StraViMi (Strategische Virtualisierung für den Mittelstand (KMU))

StraViMi (Strategic Virtualization for SMEs)

Distance as an opportunity for SMEs

Strategic virtualization beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

A project of the Department of General Psychology and Methodology at the University of Bamberg. The restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have massively increased the importance of virtual forms of communication: there is no way around Zoom, Skype, Teams and many other solutions. The discussion is mostly about the technology and its problems. Virtualization is perceived as inferior to real communication. But we should talk about it: How can virtualization be optimized to ensure good communication beyond purely technical quality considerations? How can virtualization be consistently expanded in order to create high-quality advertising, marketing, product, sales and consulting offers beyond purely conversational situations? How can inclusion (of people with physical or mental disabilities, people with language barriers, older people, and people who have to isolate themselves for health reasons) be better achieved? How can innovative virtualization options help to develop interest in products and services and to better understand, use and deploy such offerings? One important answer to this question is our project on strategic virtualization, in which we specifically consider and serve several levels of virtual communication from a long-term perspective. The topics of communication, information, information design, user experience, emotion, values and aesthetics are being addressed from a psychological perspective - with findings from current research. An interdisciplinary team - experts from psychology, computer science and communication design - will work with you in workshops to implement various forms of virtual communication in a very practical way. We bring with us the psychological and technological knowledge as well as a selection of inexpensive and professional tools for the virtualization of your needs. The project is financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Free State of Bavaria - there are no costs for the project participants; however, you must release your employees from work during working hours. This funding makes us independent of economic interests. Our goal is to train small and medium-sized companies from structurally weak regions in Bavaria in psychology, communication design and technology so that they can use virtualization as a strategic added value, thus preserving and creating new jobs in medium-sized companies in the long term. Several employees are welcome to participate, who will then act as multipliers in your company.

Project leaders: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Claus-Christian Carbon and Dr. Marius Raab