Turning Crisis into Opportunity in the [HELIOS] Project

FULL SERVICE WITH AUSTRIA CARD

The streets were deserted, planes stayed on the ground, and restaurants were closed. The coronavirus brought everything to a seemingly complete standstill. Complete? Not really. 

Work continued just as intensively from INFORMATICS’ home offices as before, as evidenced by the implementation of S/4HANA at Austria Card AG in Austria and Romania. 2019 marked the kickoff of one of INFORMATICS’ largest current projects, and in 2020, implementation of the project—known as [HELIOS]—began. Then, right in the middle of this phase, COVID-19 struck.

“The suitcases for the business trip were already packed, and the hotels had been booked,” Gernot Huber describes the situation. It was quickly agreed with the client to switch to video conferences. “Over the weekend, the project team members’ home offices were set up, video conferencing tools were purchased, and full operational capability was restored. Within 48 hours of the lockdown, we switched to online training.”

OFTEN MORE PRODUCTIVE THAN FACE-TO-FACE

“There were still a few questions to be resolved, including: How do we reach the necessary staff, what’s the next step, and who is available when?” But those concerns quickly vanished. “Our IT team did a great job. Everything worked flawlessly right from the start.” Every Tuesday, the virtual INFORMATICS team met to discuss the project status across all modules. In addition, there were client meetings and workshops.

“In some ways, it worked better than face-to-face meetings. It was often more productive because we could focus on a specific area and work through each step one by one. For example, we would spend four hours discussing a topic with the client and then have another four hours to think it through. The next day, we had all the results right away.”

CONSTANTLY TRANSPARENT PROJECT PROGRESS

The “GoToMeeting” tool not only brought the individual partners together via video conference, but also allowed them to mirror and share screens. In addition, “GoToMeeting” is extremely secure. “The client was so impressed with our tool that they immediately purchased licenses for themselves.” This highly efficient method of collaboration actually took the project further than originally planned.

“We’ve already implemented this challenging best-practice approach.” A proprietary testing tool allows us to simulate project progress and “check it off” once the customer has approved it. “This way, we always have a complete overview of the project and full transparency.” And the INFORMATICS Helpdesk is available just in case.