Flip experiences

Why Porsche became one of the first customers of the employee app Flip

Porsche, maybe the world's most well-known manufacturer of premium automobiles, faced a critical industry-wide challenge a few years ago: building a direct, real-time connection to its large, deskless frontline workforce via digital communication channels.

After a successful pilot project with trainees, Porsche implemented the program developed by a former Porsche employee. The resulting employee app was later introduced under the internal brand name "Carrera Mobile" (or "Carrera Push App") to the entire staff and thus Porsche became Flip's first major corporate customer.

Porsche employee using a phone on the factory floor.

Advantages of the employee app Flip

Blue outlined rocket icon, symbolizing rapid digital workflow or process acceleration.

Challenge

There were many operational employees without PC access at Porsche, who were cut off from the digital flow of information, causing important news to often arrive too late or not at all across locations, and communication was fragmented.

Two blue chat bubbles icon, symbolizing frictionless digital communication and collaboration.

Solution

Porsche introduced Flip as the "Carrera Mobile" and automatically synchronizes company news and pages from Microsoft 365/SharePoint into the app, with Azure AD/SSO, thus enabling location- and permission-based content including a digital "blackboard".

Two hands clasped in a handshake, symbolizing proactive teamwork and collaboration.

Result

The introduction achieved very high acceptance with 90%+ daily usage. Porsche reports now of reliably reaching production and storage as well as receiving significantly more measurable feedback and engagement from the frontline teams.

About Porsche

Engineering Performance for Generations

Porsche stands worldwide for innovation, precision, and passion in automotive engineering. Since its founding by Ferdinand Porsche in the year 1931, the company has transformed from an engineering office to one of the most renowned sports car brands in the world. Today, Porsche combines tradition and future, craftsmanship and high tech. The headquarters is in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, with production sites all over the world.

As part of the Volkswagen Group, Porsche employs tens of thousands of employees, who work daily on the vision "Driven by Dreams." This is the drive to create extraordinary vehicles, digital services, and sustainable mobility solutions. This attitude not only shapes the legendary sports cars but also the interaction with one another: characterized by team spirit, joy of innovation, and responsibility.

So Porsche remains, then as now, a synonym for engineering, passion, and performance made in Germany.

Industry
Automobile industry / Luxury automobile manufacturer

Size
42,000+ employees (of which 80% are operational)

Use Cases
Onboarding
Corporate news in real-time, including crisis updates
Location- and target group-specific announcements
Coordination between locations
Automatic transfer of SharePoint news/pages into Flip
Own content/information areas for the works council (across multiple locations)
Surveys for mood assessments and feedback

Before the experience with Flip

The Challenge: A Disconnected Manufacturing Giant

Since about 80% of Porsche employees—mechanics, assembly line workers, and logisticians—did not have access to a company email address or a PC, the company was faced with a massive "digital divide" and significant security risks due to unauthorised private chat apps.

Before Flip, communication at Porsche was fragmented and insecure:

No digital identity: Thousands of production employees had neither a company email address nor digital access, making reliable company-wide communication impossible.
Analog and slow: Important information was about physical "notice boards", printed communications or office gossip spread. The feed of information was slow, inconsistent, and difficult to track.
Shadow IT risk: Employees used unauthorised, non-compliant apps like WhatsApp for shift coordination and work-related chats, which is a major GDPR- and data security risk (Shadow IT).

The experience with Flip

Flip as critical infrastructure

Mechanics in blue uniforms using smartphones and tablets in a garage.

Flip was actually internally developed out of. Benedict Brand (Ilg at the time, before changing names after his marriage), the co-founder and CEO of Flip, recognised the communication problem in the operational workforce as a former Porsche employee and developed the prototype while working at the company.

Important use cases and features

Connecting the deskless workers: Flip reaches the entire operational workforce on their private smartphones (BYOD), thereby eliminating the digital gap between office and shop floor.
HR-Self-Services: Useful features such as digital payroll and digital shift planning enforced high daily usage, according to the model: "Come for the payroll, stay for the news."
Idea management: The "Snap & Solve" workflow allows mechanics to capture "micro-innovations" with a photo/video, replaces paper forms, and saves millions of spend, with bonuses paid out to employees for the best ideas.
Pre-Boarding: New employees receive a "guest" login weeks before their first day of work to complete formalities, view FAQs, and connect with a digital "buddy," which massively reduces first-day anxiety and increases engagement.
Crisis communication: The app was indispensable during the chip shortage and supply chain crises, as management was able to send targeted push notifications to specific assembly lines to inform about short-time work and production stoppages, preventing thousands of lost working hours.

Security and GDPR compliance as a prerequisite for employee app usage

In order to gain the approval of the strict Porsche security department and the German works council, the app had to be architecturally flawless:
- Works council mode: Flip was designed to prevent individual performance monitoring. Analyses are aggregated and anonymised to ensure that managers cannot view individual user activities.
- Data sovereignty: All data will be ISO 27001-certified German servers hosted, which meets the strict requirements of German automobile companies and prevents data from being subject to the US CLOUD Act.
- No shadow IT: By offering a secure, GDPR-compliant and WhatsApp-like experience, the company was able to eliminate the use of risky consumer apps for shift coordination and sensitive discussions.

Conclusion

A cultural bridge through digitalisation

The introduction of Flip by Porsche successfully transformed the app from a "nice-to-have" engagement tool into a "mission-critical"-Business platform.

Unprecedented acceptance: The app reached a daily usage rate of over 90%, a strong indicator of acceptance and utility.
Measurable communication: For the first time, the internal communications team was able to measure readership and engagement.
Cultural change: The app signaled a strategic shift from a traditional top-down hierarchy to a flatter, more inclusive structure, providing every mechanic and assembly line worker with a digital identity and a "voice" in the company.

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