Phase 2 has started

Dieffebi opened up for business again on 4 May, though during the months of lockdown we kept many of our business activities and relations in operation and closely monitored developments within the industry. “We maintained an on-going dialogue with our people at home,” Dieffebi S.p.A. Marketing Manager Alessandra Fardin tells us, “to keep them in the loop about what was happening and to create curiosity around new developments. This we achieved through continuous contact with our collaborators, which enabled us to adapt our programmes to the evolving situation.” “When the pandemic was declared, we had many initiatives in the pipeline and a good proactive energy,” continues Fardin, “which we were afraid we might lose during the lockdown; this didn’t happen but we redefined our marketing strategy to make it more digital, despite the fact that many of the events scheduled in the design sector were cancelled.” Dieffebi was working with architect Cesare Chichi, Studio 967 Arch, on a number of new products and the new design of the layout of its headquarters in San Vendemiano, near Treviso. “We had to reschedule the work and in the meantime we reviewed our procedures and worked on making work areas safe, as indicated in the technical guidelines provided by Italian authorities,” continues Alessandra Fardin, “but we will shortly be resuming the building work so that over the next few months we can inaugurate the completely renovated headquarters - this poses a real challenge at this time when so many changes have been introduced, precisely into workspaces.” With regard to new products being developed, we have had to make a number of choices in order to diversify our positioning strategy, supported by an “agile” management process, which results in equally effective control and implementation phases but faster modalities. "The lockdown has caused us considerable loss in turnover - there is widespread uncertainty on the Italian and European markets, we are waiting to see what recovery will look like, but we are already responding to the first requests for offers from different countries.” And then there are the structural changes to the workplace resulting from the equally radical and sudden changes in the organisational structures of medium-sized and large companies. Remote working (for now often just home working) is now being considered a real possibility for managing a part of their structure and capabilities. Workspaces offering the possibility of sharing intelligence and safe, comfortable, well-managed, digitalised areas will represent a plus for both collaborators and employees, an added value in relations with the company. “The way we experience space is undergoing great change, and at Dieffebi we are seeking to intercept this change and create an organised system around it,” confirms Fardin, “by continuing to work on valuing skills and new dimensions, including the perceptive and psychological dimensions, of workspace. “We have plenty to say and will do so shortly through our products: we are a manufacturing company, and proud of it, despite the difficult period.”