Hello everyone! We are nearing the home stretch of our project and I couldn’t be more excited! These last few couple of months have been full of fantastic learning and growth opportunities, as well as their fair share of challenges. I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish so far, and I’m looking forward to our final presentation with our client, Mr. Alexander Wachter and Possehl Online Solutions. Just a refresher, my name is David Kritzik, and I am a junior studying Business Information Systems and Marketing. For my project, I am working on a team with 5 other students to performing consulting work for Possehl Online Solutions, a German start-up in the B2B e-commerce services sector. This project is both difficult and rewarding especially because we have had the unique challenge of completing our entire project virtually due to COVID-19.
The effects of COVID-19 are far reaching and have affected every aspect of our lives and our client’s lives. One major impact of COVID-19 on Possehl Online Solutions is the inability to meet with clients in person. This is especially important for Possehl Online Solutions because they sell services in the B2B e-commerce industry. Fortunately, Possehl Online Solutions has made great strides in shifting their work to the virtual environment. In the past, Germany has been slow towards adopting digitization, however COVID-19 has massively shifted this aspect of society. Germans are now working from home, much like the US, and there is an overall change in working culture. Possehl Online Solutions has also been able to adapt, and while their business processes have been significantly affected, they have still been able to continue working and providing excellent services.
Another challenge for Possehl Online Solutions is getting new customers. COVID-19 has ravaged the economies of many countries around the world, so many businesses do not have excess funds. Possehl Online Solutions offers e-commerce consultation services, but if a potential client has been hurt especially hard by the economic impact of COVID-19, they may not have the money to pay for Possehl Online Solution’s services. This is significant because Possehl Online Solutions has to look ahead to the future. Because of COVID-19, their focus might be on potential business that will take place after the economic impact of COVID-19 is resolved. Possehl Online Solutions needs to be aware of this when reaching out to potential clients. They have to understand that these clients may not have the funds for services right now but could be potential customers in the future. One positive of Germany having to work virtually is that, as previously mentioned, the country is digitizing very quickly and effectively. Once daily life is back to normal, or as close as possible, many companies who previously may not have been interested in online solutions might want to purchase Possehl Online Solution’s services. These companies may be more interested because they were able to realize how important an e-commerce platform is during the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has also significantly impacted our project for a plethora of reasons. These include, but are not limited to, communicating in a completely virtual environment, taking into account the economic impact of COVID-19 on the B2B industry, and completing our project while also dealing with the many challenges COVID-19 has caused in our regular lives. One major challenge is that all our communications are online. Not only will we not be able to meet Alexander Wachter, Possehl Online Solution’s CEO, but we will not even be able to meet our fellow team members. Fortunately, this is our third semester of online school, so we are used to meeting on Zoom and corresponding completely virtually. Despite this, challenges still persist. It is harder to brainstorm ideas online and group work is less efficient. Since we can only share one screen at a time, it has been a challenge to make the project cohesive as we want it to be. On Friday, April 9th, we had a meeting with Professor Paul of the University of Augsburg. He noticed that our project was lacking some cohesion, so it is one of our goals to ensure that there is an obvious flow to our research and deliverables. We will work hard in the next few weeks to ensure that this is not an issue in our final presentation.
COVID-19 has also affected our deliverables. We are recommending target markets, target countries, and providing communication strategies within these markets and countries. Since Germany, like the US, is fully online right now, some of our recommendations revolve around virtual meetings with potential clients. However, we also need to be cognizant of the fact that work life in Germany will switch back to in-person eventually. Keeping this in mind, we have been working on providing deliverables and solutions that are both applicable to the current COVID-19 virtual work environment, as well as the normal in-person work environment.
Despite the challenges we have faced, there are many positives and lesson to take away from this experience. For starters, we have all become more adaptable and flexible. Once we finish this project in a few weeks, we will be able to look back and say that we completed the whole project without meeting our client or each other in person once. While we would have much rather been able to be in person, this is an impressive feat, nonetheless. Moreover, by completing this online consulting project, we are preparing ourselves for the current online work environment. I can’t speak for my other team members, but my upcoming internship this summer will be virtual. I will be a Corporate Merchandising intern and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Despite the headquarters being nearby, I will be completing all my work online. This project, as well as the past 3 semesters, have well prepared me for the online working environment. I’m thankful for the skills I’ve gained so far and I’m excited to apply them during my virtual internship. Another positive that came out of this project is the ability to overcome a huge challenge. That challenge being: working in a virtual environment. I’m sure there will be many challenges thrown my way as a I start working, but I will always be able to look back on this experience and analyze how I was able to succeed during these tough circumstances. I highly doubly we will ever have a challenge as unique and difficult as COVID-19, so I will have a high level of confidence when approaching any future challenges that I may face.
Overall, being online is less than ideal, but we have been able to succeed and make it work so far. These next few weeks, as we work on wrapping up our deliverables, will inevitably provide their own challenges, but I am confident we can overcome them. I’m very excited and looking forward to presenting all our hard work to Mr. Alexander Wachter and Possehl Online Solutions. Let’s finish this project off strong!