firmenradl.at
New mobility platform for employees, companies and retailers
Project results & highlights
- Austria’s first fully automated, innovative platform for company bicycles
- Mobility offer with many benefits for all stakeholders
- Digital, paperless processing of the entire company bicycle process
- Low-code based, professional, expandable solution with faster time to market rate
- Fully automated, scalable system
- Intuitive, clearly laid out, easy-to-use web-based user interface
- Platform offers helpful filter options, automated notifications, many evaluation possibilities and integrated dashboards
The time-efficient concept allowing us to quickly go to market with a professional solution, thorough technical knowledge and great value for money have convinced us.
Marc Gerhardinger, Intersport Austria
The path to the firmenradl.at platform
The new platform that is available to all Austria companies as well as sports equipment/bicycle retailers links retailers, employers, employees, leasing banks and insurance companies. The idea was cooked up by INTERSPORT Austria. “Company bicycles have existed in Germany for some ten years. The legal framework for company bicycles in Austria was provided by the tax reform of 2020. As buying bicycles is not attractive for companies from a tax perspective, we wanted to create a leasing model with non-cash incentives that employers and employees can benefit from and that is easy to use,” reports Marc Gerhardinger, Corporate Development at INTERSPORT Austria.
A mobility offer with many benefits
The new solution is supposed to digitally (thus without using any paper) link all participants, which includes bicycle retailers, employers and employees, leasing banks, insurance companies and INTERSPORT as the portal's operator. “Our goal was to provide employers with a mobility offer that improves the health and motivation of their employees, lowers sick leave times and supports employer branding. Employees, on the other hand, benefit from our solution as it supplies them with a bicycle without having to save up and as they can make use of tax benefits, whereby they can not only use the company bicycle for work, but also privately. Additionally, we wanted to improve the retailers’ profit margins. The environment and lowering CO2 emissions were other considerations, of course,” says Gerhardinger. Additionally, INTERSPORT wanted to be the first domestic supplier to offer a fully automated, scalable and easy-to-use nationwide system.
Efficient digitalisation with low-code platform
For the realization of the project, INTERSPORT firstly analysed the market. “We reviewed several providers – including some from Germany – that had already implemented similar projects. DCCS from Austria finally got the upper hand. Its time-efficient concept allowed us to quickly go to market with a professional solution, thorough technical knowledge and great value for money have convinced us,” says Gerhardinger. In the course of the following workshops, the experts analysed and discussed the processes and roles, from registering for the system to approval of the parties involved and processing of bike purchases to leasing and insurance. As a technological basis, DCCS proposed a low-code platform that could map all the requirements, could be deployed quickly, and was flexible and expandable. To make the system as easy to use as possible, the IT consulting and implementation specialist submitted a proposal for an intuitive, clear, web-based user interface, which was convincing right away.
Go-live in no time thanks to agile methods
Using a rough concept as the basis, the specialists from DCCS – in close collaboration with INTERSPORT – first developed the underlying functions. First on the agenda was registering the individual user groups (bicycle retailers, employers, employees, leasing banks and insurance company) as well as digitalising all forms. The next step was the processing of company bicycle leasing between retailer, bank and insurance company. The challenge here was to build interfaces to all partners’ systems. Using agile methods proved beneficial throughout the project as short-term changes and wishes could be implemented effortlessly and the tight schedule could be largely complied with. “Only topics such as the compatibility/interfaces between the various linked systems as well as changes to defined processes proposed by the respective partners, held us up. Thanks to a solution-oriented mindset, however, we were able to overcome these hurdles together,” Gerhardinger remembers. Soon, DCCS was able to provide a prototype that was continuously developed and improved on the basis of INTERSPORT feedback. Firmenradl.at went live only a few months later.
Our goal was to provide employers with a mobility offer that improves the health and motivation of their employees... Employees, on the other hand, benefit from our solution as it supplies them with a bicycle without having to save up and as they can make use of tax benefits, whereby they can not only use the company bicycle for work, but also privately.
Marc Gerhardinger, Intersport Austria
A new bike is just a few clicks away
The new platform turns the entire process into child’s play: Employers register on Firmenradl.at and receive access after credit assessment by the leasing bank/INTERSPORT. After that, employees can register in the portal, select their employer, request a company bicycle and – once approved – select a bike at any one of the participating bicycle retailers (the platform offers a list of locations and helpful filter options). The system allows employers to set a price limit ranging from 749 to 10,000 Euros. Payment and insurance terms are processed digitally via firmenradl.at with leasing bank and insurance company. The system furthermore offers many practical features: It automatically sends notifications, for instance if a new employer was registered and forwards this notification to the leasing bank for a credit assessment. The employer’s HR Department is notified as soon as an employee registers on the platform. And finally, bicycle retailers can see what services a customer is insured for (e.g. maintenance or spare parts), the system notifying the employer of due service appointments. All documents and receipts are saved by the system and can be fully traced.
One platform, many benefactors
Firmenradl.at offers all participants benefits and great value: Employees no longer have to pay in cash for their new bikes, but instead receive it in the form of a non-cash incentive. Insurance and service included. Employers benefit from even more positive effects: The platform improves the health and motivation of their employees, lowers costs for company cars, reduces the need for parking, reduces CO2 emissions, makes a valuable contribution to employer branding and not least, creates cost neutrality. On the one hand, bicycle retailers also benefit from high profit margins, but on the other hand they also benefit from attracting new customers and increased customer loyalty thanks to regular service and maintenance work. “The system automates the entire process, makes order processing easier, saves all relevant data and is incredibly easy to use to boot. It allows us to strengthen stationary retail as only bicycle retailers with a physical workshop can be a part of Firmenradl.at,” Gerhardinger explains.
Continuously growing number of users confirms concept
The concept’s success speaks for itself: Almost daily, new companies, employees and bicycle retailers sign up for the platform. 500 users and 300 INTERSPORT locations and bicycle retailers all across Austria are currently using the system. Invisible to the users, many workflows, dashboards, reports and interfaces ensure automated processes behind the curtains. The low-code approach combined with agile procedures proves to have been the right choice as it allowed to incorporate many additions and changes to be incorporated quickly and flexibly. Thanks to web-based technology, all participants can simply access the platform from any device and upload, view and even change data remotely. For employees, it was never easier to use a new mobility offering,” Gerhardinger reports and mentions another benefit for INTERSPORT: “The integrated dashboard allows for the creation of reports on things like sales, regional revenues or users in the system and that at any time.”
Professional collaboration as a success factor
Without a doubt, working with DCCS was a resounding success. “Excellent teamwork and professional implementation proved that our choice was the right one. Together, we were able to bring an entire project to market in a matter of four months. This makes us the first in Austria to provide a comprehensive, fully automated platform for company bicycles,” Gerhardinger sums up. The next expansion is already in the pipeline: Apart from ongoing optimisation, an overview map shows participating employers. Furthermore, the website now offers damage claim processing and advertising for participating companies. “With Firmenradl.at, we have come one step closer to the vision of sustainably changing mobility in Austria. Bicycles know no limits and are the perfect supplement to other means of transport. Our goal is to allow every employee to use and benefit from the system,” Gerhardinger summarises.
Excellent teamwork and professional implementation proved that our choice was the right one. Together, we were able to bring an entire project to market in a matter of four months. This makes us the first in Austria to provide a comprehensive, fully automated platform for company bicycles.
Marc Gerhardinger, Intersport Austria
Images: (c) Intersport
Bild Ronald Bürscher: (c) DCCS GmbH
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