We are ready to take off!
It has been three months since the launch of the café+co Project Explorer, and it has been an inspiring and enlightening time, allowing us to meet new people, explore different approaches, and expand our thoughts. We have started on a new way of exploring what the future holds for the café+co group.
Workshop 1: team journey
Our journey began with our first workshop in Puchberg am Schneeberg, where we got to know each other and familiarized ourselves with the project's tasks. It became clear to us that the digitization of our services and offerings is the essential basis for any further development at café+co. Many ground-breaking projects have been initiated, and many more are still to come.
Workshop 2: big data journey
To gain insights into the developments in the field of Big Data and AI, the importance of data as a basis for business development, and how we can utilize and process data in the future, we flew to London for our second workshop. We attended interesting keynotes at the Big Data and AI Convention, saw AI applications in action, and experienced the autonomous trading of Aldi and Amazon Fresh firsthand. We also explored current trends in the vending business based on trend research conducted by trend scouts in Tokyo, Shanghai, and London. We were amazed at what is already possible today. It quickly became apparent that Project Explorer was launched at the exact right time and how crucial it is to think outside existing boundaries.
Workshop 3: innovation journey
Workshop three took us to Milan with the task of bridging the gap between the trends experienced in London and the resulting need for innovation. Innovation is not something that can be turned on with a switch, and not every idea has to be the new Google or Facebook. We were initially inspired by the roughly 120-year history of coffee machines, which is vividly portrayed at the Museo della Macchina de Caffè at Gruppo Cimbali. Coffee has been prepared and consumed for over 100 years, and the hype surrounding the "best" and "proper" coffee is still high, even though some things have changed significantly. Grandma's filter coffee is a must-have in trendy upscale coffee shops, affordable espresso machines for home use are no longer a rarity, and expertise is exchanged and deepened in joint barista courses on weekends, while small private backyard roasters are opening up everywhere.
Innovation is a big word, and every innovation begins with ideas that meet needs. Sometimes these needs are very obvious, and sometimes they are hidden, of which consumers themselves are not (yet) aware. And the critics are not far away. Many of today's everyday innovations - iPad, Facebook, or individual automobile traffic - had no paved way. This gives us courage - as do the following insights we gained from Milan:
- Anyone can work innovatively and creatively if their mindset is open and tested methods support them.
- Not every innovation requires a six-figure investment budget - sometimes small steps can make a huge difference.
- Innovative companies create space and time for the development of further advancements!
We are now open-minded and well-equipped to embark on the development of future scenarios. With the awareness that we have enough creative power to come up with innovative measures for successful business development within the assumed future framework, we approach this task confidently.
