Blossoming landscapes in IT

Is the digital transformation stalling in Germany? Not in Adlershof it isn’t.

The campus is well-positioned, and its companies and research facilities are setting standards. Nonetheless, they have not been immune to the shortage of skilled workers.

The corridors of GFal Society for the Promotion of Applied Computer Science e.V. are a hive of activity. Why is that worth mentioning? Because many other IT companies are currently struggling to nudge their staff back to their offices.

At GFaI, it was neither necessary to persuade anyone nor exert any pressure. The majority of its 150 employees enjoy coming to the office. One reason for this is the positive work environment, says Silvia Schwochow, deputy managing director at GFaI. However, there is another reason: “We conducted a survey of the entire workforce of GFal following the push for hybrid work after the pandemic to ascertain how we all wanted to work in the future,” says Schwochow.

The decision was to perform up to half of the working time remotely and have fixed office days. “By doing so, we make sure that everybody meets up at the office to exchange ideas, which is essential in the research and development field.” What is also essential is to include employees in key decisions such as the working mode—as it creates acceptance.

Schwochow and the GFal team are fully aware that digitalisation can lead to loneliness. “Alienation is a big problem.” Professionally but also personally. And so, it figures that most of the mathematicians and computer scientists do not exhaust their allotted remote work hours but rather commute to Volmerstrasse.

This experience has been shared by Susann Niemeyer, head of the three centres for IT and media of WISTA Management GmbH. “There is a demand for working from home, but many don’t want to miss out on working at the office because they are more productive there and seek social contacts. Events are also helping to lure staff and technology-oriented companies to Adlershof, like the recent “Private 5G Customer Journey” event that took place at the “a.head area venue” in December 2023, inviting people to immerse themselves in the world of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality.”

Presently, 500 square metres of the IT centres’ total area of 13,400 square metres are available to rent for small-scale business operations. Niemeyer is responding to the working-from-home trend with a range of offerings, including a new design for and modernisation of the common areas, flexible rental agreements, and new office concepts. Preparations are underway for a project for students of bbw Academy for Managerial Training, which will investigate whether shared offices could be a good alternative for IT companies and how they ought to be equipped. Another option that is luring staff out of their home offices is the many available co-working areas. “These could be especially attractive for start-ups, which are very welcome here in Adlershof,” says Niemeyer. The site already has many exciting newcomers splashing about, including SMART CITY FACTORY and Synogate, but also some IT heavyweights like Phoenix Contact or Siemens Mobility Global. Silvia Schwochow chooses not to complain too loudly, but GFal could do with the added strength of a few new employees. “Like most in the IT industry, we are feeling the shortage of skilled workers,” she says. A partnership with Berlin’s universities of applied sciences is resulting in a few graduates going straight into GFal. Schwochow emphasises that the research institute is making the most of one of its most important assets, the work environment topics. Areas such as energy and resource optimisation and artificial intelligence act as powerful magnets.

The Adlershof-based lesswire GmbH is well-positioned in terms of staff—and its order books are full. The company develops and manufactures mobile connectivity solutions for the automotive industry. “One thing we do is to provide people with Wi-Fi routers in coaches,” explains Frank Bormann, managing director at lesswire. Anyone going online in buses and cars is likely using lesswire-developed technology. The list of customers features Audi, Bentley, BMW, Bosch, Continental, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and VW. The company sees itself as a one-stop shop. Consulting, development, industrialisation, certification, qualification, and manufacturing come from a single source.

The teams are distributed and so one IT development unit operates from Hungary. This is not to say that a majority of the workforce has retreated to their home offices. Quite the contrary: “Since we develop software and hardware for embedded systems, product developers have to be on-site to coordinate and develop solutions quickly and in close proximity,” says Bormann. “Our employees have good intuition about this.” There was no need for Bormann to launch large-scale “recall actions” like in other IT companies—the teams preferred working in the office to working from home.

The rapid development cycles also prohibit tedious coordination rounds and endless team meetings. “We score our points with near-complete solutions, which, ideally, only need to be adjusted,” says Bormann. “The days of pitches with PowerPoint presentations are over.” If you propose a rough draft of an idea for a new development and take two years to bring it to market maturity, you’re out. IT equals speed.

This apparently does not apply when it comes to rural broadband coverage in this country, says Bormann with regret. After all, the best telematics for free on-coach Wi-Fi is of no use to anyone if the internet access is slow or even non-existent on a journey through the German countryside. Bormann calls for swift action in this regard. In this, he is not alone.

Chris Löwer for Adlershof Journal

• GFaI e.V.
• IT / Media at the Adlershof Technology Park
• Lesswire: Development & production of connectivity electronics