The Corona crisis has been forcing companies to switch to digital processes for weeks. Almost every meeting takes place online – Skype, Hangouts, Zoom. The Hamburg-based proptech company bau digital is now experiencing its best times, in the middle of the crisis.
There is no question that the current pandemic poses a great danger to people and the economy. But
in the meantime, digitalization is gaining unprecedented importance. Before the virus spread, things
looked very different: only one in four companies used a digital solution for their own business. Now,
the figure is more than two thirds, as the dpa reports. This is particularly true for analogue industries
such as construction.
In 2019, people took their time with digitalization . This is now different. Schools, politics and
industries that previously worked mainly analogue are digitizing at full speed.
“The crisis shows the importance and obvious advantages of digital technology,” says Henning Lorenzen, co-founder and managing director of bau digital. “We are also receiving significantly more inquiries than a month ago.” His company sells software in the field of digital sampling and equipment for new buildings.
A forced paradigm shift
Even civil servants who had little interest in the so-called electronic file until a few weeks ago are changing their ways and working from home. A forced paradigm shift without which many companies would currently be unable to continue.
“The construction industry has been in the starting rcs database blocks of digitalization for a long time. Everyone has recognized that digital processes are inevitable, but due to the long-term economic boom, many have not seen any urgency to really change anything. That is different now,” says Lorenzen.
The construction industry is going digital. This time for real.
The construction industry now sees an opportunity to empowering power bi with the semantic layer do what experts and trade fair organizers have been talking about for years. The Corona crisis is forcing companies to switch to digital processes – and quickly. Property developers are now making decisions within days, not – as was previously the case – after weeks or even months.
According to Lorenzen, “property developers who are about to sell their new buildings in particular are dependent on a solution that enables configuration and sampling despite the contact ban.”
Demand increases by almost 200 percent
Corona is making possible what had been held back for years. The switch to digital, which was supposed to take months, was completed in a few asb directory days in many places. Dealing with so-called collaboration tools does not seem to be a problem for the majority of society – this is shown by the number of users of the corresponding software. These have recently increased exponentially by up to 190 percent – for example with Zoom or with the special request manager from bau digital.
Digitalization will hardly be able to be reversed after Corona. Many tech companies like bau digital have even had to expand their teams in order to respond to the strong demand at short notice. “In times of home office and web meetings, it naturally makes sense to digitize other operational processes as well. Failure to react now can prove very expensive for companies later – many companies have recognized this,” says Lorenzen.
