The digital challenges at Zurich Zoo

The elephant park is the latest highlight at Zurich Zoo. Image: Zurich Zoo, Jean-Luc GrossmannFROM CHRISTOPH OGGENFUSS*I meet the zoo director early in the morning in the cafeteria in the operations building behind the animal enclosures. The zoo is still asleep.The first thing I ask Mr. Rübel is what digitization means for Zurich Zoo. "Zurich Zoo needs to have a strong international network for its high quality and charisma." This has to do with the global network of experts and the need to know where in the world which animals are available for purchase.The "zoo business" today is also an international business and Zurich Zoo is part of this world. "Digitalization has brought the global zoo and expert community much closer together, making it much more agile in sharing information and making more timely decisions." For the zoo director, Skype has become the standard as voice communication because conventional telephony does not work well or at all in less developed countries."Digitization must never be an end in itself"What examples can be used to illustrate digitization at the zoo? Mr. Rübel distinguishes between internally driven and externally driven digitization. Mr. Rübel cites e-mail correspondence as an example of internally driven digitization. He uses this medium to illustrate his principle: "Digitization must never be an end in itself or me-too." This also applies, mutatis mutandis, to the operational use of e-mail for communication.In his observations of everyday life, Mr. Rübel notes that the topic of e-mail in SME operations must not be left to its own devices. It requires instruction and the definition of basic rules on how to deal with it. In this way, the desired added value of the medium can be realized.Customer wants uncomplicated information"Outside-driven" refers to the zoo's customers and friends. Here, Mr. Rübel observes that customers of Zurich Zoo do not compare its operations with the zoo in San Diego or Basel, but rather with portals such as tagi.ch, moma.org or zalando.de in the run-up to the visit.And why is that? Because customers want to find out about the latest news before they visit the zoo, find out how to get there by public transport, and then buy their tickets online and possibly book a guided tour of the new elephant house. Convenience and digitization definitely don't stop at the gates of Zurich Zoo.Use of Instagram is discussedIs digitization more of a growth driver or more of a cost-saving opportunity? The Zoo Director sees digitization primarily as a growth driver - the tangible cost-saving cases are still barely discernible.What are digitization initiatives envisaged for the medium term? Zurich Zoo is basing its further projects on a solid digital foundation, which today consists of a website, newsletter, webcams, digital content, Zoo app and presence on Twitter and Facebook. The use of Instagram is currently under discussion. All other projects focus on two aspects: customer loyalty and the provision of quality content.Animal birth must be online quicklyFrom Talk to Walk: What are the key challenges or stumbling blocks on the way to implementation? "We see a big challenge in the compatibility of our systems - cleaning up interfaces results in a lot of work." On this point, Mr. Rübel is not only referring to the Apple and PC world, but also to the need for the POS system to be integrated in terms of communication.Another challenge is internal training, since, for example, all animal caretakers are digitally equipped and their reporting is done this way. Ensuring agility is challenging. A special animal birth must be made available to the community online within hours - this calls for well-coordinated internal processes.Customer benefits from digitizationWho are the primary beneficiaries of digitization? The answer comes as if from a cannon: Clearly, the customer must benefit first and foremost from the digitization investments; that is the clear thrust of the zoo. And at the end of the conversation, Mr. Rübel adds that assessing the benefits of the many new opportunities that are emerging in the digital world is a challenge for which there is probably no patent remedy.As part of the digital series in Marketing&Kommunikation by Christoph Oggenfuss (markITing ag), the first season was entitled "Digital - not trivial". The articles are available here.