Why innovation is standard for us
Innovation is not a special project at encoway, but an integral part of our DNA. In a world that is changing at breakneck speed, it is not enough just to keep up. That is why we are already working on tomorrow’s solutions today: in our encoway LAB, we develop new digital tools for industrial SMEs together with customers, partners, industrial companies, start-ups and universities. Our goal: to strengthen the competitiveness of German industry with digital solutions!
This page gives you an insight into encoway LAB projects that are about to go live or are already being actively used by our customers. Are you interested in an open innovation partnership or in our software innovations? Then please get in touch with us now!
Current projects in the encoway LAB:
- Explainable Guided Selling – AI-based product finder
- Knowledge Pilot – Chatbot with internal knowledge base
- BOQ-Importer – Edit bills of quantities with AI support
- Translation ++ AI – AI translator for product data in encoway CPQ
Explainable Guided Selling: AI-based product finder
Explainable Guided Selling is an AI-supported web application that transforms technical product data (e.g. from complex data sheets or PIM systems) into an interactive product finder. The tool automatically creates a comprehensible catalogue of questions that guides prospective customers to suitable product recommendations – seamlessly embedded in your website or web shop. In the digital dialogue with the user, the AI makes it transparent to the user how it arrives at the respective selection. This creates a digital consultation dialogue that is similar to a conversation with a specialist salesperson in an on-site shop. Your customers not only receive quick help with specific application questions, but also understand the decision-making logic behind them.
Who is this solution for?
For providers with a broad portfolio of discrete (technical) products who want to offer their prospective buyers intelligent and trustworthy advice on the web. The solution can be used independently of encoway CPQ.
Who is working on this solution?
The development team at our innovation lab DOCK ONE has brought Explainable Guided Selling to market maturity. We offer open innovation partnerships with other companies that use the tool in their day-to-day work and would like to develop it further together with us.
What is the status of the project?
The AI-based product finder is fully functional and automatically creates user-friendly question catalogues from technical data sheets – including transparent answer logic and comprehensible explanations. The solution can be flexibly customised and integrated directly into your website or webshop.
Who is your contact?
Julian Brünjes, Business Developer at our innovation lab DOCK ONE.
Knowledge Pilot: Chatbot with internal knowledge base
The Knowledge Pilot is an AI-based chatbot that makes internal company knowledge quickly, reliably and contextually accessible. Instead of laboriously searching for information in presentations, data sheets, Excel spreadsheets or complex systems, employees quickly receive the right answers. The Knowledge Pilot draws exclusively predefined sources and provides information including citations, references and information for further research. As a digital assistant, the knowledge pilot learns as it goes: Feedback from employees flows into the system so that the company’s “internal brain” is constantly growing.
Who is this solution for?
For companies with multi-layered product portfolios or extensive databases – regardless of sector or department. The Knowledge Pilot is ideal for organisations that want to secure their internal knowledge in the long term, make it efficiently accessible and thus keep valuable expertise available in the long term.
Who is working on this solution?
The Knowledge Pilot was developed in cooperation between our innovation lab DOCK ONE and Lenze SE. The solution is already in productive use and is being continuously optimised. We offer open innovation partnerships with other companies that want to take the system further and develop it with us in a practical way.
What is the status of the project?
The Knowledge Pilot is used productively in Lenze SE’s technical helpline, among others: Within seconds, it searches a database of over 20,000 documents of various types and answers even complex questions. During the trial phase as a knowledge assistant for Lenze, users received a solution to a problem around 70 % faster and thus gained 40 % more actual working time.
Who is your contact?
Badr Jdi, Data Scientist at DOCK ONE.
BOQ-Importer: Edit bills of quantities with AI support
Bills of quantities (BOQ) are central documents in tendering processes, for example in the construction industry. They contain detailed requirements and product specifications that contractors must fulfil. Until now, preparing tenders on the basis of such specifications has been a manual, time-consuming process – it takes around 16 hours per 100 pages just to manually enter and prepare a set of specifications. With the BOQ-Importer, relevant content can now be extracted automatically: An AI recognises crucial information in the tender items, translates BOQ terms into the company’s own language and automates the process from the tender text to the tender proposal.
Who is this solution for?
For companies that regularly work with bills of quantities and public tenders – for example in the construction and building technology sector.
Who is working on this solution?
The BOQ-Importer arose from a specific practical problem that Teckentrup brought to encoway. The company regularly faces the challenge of processing BOQ documents quickly and accurately on a day-to-day basis. The idea was taken up in our DOCK ONE innovation lab and developed further together with Teckentrup. BENNING provided extensive data sets for the initial testphase and is planning to use the tool in practice in the near future. Other companies are invited to participate in the open innovation process and actively help shape the solution.
What is the status of the project?
The first version of the BOQ-Importer was developed for Teckentrup in 2023 and is already in productive use there. The application is currently being further developed so that it will work „out-of–the-box“ in future – i.e. without company-specific AI training. The solution is functional and ready for application testing with other partners.
Who is your contact?
Amine Ajmi, BOQ-Importer Project Manager at DOCK ONE.
Translation ++ KI: AI translator for product data in encoway CPQ
Translation ++ AI is a new function in encoway CPQ Studio that automatically translates technical and sales product data into other languages – directly where it is maintained.
encoway customers use CPQ solutions to configure and market complex products. The basis for this is the CPQ Studio: a central location for data maintenance in which product descriptions, technical features and sales and marketing texts are structured. Much of this data comes from third-party systems and is not fully translated. At the same time, new translation requirements for product data are constantly arising – be it for product launches, to open up international sales regions or following data changes. Until now, manual translation maintenance has been time-consuming, expensive and error-prone. Our new AI function in CPQ Studio provides a quick remedy without “copy & paste”: With one click, it generates contextualised translations including company-specific wording.
Who is this solution for?
For users of encoway’s CPQ solutions who want to simplify, speed up and organise their translation processes cost-effectively.
Who is working on this solution?
The idea for Translation ++ AI arose from specific practical needs of encoway customers, which were communicated in discussions and feedback rounds. The AI-supported translation was then designed, tested and optimised in practice in close cooperation between encoway’s product development department, our innovation lab DOCK ONE and selected pilot customers such as Cordes and Graefe.
What is the status of the project?
The AI-supported translation is functional and translates complete product data records directly in CPQ Studio. Interested companies can test the current version free of charge with a defined data quota and provide their feedback. We look forward to further open innovation partnerships for joint further development. Product maturity is expected in the coming months.
Who is your contact?
Kamila Dördelmann, Business Domain Expert for data maintenance and management at encoway
Open Innovation as a formula for success
Our recipe for successful innovation projects is: Open Innovation. This philosophy of collaborative problem-solving has characterised the way we think and act at encoway for years – be it in our in-house innovation lab DOCK ONE, at encoway’s headquarters in the Digital Hub Industry Bremen (DHI) or in our daily exchange with our network. With open innovation, we consciously cross company boundaries and utilise the experience and creativity of many to achieve better solutions for everyone more quickly.
The DHI is our “learning cast in concrete” for successful open innovation: a lively ecosystem for knowledge and technology transfer around our headquarters in Bremen. Organisations such as OHB, the University of Bremen’s AI Transfer Centre, start-up incubators and numerous start-ups contribute their expertise here and create a dynamic platform for the exchange of ideas and resources.
Finding digital solutions with open innovation
Would you like to find out more about our software innovations or develop your own vision together with us? Then get in touch with us! In our innovation lab, we create space for solution-orientated collaboration and develop digital applications that are convincing in practice.
From vision to reality: successful projects from the encoway LAB
In the encoway LAB, ideas become market-ready innovations: Our AI and digital solutions are already being used successfully and are changing the way companies think, act and grow. Get to know the technologies that our customers are using to master the challenges of tomorrow and secure your strategic advantage!
