Re-Thinking Mobility in Frankfurt at Panasonic’s TOUGHBOOK Innovation Forum

Panasonic’s recent TOUGHBOOK Innovation Forum, held in Frankfurt, brought together the optimal cross-section of customers, partners, and prospects to encourage them to ‘re-think’ mobility and the technology required for frontline workers in ‘hyper-mobile’ working environments.

written by: Marco Rach, Marketing Manager for Enterprise Sector at Panasonic TOUGHBOOK

Panasonic recently held its annual TOUGHBOOK Innovation Forum in Frankfurt, bringing together dozens of customers, partners, and prospects for an enterprise and public sector-focused event. The forum provided a much sought-after opportunity for Panasonic to network with its key stakeholders in-person.

This enabled it to demonstrate its prowess as an innovative leader in the rugged device market, whilst demonstrating the full portfolio of hardware, end-to-end solutions, and new services that TOUGHBOOK now offers as a full mobility partner.

So much more than a rugged device manufacturer

In today’s fast-paced world, organisations with mobile workers need a reliable mobile solution that drives increased efficiency and productivity for in-the-field operatives, eliminating risk and adapting seamlessly to specific business needs.

However, this is only one piece of the puzzle. As our European Head of Mobile Solutions, Steven Vindevogel’s opening remarks described, mobility is becoming ever more complex. Aside from hybrid workers that have the flexibility to work from the office, home, or public spaces, ‘hyper-mobile’ workers that frequently operate in remote, harsh environments away from power sources and WLAN, need market-leading connectivity, reliability, and battery performance from their mobile computing solutions.

Their organisations also increasingly require services such as customised device roll-outs, vehicle integration, and ongoing maintenance and support for one monthly cost, lowering total cost of ownership.

As detailed by our EU Solution Architect for Go-to-Market, Thorsten Lutz, Panasonic has increasingly focused on its ‘Mobile IT-as-a-Service’ (MaaS) offering, positioning it as a true mobility partner that increases productivity in the field for customers and partners.

Panasonic’s MaaS offering supports our customers by removing the complexity and burden of managing a mobile IT estate. It combines the durability of rugged, secure TOUGHBOOK devices with world-class design, connectivity, manufacturing and testing with numerous service and add-on options – like consultancy, maintenance, deployment as well as vehicle technology and integration - to craft the ultimate mobile IT solution for an organisation’s operations – all for one hassle-free, flexible monthly subscription.

This provides end user organisations with unrivalled predictability, scalability, efficiency and sustainability across their IT investments. It is a prime example of how organisations across Germany need to ‘re-think’ their approach to procurement, enabling them to focus primarily on their core business operations.

Best-of-breed TOUGHBOOK devices on show

2024 has been a busy calendar year for Panasonic TOUGHBOOK, with new models of the 40, 33, and G2 rugged devices being launched in the last several months, pushing the boundaries in terms of what’s possible for rugged mobile computing.

All examples, including our TOUGHBOOK 55mk3, were on display in Frankfurt, enabling attendees to get hands-on with the latest hardware. The 40mk2 is the first TOUGHBOOK to feature artificial intelligence processing at the edge, thanks to the Intel® AI Boost neural processing unit (NPU). This enables data to be collected, stored, and analysed using artificial intelligence, without uploading and downloading data through a connection to the cloud – vastly increasing efficiency and accuracy for hyper-mobile workers.

We were fortunate to welcome Ilya Trishin, CCG Technical Sales Specialist at Intel®, to Frankfurt, to highlight just how transformative the impact of AI will be on the rugged computing market. We also had a live demo from Thorsten, and our Senior Product & Solutions Manager, Dirk Weigelt, wielding a TOUGHBOOK 40 made entirely from glass. They are quite the double act!

An unbeatable partner and customer ecosystem

Since pioneering the rugged device market in the mid-1990s, Panasonic has worked tirelessly to cultivate an ecosystem of trusted customers and partners that are at the absolute forefront of their own industries. Our TOUGHBOOK Innovation Forum in Frankfurt was no different.

This enabled our customers and prospects to see TOUGHBOOK and its partners at its best – and highlight the importance of close strategic partnerships in delivering customised solutions.

Solution partners such as axians, oxando, Gamber Johnson, Havis, and PWA demonstrated how they effortlessly complement TOUGHBOOK rugged devices, including vehicle integration and solutions integration hardware.

Furthermore, a 5G private network powered by TOUGHBOOK and a partner was set up, demonstrating how easy, fast and secure private 5G connectivity can deliver ultra-low latency, faster response times and enhanced data transfer with TOUGHBOOK devices enabling the full 5G benefits thanks to their 5G-Standalone capability.

The perfect cross-section of industry expertise

Panasonic was lucky enough to have blue-chip customers in attendance in Frankfurt from telecoms; police and emergency services; railway transport; utilities; land measurement and surveying; insurance; supply chain and logistics; aviation; and automotive. Pioneers in their own right, their insights stimulated conversations on potential cross-collaboration with each other – not to mention strengthening our own partnerships.

It was great to hear from them, and understand end-user needs. Having Voice of the Customer feedback is as important as it was when the first TOUGHBOOK was launched. Their insights enable us to react and respond to the bespoke requirements of thousands of mobile workers who need customised, rugged mobile computing solutions, increasing productivity and efficiency in any environment.

Ultimately, Panasonic’s Frankfurt TOUGHBOOK Innovation Forum was a tremendous success. It enabled us to consolidate our position as the rugged device leader through our Mobile-IT-as-a-Service offering, and strengthen our customer and partner relationships in an intimate setting. This enabled us to continue to fully understand what they require from their rugged computing solutions.

Re-Thinking Mobility in Frankfurt at Panasonic’s TOUGHBOOK Innovation Forum

So much more than a rugged device manufacturer

Best-of-breed TOUGHBOOK devices on show

An unbeatable partner and customer ecosystem

The perfect cross-section of industry expertise

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