BACK TO WORK: THE TELEPRESENCE REVOLUTION

The VIS case: the use of Double 3 as the first robot for the person and people satisfaction as the main effectiveness KPI

“With the start of phase 3, organizations will have to identify hybrid forms of working methods to return in the workplace: we are facing the possibility of making a great leap in managerial innovation expected since the 60s”. This is the prediction of Luisa Bagnoli, CEO of Beyond International, a consulting company based in Milan mainly focused on leadership and managerial innovation linked to future trends. “For September companies are talking about working at 50% in presence and 50% remotely – she observes – that means that the teams will no longer have to be present in the same place”.

At the same time this will be an epochal paradigm shift. In fact, before the pandemic, the paradigm of “prediction and control” still prevailed, certainly not that one of shared autonomy “.

Among the companies that in the world have already adopted robotic telepresence there is the Finnish KONE which in Illinois uses the Double device in the internal organization for training courses, to follow remote work groups or for 24/7 technical assistance. Or the Red Interactive Agency in Santa Monica (California) where, after being greeted with skepticism, the tool has become a true extension of the workforce, distributed in various American cities, also in order to find the best resources wherever they are, optimizing the experience of the employees themselves.

One of the first users in Italy is VIS (Vitec Imaging Solutions), a division of the Vitec group (listed in London) that produces supports and accessories for imaging, with brands such as Manfrotto, Joby, Lowepro and Gitzo. In 2019, it had a turnover of 196.6 million pounds out of the 376.1 million of the whole group. Vis, in the first six months of 2020, contributed 53% of the group’s turnover, despite a contraction in turnover caused by the retail lockdown. At the same time, Vitec reduced its debt by 1 million pounds (down to 107.4 million) while maintaining the ability to invest in R&D and M&A.

Double 3, remotely controlled, will be used to communicate between the Feltre plant, the English plants, the Hong Kong buying center and the central operations functions.

“During the lockdown we activated the remote working for our employees on a global scale, recording an increase in productivity – explains Marco Pezzana, CEO of Vis – 50% of people then asked to continue this agile work method  even during the 2nd phase. For the return, it is not a matter of replacing the skills of the employees with technology: we consider the use of Double 3 as the first robot ‘for’ the person and the main ‘KPI’ will be employee satisfaction”.