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The 32^nd meeting of the International Association of Controllers (ICV) Heilbronn-Künzelsau Regional Work Group in mid-October at the TUM Campus Heilbronn was all about digitalization. Choosing the TUM Campus Heilbronn as the location was no coincidence because as the initial study “Fortschrittsbarometer Digitale Transformation im Mittelstand 2023” already showed, many companies in Heilbronn-Franken lag behind in digitalization. Dr. Christoph Geier, co-author and Director of Digital Transformation at the campus, presented the research project headed by Jens Förderer, Professor of Innovation and Digitalization at TUM Campus Heilbronn. Key findings of the study: 62 percent of the companies surveyed do not have a digitalization strategy. Unity of the management team and the involvement of employees favor successful transformation, while shortage of skilled workers, bureaucracy as well as a lack of infrastructure hinder it.

How controlling can benefit from digitalization was the topic of the presentation “Increase profitability and resilience with agile personnel cost planning” by Ralf Schall, Success Manager of the company Qvantum. He presented a tool designed to implement controlling processes quickly, securely, cost-effectively and without additional IT support.

Daniel A. Gottschald, Managing Director of TUM Campus Heilbronn gGmbH, bridged the gap between science and business and expressed his conviction that controlling will not lose its importance even through the increased use of artificial intelligence. At the end of the event, the participants were given a guided tour of the Bildungscampus.

The conference is part of the cooperation between the ICV Heilbronn-Künzelsau Regional Work Group and the TUM Campus Heilbronn gGmbH as an ICV member. In April, Claudia Maron, Head of Strategic Controlling and Risk Management at DATEV eG and ICV board member, had given a guest lecture on controlling as a profession at TUM Campus Heilbronn.