Coding Example
1. Introduction
How long have you been working in the automotive industry?
Since almost two years I am working for the Moovel group. I am part of the Moovel lab, which is kind of a research lab within the Moovel Group. But this kind of research needs to be divided from the traditional research in the automotive industry. We are interested in rapid project development, prototyping and in starting a discourse with people who are interested in the future of mobility. My role within this interdisciplinary team is project coordination with the different project partners like universities or other departments.
2. Business model change
How would you describe Moovel to a customer?
Moovel in Germany is a company and a service at the same time, which enables customers to get from A to B by including different forms of mobility.
What value proposition is Moovel offering to their customers?
The Moovel service offers searching, booking and driving integrated in one application. These are the three relevant elements of the Moovel service. Customers are able to search a mobility service, book and pay this service directly through the application and use the mobility service with the online ticket.
How is Mercedes aligning the Moovel mobility services with its strategy and competencies?
The integration of different forms of mobility services is an important strategic consideration for the Moovel group.
What are the key resources and competencies to deliver Moovel’s value proposition?
There is the back-end development, which includes important aspects that are not visible for the customer. Then there is the front-end development, which ensures a qualitative usability and interface for the customer. Designers are relevant for the user experience and the buttons and icons to create a consistent look and feel for the Moovel application. Then there are data specialists, who try to optimize specific forms of code. The team also includes for instance geographers. This demonstrates the diversity of the team
How is Moovel making money?
Moovel receives a provision for each ride that is sold through the Moovel service. This is the primary business model of Moovel. For each sold public transport ticket through the app, Moovel receives a provision – like for any ride with mytaxi or each ride with car2go that is booked through the Moovel application.
Does Moovel also offer other benefits besides the monetary benefits?
There are additional benefits besides the monetary benefits. If you think about data then it is very interesting to see how different mobility demands within a city are developing. There are different possibilities to utilize this data. Furthermore, there is the user data, which is valuable for many companies. There are many different aspects. For instance, if you think about how Moovel works compared to a large company like Daimler. There are many learning’s for Daimler, where such a large corporation can benefit of insights from a smaller company.
How is Moovel an opportunity to change Mercedes business model?
The gained data and the business model of the Moovel Group might not influence the business model of Daimler, but I think that Daimler benefits of many activities of the Moovel Group like cultural aspects to be more attractive as employer. Especially for web developers, who are actually not interested in large companies but rather in smaller and more agile start-ups.
3. Market based view
Who are the closest competitors in this market?
There are many depending on the market. In Germany for instance, GoEuro and Google maps.
How relevant is the entry of new competitors into the market?
Competitors are a good opportunity to develop a stronger product, since specific strengths need to become very tangible for the user. But in the German market, Moovel is the only service that really established the deep integration of many different mobility services. This means that the tickets can be bought directly in the application. The customer is not only receiving the relevant information about the best routes, but the booking and the payment are integrated in one application. This is very convenient for the customer. This is the focus of the Moovel application.
How is Moovel differentiated from its competitors?
The deep integration of different mobility services through the Moovel application is a key differentiator from competitors. Furthermore, Moovel tries to convince their customers with a good
design. In the app industry, products need to be designed so that they are fun to use for the customer.
What activities does Moovel include?
Moovel works with a management scheme that was developed by Spotify and has been adjusted to the needs of Moovel. We do not work in teams, but in squads. Squads are staffed interdisciplinary. The advantage is that the disciplines are diverse and that one squad can be responsible for one feature of the Moovel application.
The teams are working with iterative and agile project management methods. An agile coach presents the relevant retrospectives. The different squads are working with different project management methods. One team may work with Kanban, the other by Scrum and another one by Scrumban. The design of the cooperation has a high degree of freedom and can be chosen by the team itself.
4. Resource based view
What resources are required for Moovel?
We are a very young and dynamic company, which requires a high degree of empathy and teamwork. We have a very open culture. Employees need to be willing to share their knowledge and to speak to the most relevant employees. Recruiting the right people ensures a good cooperation between the employees.
We are a holistic company. We also have marketing, communication, finance, controlling and a regular IT department. These departments are also necessary to establish the Moovel service in the market. Especially as business unit of the Daimler AG it is important to communicate, since the interest of the media is very high if a business unit of Daimler communicates their activities.
5. Closing
What is your view on the future of the automotive industry?
We are in very hot phase within the mobility market. For the first time since the development of the car, there are new opportunities through the digitalization. These new opportunities offer in regard to autonomous and connected driving new ways to offer services and products for the customer.
The urbanization, the increased number of smartphones and the sharing economy open many doors in the automotive industry. I expect in the next five to ten years that one to three big players are able to establish themselves in the market for mobility services. These players need to position themselves now. Moovel wants to become one of the big players in the market for mobility
services. Therefore, the area of mobility services is currently among the most interesting mobility markets.
I believe there will be two markets in the future. The mobility service market, where the customer is not interested in owning a car and the traditional mobility market with customers that are interested in owning a car. Also in the future people will be able to buy a car with advanced technology. But due to changing values, it will be more important to get fast from A to B and to get there conveniently independent from the mode of transportation. Exact this service needs to be covered from Moovel. But in the countryside it might still be relevant to own a car, since there are many parking opportunities and the public transport is not fully established. Both markets need to be integrated, but the markets will exist separately from each other.