Relaunching the market intelligence platform
The TÜV NORD GROUP has fundamentally modernised its market intelligence platform, with simplified navigation, smart visualisations in Power BI and individual research options at the touch of a button.
If you want to keep an eye on the market, you need precise data, clear structures and smart analyses. “Our group has huge reserves of knowledge and access to a lot of professional information providers. We want to do what we can to help our colleagues find relevant information faster,” explains Stephen Volkmar, who joined the Group Strategy team in February 2025 and is jointly responsible with his colleague Malte Wittig for the implementation of the project. “People shouldn’t have to search for ages for what they need anymore; they should be able to find it straight away,” adds Malte Wittig. The relaunch of the market intelligence platform was not only a technical but also a collaborative matter. Over the past six months, the two business economists have relied on close coordination, mutual support and pragmatic solutions – an example of teamwork across departmental boundaries and even outside working hours.
For those who don’t work with it on a daily basis, until now the MI tool has been as a standalone portal that pools, analyses and visualises market data and information about the industry and the competition from various sources to support fast, informed and data-based decisions in the business units. But the range of information on offer has grown continuously, and the platform has become more complex. The project to relaunch the platform was created to improve the user experience and make use of current technologies. In the future, exclusive use of the intranet will make navigation easier for all market intelligence topics, in line with the credo by which less searching should return faster results.
Our group has huge reserves of knowledge and access to a lot of professional information providers. We want to do what we can to help our colleagues find relevant information faster.
The home screen features six large tiles: Market data, Macro and industry data, Individual requests, Competitor data, News and Trends. Market data offers relevant key data, volumes and forecasts concerning the TIC market. “With providers like MarketsandMarkets, Fitch, Bloomberg and others, we have a wide-ranging pool of data,” explains Malte Wittig. Macro and industry data provides a broader picture that goes beyond the TIC market. The Group strategy furnishes relevant reports (e.g. from special publications on US tariffs or the war in Ukraine), plus detailed analyses of industries such as medical technology, automotive and defence. The easiest way to get started is to make an individual request. After a short briefing, the Group strategy launches a targeted research procedure – based on existing reports, supplemented by AI-supported in-depth research and individually tailored to the individual request. Competitor data includes profiles of key market players, such as information from annual reports, announcements on acquisitions or new accreditations, and publications such as the Competitor Benchmark. “We keep this information up to date,” Malte Wittig explains.
People shouldn’t have to search for ages for what they need anymore; they should be able to find it straight away.
The News option allows the user to filter the flood of daily information. Employees can create personalised newsletters and keep abreast of developments in their industry or with the competition. “The news can be conveniently configured and subscribed to by e-mail – on a daily, weekly or monthly basis,” Stephen Volkmar explains. Other features, such as AI summaries, are also available.
The Trends category offers a gateway to Fibres, a trend scouting platform managed by the Digitalisation and Innovation (O-DI) department, which allows the monitoring of the most important trends in the individual business units and the Group as a whole.
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Training for the charity regatta “Rowing to Beat Cancer” initially took place “on dry land”.
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Stephen Volkmar, Malte Wittig and their colleagues Annika Burchard (Communications) and Ronja Schmidt (Sustainability) sat together in the quadruple scull.
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The charity regatta took place on Lake Baldeney in Essen.
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The advantages for the business units are obvious: they have quick and easy direct access to strategic insights and in-depth analyses that will complement their own depth and breadth of knowledge. “The platform is a living project,” Stephen Volkmar explains. “We evaluate feedback, integrating new data sources and adapting them to the requirements of the business units. This is enabling us to create a platform that will grow with the company.” The relaunch and maintenance of the platform are not just technical projects but also an example of the power of successful teamwork. Stephen Volkmar, who had been a member of the TÜV NORD family for less than a year, quickly learned to appreciate the team spirit in evidence in the Group. “We’re a small but powerful team. We cooperate really well and enjoy finding pragmatic solutions to challenges. And we also get along very well, both personally and when it comes to sport.” The keen amateur rower successfully encouraged Malte Wittig and his colleagues Annika Burchard (Communication) and Ronja Schmidt (Sustainability) to climb into a four-person gig boat for a good cause at the “Rudern gegen Krebs” (“Rowing to Beat Cancer”) charity regatta on Lake Baldeney in Essen in September. The TÜV NORD GROUP sponsored their participation, and the foursome gave their all in the race. “It was great fun and a really cool thing to do,” says Malte Wittig. “I’ve already blocked out the weekend of the next charity regatta in 2026 in my diary.” Stephen Volkmar is sure that the TÜV NORD GROUP will compete again, next time with more than one boat. “Who knows, maybe we’ll make it onto the podium next time.”
The platform is a living project. We evaluate feedback, integrating new data sources and adapting them to the requirements of the business units. This is enabling us to create a platform that will grow with the company.
