Internal training series in a new format
Continuous training and security are top priorities at the Mannheim-based management consultancy PTA GmbH. Due to the current coronavirus pandemic, this year’s PTA summer seminar will be held virtually for the first time on July 10, 2020. “By internals for internals” is the motto of the training event, which is offered twice a year and provides participants with interesting insights and news on digital transformation as well as IT and process consulting.
“Due to the current virus pandemic, we decided without further ado to organize our internal training series for the 2020 summer seminar virtually. The safety of our employees comes first, especially as our IT infrastructure is designed to easily switch from face-to-face events to online mode,” says the management of management consultancy PTA GmbH, explaining the new direction of the training seminar.
However, this does not detract from the quality of the training series. This summer, the PTA experts will once again be holding numerous specialist presentations and sessions to keep up to date with digitalization, IT and process consulting. After a short welcome round, the participants start into parallel virtual sessions via Microsoft Teams. There they simply choose the topic that is of particular interest to them and their subject area.
Supporting program provides a wide range of topics
The range of specialist topics is correspondingly wide. In their session entitled “Containers see land”, Simon Reis and Dimitrios Chalepakis, Wolfgang Ruh and Andreas Haupt will provide insights into the importance of using containers to “package” applications in software development. From various perspectives, the speakers will show how containers can be used to automate the setup of test systems and what impact the operation of applications in the cloud has on their design.
However, the PTA experts do not ignore the issue of failure. A software project can always go wrong. This is why it is always worth taking a close look at the course of the project when introducing standard software. Speaker Matthias Hoffmann is convinced of this in his session “Schöner Scheitern”. It pursues the question of whether incidents and experiences can be generalized and whether valuable recommendations for action and inspiration can be derived from them in order to bring IT projects to a successful conclusion in general.
The life cycle of software solutions is the focus of the third session, which Florian Schuler is offering under the title “Sunset in the life cycle of applications”. At some point, every IT solution either expires or is completely replaced. Such a replacement can take place in a big bang or through gradual re-engineering. The session will show how important it is to make the transition from the familiar to the new in a productive and pragmatic way. It is essential that project managers meet the stakeholders involved and follow process guidelines. Schuler uses a practical example to illustrate selected aspects of the final phase of the application life cycle.
On-site meetings and face-to-face meetings between employees and with partners, customers and service providers are severely restricted in times of coronavirus. Many companies are looking for a quick and simple solution for audio and video calls, as well as community maintenance. In his session “Introducing Yammer & Teams”, speaker Albert Buck explored the possibilities of the new forms of communication and shared his experiences of what needs to be considered when introducing the two tools.
An important part of the seminars is and remains the social component, even if this cannot be cultivated directly on site this year due to the coronavirus situation. That’s why the virtual supporting program of this year’s PTA summer seminar will be accompanied by coffee and lounge sessions in which colleagues from the various offices can chat, clarify open questions about the course of the seminar or simply have a chat together.
Management outlook rounds off the program
At the end of the virtual seminar series, Managing Directors Peter Fischer, Matthias Wossidlo and Dr. Tim Walleyo will give a detailed overview of the current situation of the entire PTA Group. They not only shed light on the market environment, but also present their summary of completed projects and provide an outlook on planned measures.
