IT Center of Excellence in Lisbon celebrates its second year with more growth

Panalpina continues to expand its digital capabilities through its IT Center of Excellence (CoE) in Lisbon, with more office space, new employees and more projects aimed at accelerating the company’s IT initiatives.

Panalpina’s IT CoE in Lisbon, Portugal, recently inaugurated another extension of its office. The event marked the center’s second year of operations, showing steady growth.

The new space features 33 modern workspaces, a kitchen and lounge, three meeting rooms and two phone booths, creating a mix of quiet rooms and open space inviting collaboration.

The CoE also welcomed more talent, with 40 new employees joining in the course of 2018. The extended office space allows for a total of 126 workplaces, a number the CoE expects to reach in the first half of 2019.

“Our software engineers, IT experts and business analysts in Lisbon work with corporate key account managers to serve global customers, understand their needs and develop solutions,” said Ralph Halter, Panalpina’s Head of IT Strategy and Planning. “We are building up core IT competencies in Lisbon that will help us quickly and efficiently provide service solutions for our worldwide customers, be it creating a new customer portal or improving order management processes.”

More capacity for going digital

The IT CoE in Lisbon has become the first-stop for all Panalpina’s corporate IT initiatives, with almost 100 employees working on key customer projects, robotic process automation, warehouse implementations, and supporting global infrastructure and applications. All these are aimed at reinforcing Panalpina’s products and functions with excellent service at optimized cost, to increase efficiency and better serve customers by moving to the forefront in its use of digital technologies.