in a variety of ways – in the car, through a smartphone, via other apps and so on – but it must always work equally well, as the user associates the experience with Volkswagen.
Katharina Marquordt, Product Owner, Urban Mobility International
Katharina Marquordt is 30 years old and she is Product Owner of the WeShare app at Urban Mobility International (UMI), a 100% subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group which is managing the vehicle-on-demand services. Her job is to record and evaluate the customers and stakeholders’ requirements for the WeShare (Volkswagen’s new electric car sharing service) app, create a task list from this and then prioritise it. The aim of this work, which is performed in a team with software developers and designers, is to provide an app which offers maximum customer satisfaction. Driving to work in an e-Golf every day, Katharina is able to test the Volkswagen We services in the field and incorporate her own direct experiences.
Benjamin Kranz, Product Owner, Vehicle Activation Service
Benjamin Kranz is 34 and he is Vehicle Activation Service Product Owner. The service he is responsible for is the one which enables users to log onto Volkswagen’s We digital ecosystem, where they can use and experience all the mobile online services seamlessly. Benjamin is responsible for this, from beginning to end: planning and review meetings with the development team, workshops with the Performance Marketing and Reporting department, coordination with the Legal department and compliance with data protection regulations. The working culture at We Campus is very open and collaborative – a characteristic which helps manage the pressure caused by the rapid and continuous evolution of the automotive industry.
Ingo Müller, Head of Energy Solutions, Elli
Ingo Müller is 39 years old and he is Head of Energy Solutions at Elli. His job is to help shaping digital energy solutions for the customers of tomorrow, on the basis of an initial green energy offer. His is a position at the interface between the automotive industry and the energy sector. At Elli, Ingo works to develop a range of energy solutions, trying to establish a digital value creation chain. In other words, deciding whether a product, as well as being interesting, can also be offered and sold in bulk at acceptable unit costs. More generally, his mission is to make electric mobility not just ecological, but also accessible.
Source: Volkswagen AG