The Messe Frankfurt Group is the world’s largest trade fair, congress and event organizer with its own exhibition grounds. Messe Frankfurt efficiently supports the business interests of its customers within the “Fairs & Events”, “Locations” and “Services” business segments. A key strength of Messe Frankfurt is its powerful global sales network, which covers around 180 countries in all regions of the world. The comprehensive range of services – onsite and online – guarantees customers worldwide consistently high quality and flexibility in the planning, organization and staging of their event. The range of services extends from site rental, stand construction and marketing services to personnel services and catering. Messe Frankfurt is using its digital expertise to develop new business models.
As part of a comprehensive change initiative, Big Pictury has developed a Big Picture for Messe Frankfurt that visualizes the transformation and the future of the company. This change measure, called Progress, aims to fundamentally renew Messe Frankfurt’s processes, systems and working methods. The Big Picture serves as a communication tool that takes all employees on the journey of transformation and gives them orientation and understanding of the upcoming changes.
The challenge
Messe Frankfurt has decided to embark on a fundamental and comprehensive transformation project with the aim of stringently aligning its business processes with its customers, creating global group standards and maintaining the fast and secure availability of knowledge about customers and markets. On the one hand, this should increase the efficiency of the Group’s management and, at the same time, expand the benefits for exhibiting companies, visitors and guest organizers. It is also intended to lay the foundations for supplementary, data-based, year-round B2B marketing services. Existing systems will be replaced by state-of-the-art technologies. Internal processes will be modernized and standardized.
Key area 1: “Past – why it is necessary to change something”
This area visualizes the initial situation and the need for transformation, triggered by an imminent technical system renewal. This chapter illustrates the need for change.
The Solution
The solution was to opt for the Progress transformation project to create a new, globally standardized process and system landscape. Accompanied by KPMG and their Powered Enterprise approach, the entire transformation process was planned and is currently being implemented. The Big Picture serves as a visual representation of this transformation process and clearly illustrates the benefits for everyone involved – customers, employees and managers. The aim was to create a modern, transparent and more efficient working environment for all relevant stakeholders and to establish a seamless user experience, thereby strictly aligning the company with customer orientation.
Key area 2: “Transformation – key users as multipliers”
In this area, the key users are highlighted as important drivers of the transformation. They act as multipliers and support their teams in accepting and actively using new processes. They also serve as a link between the project team and the respective departments and collect feedback that flows directly into further development steps.
Key area 3: “Future – Global processes: Customer-oriented and efficient together”
This area shows how the introduction of globally standardized processes and automated workflows increases efficiency and maximizes customer value. The processes are not only faster and more consistent, but also allow employees more time for customer-centric tasks, which promotes greater customer satisfaction.
The Result
By introducing the Big Picture and the comprehensive communication of the Progress project, Messe Frankfurt will significantly strengthen employees’ acceptance and understanding of the transformation. The visualization makes it possible to present the complex change process simply and clearly so that everyone involved clearly understands and internalizes their role in the transformation.
“The Big Picture for the transformation of Messe Frankfurt is a key instrument for our change. It helps us to make the complex changes understandable and tangible for all employees and creates a positive attitude towards the changes. The visualization shows what improvements the transformation will bring for each individual and how Messe Frankfurt is developing as a company. The Big Picture will give our employees clarity and support us in shaping this path together as a team and actively shaping the future.”
With the Big Picture, Big Pictury was able to create a clearly structured, motivating and easy-to-understand communication basis that serves as a common thread for employees during the transformation. This project is an example of how a Big Picture can support companies in implementing and communicating major transformation measures – a valuable tool for engaging the workforce and anchoring the change in the long term.
CLIENT: Messe Frankfurt GmbH
SCOPE OF SERVICES: Development of a Big Picture for use in print and digital, including a clickable HTML5 application
PROJECT TIMEFRAME: 3 months