The BVL Provides Digital Answers to New Habits

The Federal Association of Logistics (BVL) has arrived in the ‘New Normal’. For almost a year now, a pandemic-induced changed daily life has shaped our existence. This includes distance regulations, shopping only with shopping carts, traveling by train only with mouth-nose protection, and greeting without a handshake. Digital is key, as digital shopping, attending virtual concerts, video conferences, or webinars make it easy to adhere to the new rules and keep oneself and others safe from infection.

(Bremen) Many still do not perceive this changed way of interacting as ‘normal’. However, a new everyday reality is emerging, where wearing masks is becoming less frequently forgotten, people almost automatically seek a greater distance from one another than they did twelve months ago – and one no longer feels as alone during video conferences as in the spring of 2020. Additionally, digital formats have become much more user-friendly in a very short time.

Opportunities Seized During the Crisis

The Federal Association of Logistics (BVL), its training units BVL Seminars and the German Academy for Foreign Trade and Transport (DAV), and especially BVL.digital GmbH have seized the opportunities presented by the crisis. New formats have been tested for both members and non-members among the users of their offerings, receiving excellent feedback. The transition to digital formats often occurred at breakneck speed, as seen during the Logistics Day in April 2020, which was largely switched to digital event formats within a few weeks, and especially during the German Logistics Congress, which BVL transformed from a predominantly analog format to a digital one within ten days at the beginning of the second wave of Corona in October.
At the start of this year, BVL recorded more than 1,200 registrations and nearly 1,100 participants for the streamed two-day Automotive Logistics Forum. Just two weeks earlier, there were 160 participants at the one-and-a-half-hour award ceremony for the Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2020. The experiences: The technology runs largely stable, and connecting many different locations is not a problem with good management. Compared to analog events, the time slots for presentations, discussions, or interviews have been shortened, and to lighten the atmosphere, film screenings as well as entertaining warm-ups and wrap-ups in a casual format have been integrated.

Digital Concept Appears to Be Working

The stable number of active participants showed that the concept is working. Participants are in contact with each other through the chat functions of the events as well as through the BVL app “BVL Connect”. This networking as matchmaking or network maintenance through online formats will need to be further expanded. Nevertheless, it is clear: personal encounters remain invaluable.
The students at DAV also appreciate the digital formats but, similar to many school students, desire regular direct contact with instructors and among themselves. Learning is, after all, a process that is easier to manage together. However, the students quickly embraced the advantages of virtual collaboration. A catalyst for this is the high proportion of interactive formats, group work, and presentations within the study program. During the lockdown, students were able to apply, reflect on, and further develop their skills in teamwork and communication in virtual spaces. They perceive the increasing merging of personal and virtual collaboration as the New Normal and thus use the current situation to prepare themselves for it.

Online Events Are Here to Stay

In the one- or multi-day BVL seminars, the transition to digital knowledge transfer has not had any negative effects. On the contrary: time and cost savings for travel and accommodation make the new offerings attractive. With the use of a professional meeting tool, proven methods, such as short group work, can be optimally applied, and the networking aspect remains intact. For the future, this means that BVL seminars will focus on an expanded portfolio of online and in-person seminars. The online seminars will concentrate on two main areas: timely addressing current events and trends in logistics on one hand, and achieving a common knowledge base through the imparting of foundational knowledge on the other. The in-person seminars will focus on extensive group work and case studies, deepening knowledge, and intensive exchange among participants.
BVL.digital is the engine behind many of these developments across the entire BVL family. The colleagues acted as a fire brigade, especially during the first lockdown, providing the digital tools with which BVL could quickly operate online. Examples include the 2020 members’ meeting, board meetings, as well as digital events and the web portal Technology Radar. For 2021, BVL.digital has set many of its own projects and innovations, including the Digital Logistics Days, which will take place from March 23 to 25. Further plans involve digital training, the further development of the BVL Connect app into a comprehensive content platform, the inclusion of exciting start-ups in the Technology Radar, and the initiation of working groups around the topics of digital logistics.
Photo: © BVL
www.bvl.de