We have seven teams in which we have grown expertise, act as thought leaders and deepen relationships with our clients. Each team works across industries to drive forward a holistic vision for sustainable innovation. For example, we don’t think "automotive", "logistics" and "public transport"; we innovate for Seamless Mobility.
The next generation of IoT technology could completely change our daily lives in ways never before imagined. With the internet of things, technologies will be so blended into the background—in our homes and on-the-go—that we can anticipate more comfort, health, ease, and self-determination. On a personal level, this will probably feel great. For businesses who develop products and services, however, the stakes are now exponentially higher. The design considerations have become wildly complex, while the rewards for creating systems that are meaningful, delightful, and sustainable are huge.
In this heady high-growth environment, how can companies stay laser-focused on sustainable impact? How can companies combine the best of the digital and analog worlds to enhance every step of the customer journey? How do physical stores stay relevant and make a splash in an omnichannel system?
Manufacturing has always been about balancing efficiency, productivity, and use of resources. With more powerful big data and IoT applications available, the digital frontier in the industrial world gets pushed further towards real-time planning, digital twinning, worker augmentation, and more. More than ever, businesses have to rethink human-machine interaction and create sustainable manufacturing ecosystems that unlock the full potential of man and machine complementing each other.
How can the UX of modern production systems be designed to draw out this full potential? How are human capabilities best used in this increasingly automated environment? Will connectivity affect productivity, collaboration, and learning in our future work environments?
Nancy Birkhölzer
Director, Experience Consulting, PwC Germany
The healthcare sector is a highly complex ecosystem of different players, processes, and problems. Ensuring there is trust as well as holistic problem-solving throughout all touchpoints requires both empathy and big-picture-thinking. Going forward, the core of any value creation and long-term innovation in healthcare means understanding the needs of various stakeholder groups and then bringing them together to work as one, not in isolated silos.
How will the traditional device manufacturers evolve their offering in a connected system? What does it take to make annoying analog processes a thing of the past? Can we create digital tools that empower health professionals to be more patient-centric and work more efficiently at the same time?
For many individuals, and society as a whole, trust in public institutions has been steadily declining over the last several years. But trust is essential—to growth, to human flourishing, to democracy. Of course, there is no short-cut to regaining trust. It requires cities and governmental organisations that can empower their citizens, helping to facilitate desirable, sustainable change in their communities from the grassroots upwards.
How can public organisations foster an environment of trust while tackling complex problems at the same time? How can modern cities drive positive change through designing sustainable and future-proof experiences? Can public institutions build more citizen services which are easy to understand and easy to use?
Nancy Birkhölzer
Director, Experience Consulting, PwC Germany
Financial services businesses – from banking, to payments, to insurance – have an incredible opportunity to reorient themselves around the long-term needs of a transforming society. We move faster and we’re more diverse, and today’s successful financial products reflect our often heterogeneous, fluid, dynamic daily life. Radical inclusion and radical customer-centricity need to be the central principles behind any new financial service design.
How can we help all people to take care of their financial retirement plans? How can we support anybody investing in sustainable products and in turn contributing to climate protection? How can we help banks, asset managers, and insurers build trust with current and prospective customers?
Dominik Ueblacker
Senior Manager, Experience Consulting, PwC Germany
Better transportation experiences can change everything. This is surely true for the people who experience them day-in, day-out on their commutes and travel. But can state-of-the-art cars and public transport systems be sustainable and inclusive – while keeping up with the latest technologies as well as customers’ ever-evolving preferences? By creating spatial, physical and digital prototypes, we help our clients to ideate and validate new products and services more quickly and cost-efficiently than they could themselves.
How will we commute and travel in a more connected and automated future? Will a CO2-neutral future mean permanently reduced mobility – and what might that mean for our daily life? Can reduced traffic in our cities mean more open space for the people living there?
Energy and chemical organisations carry a tremendous responsibility. A cleaner and greener planet literally can’t happen without their cooperation—and even their leadership for humanitarian, environmental, and planetary matters. They have a unique opportunity to secure long-term relevance and have a positive impact on people and society by putting sustainable and ethical products and services at the center of their business.
How can chemical organisations radically change their environmental footprint without endangering their business model? What internal shifts will an energy company undergo on their way to pursuing cleaner and more sustainable resources? How can the energy and chemical industries be seen as a positive and sustainable influence on humanity and the planet?
Dominik Ueblacker
Senior Manager, Experience Consulting, PwC Germany