ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - Kuehne + Nagel

Information technology
Further development of the IT strategy/IT-based products
Kuehne + Nagel’s IT strategy concentrates on the creation of a
new, robust and flexible information platform. For that reason
the whole IT architecture is being overhauled and reconfigured
on a modular basis. The aim is to standardise and improve the
efficiency of all business processes, and customer systems displayed,
resulting in higher quality, minimisation of different
sources of error and an increase in the productivity of the individual
users.
Important milestones were reached in 2011, in particular in the
field of service orientation. This concerns “communication and
interaction” between the different IT programs. It is the goal to
achieve the highest possible level of re-utilisation and a flexible
shell consisting of a number of modules or sub-programs. These
modules, which can be individually further developed, are mutually
complementary and can each be used for a number of applications.
As a result of the high level of re-utilisation, a flexible
platform with a very long time horizon is being created which
allows an efficient adaptation to the needs of individual users.
It supports all areas of the company from administration to the
finance department and the operational business units. In 2011,
more than 40 new modules were incorporated into the new
technology.
In order to contribute to the further improvement of the Group’s
productivity automation and standardisation of processes continued.
The more processes are standardised and automated,
the more intermediate steps are eliminated or performed more
quickly. A good example of this is the registration of customer
and shipment data. A greater number of orders can be recorded
and processed with the same number of employees. In addition,
process automation is crucial for another important objective,
the paperless office. This is another important factor for a higher
quality of service, as customers are able to access documents
online at any time. Furthermore, Kuehne + Nagel staff is
relieved of many time-consuming routine tasks and can fully
concentrate on value-creating work in direct contact with
customers.
Streamlining of the IT-Organisation
Good progress was made in streamlining the global IT organisation
structure through a move to centralisation. Whereas corporate
IT was supported by a number of regional IT teams, the
Information Technology
organisation is now being adapted to the new demands of a
modern IT architecture and increased centralisation of the
regional teams. As a result, synergies will be created and duplications
eliminated in line with the modular IT architecture. In
addition, the new structure allows a faster response to changes
in market demands.
New internet – presentation and improvement
of online services
The global internet presentation of Kuehne + Nagel has been
completely redesigned. Due to a customer-friendly, unified user
shell and navigation system all products are presented in a simple
and clearly structured manner.
The information logistics platform KN Login has been further
developed. Empty container management has been added to
interactive container planning. Furthermore, the different transport
routes are now electronically linked in such a way that
orders can be permanently monitored in association with the
existing process. The making-out and processing of booking documents
has also been substantially simplified.
To meet the growing demand for mobile solutions, Kuehne +
Nagel has introduced a mobile application into the market. Customers
can follow logistics processes at all times with online
applications such as smartphones, iPads and similar equipment.
Also, in this case the modular principle supported a cost-efficient
development. Apart from classic tracking, the multilingual
application also allows the tracking and tracing of sea- or airfreight
shipments on the basis of the customer's own references.
Objectives for 2012
The introduction of the first modules of the new sea- and airfreight
systems, in particular in the airfreight import and price
quotation fields is of great importance in 2012. In addition, an
innovative IT solution dedicated to the pharmaceutical industry
will be provided.
With the introduction of the new IT architecture, important system
components will be integrated into a “disaster recovery” concept
with global coverage, substantially improving the security of
the system. In the event of a catastrophic event, i.e. the failure of
one of the global computing centres due to a power failure,
flooding or other disaster, IT production can quickly be restored.
In this way, account is taken of the demand for an ever higher
availability of information technology in the work process.
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