Pascal Bilo: Our main focus is on building cleaning, and through a renovation company, we also cover other areas such as traditional painting and the restoration business. Our services also include services for the hotel and catering industry as well as green space maintenance. Nevertheless, building cleaning, with a turnover of around 35 million EUR, is our largest business sector. Our customers are typically companies, including public clients, large office and commercial properties, banks, and the food industry. The majority of our services consist of what is called maintenance cleaning. For this, we arrange intervals with the customers in which the cleanings – usually several times a week – are carried out on-site by our permanent staff. Occasional special cleanings such as glass or specialty cleanings, however, only make up a small part of our activity. We usually provide these services additionally for existing customers and not for new customers. Thus, it is almost exclusively a long-term, contractually regulated cooperation.

Wirtschaftsforum: Do you also use AI and robotics for certain tasks? Does this mean that you employ fewer 'human' workers than before, maybe also in view of the shortage of skilled workers?

Pascal Bilo: We don't really have a shortage of skilled workers in our sector, as cleaning doesn’t require specialized skills and one can learn it quickly. This is what makes us an attractive employer, as many of our employees work for us part-time. Of course, we also deal with AI and robotics: In the area of AI, we use intelligent solutions to make cleaning work more efficient: Trash cans are equipped with sensors, restroom facilities have motion detectors that measure usage frequencies. This allows us to clean precisely. In the area of robotics, it's mainly about large areas like airport premises, production, or gymnasiums. Here, we use large cleaning robots. In the past, two to three employees would clean a gymnasium, for example, whereas today one or two employees support the work of the robot. This means a shift in job roles, but not the replacement of people by machines: because the employees, who are relieved by the use of robotics, can then be deployed in other areas, for example, special cleaning tasks that cannot be automated. Our goal is to create working conditions that motivate our employees and retain them in the long term.

Wirtschaftsforum: Why do your customers choose your company?

Pascal Bilo: This is certainly also due to our structure as a medium-sized enterprise. We are a family business, and this brings a significant advantage: We are large enough to serve also big corporations, but at the same time flexible enough to respond individually to the wishes of every single customer. We are not a stiff corporation that simply stubbornly follows its course, but we can adjust to every customer – whether small or large. This exactly provided us with a real advantage in the recent major tenders and customer engagements.

Wirtschaftsforum: Sustainability plays an important role, especially when it comes to cleaning. How do you implement that?

Pascal Bilo: Sustainability is not just important for us in terms of our ISO 14001 certification, but also because our customers expect sustainable actions from us. One goal is to be climate-neutral by 2030 – we are also aiming for climate-positive performances, which our customers can then incorporate into their own sustainability goals. For example, we are currently replacing traditional cleaning products with ones in tablet form – similar to dishwasher tablets, only smaller. They go directly into the cleaning bottle, just add some water. This saves us transporting hundreds of heavy bottles. Moreover, we work with our customers to reduce CO2 emissions, such as through recycling solutions like hand towel paper, which is processed on site and reused. These are many small, but important steps that make up our sustainability concept.