Post-Corona: "We are already planning the upward trend".

Expodata: What does a Corona day in the life of Viktor Calabrò and of Coople look like in contrast to a previous day?

Viktor Calabrò: I have to say that a lot has happened. Internally, we have cancelled all travel by our staff in Amsterdam, Lausanne, London, Mink and Zurich until further notice. This has a big impact on my own work activities, I am on the road a lot. Nevertheless, we have a lot to do, because now it's a matter of calibrating the whole personnel management.

Certain customers have less need from us at the moment, others more. Supermarkets are overrun, they need more or more flexible staff now. Or call centers that have immediate needs are, for example, federal information offices, health insurance companies, but also the retail trade, for which we provide staff, is either upgrading or downsizing.

Will Corona ever level out and allow business as we have been accustomed to?

That depends on how long the corona crisis lasts now. Will it remain limited to a relatively short time? Then one will quickly return to everyday life and perhaps suppress the negative sides of the shock again. If it lasts longer, say three or more months, you have to expect lasting changes. Companies will disappear, the winners will take a new look at technology and draw conclusions about what room for maneuver one has in such a situation despite everything.

We, too, will address the issue of how to respond more quickly in the future to situations that were not foreseen. Normality will return in some form, but it may not be the same normality as before Corona.

How has Coople responded to Corona and how can opportunities be generated for Coople and the live communications industry?

Our reaction was to be cautious, but not to panic, panic does no one any good. We started with good communicative actions with authorities, customers, employees, and accompanied them step by step in this new process and showed them the consequences. Secondly, it is part of our core business to provide support where there are risks. In the long term, we see a great opportunity for the live communications industry to learn now, to rethink and to put the business model on new pillars.

I think that an impact like the present one shows that it is always a question of retaining a certain basic flexibility, also so that a crisis cannot be your undoing. Opportunities are also generated by bringing suppressed topics such as environmental protection or others back to the fore. In live communication at trade fairs and events, digital technologies will now also come to the fore again, which were not dealt with enough before. Such topics accelerate change and can help us to be in a new and better position in the future. It's often the case that when things get tight, it accelerates the innovative power of the economy.

What message do you have for the live communications industry?

Basically, we're there for the live communications industry, whether their needs are going up or down. We have been able to work out models for our clients on how to scale down in the current situation. But of course, we also have models on how to move forward again after the Corona situation by "upscaling." Then you have to be ready and the time after Corona will separate the wheat from the chaff, from companies that continue as if nothing has happened and from those that are ready for a step forward. Coople is already back to planning the upward trend. It's like in sports: you always have the chance to restart a race and then maybe you can make up places.