An innovative concept
As one of the largest software houses in Germany, DATEV offers high-quality IT services to tax consultants, auditors, lawyers and their mostly medium-sized clients. Headquartered in Nuremberg, the company, founded in 1966, currently employs 7,000 people and is represented at 25 national and international locations. According to the motto “Shaping the future. Together”, the DATEV cooperative stands for the development of innovative concepts and close cooperation with its members – thus promoting the economic development of its clients in the long term.
Responsibility for employees and society
Sustainability and environmental protection have been considered an important part of DATEV eG since 1996. This is not only reflected in its already green logo, but is also evident in its guidelines for sustainable business. As an attractive employer, DATEV assumes social responsibility for its employees and supports many projects, currently including a new daycare centre, the so-called Green IT activities, resource savings and the barrier-free entrance area for the Datev III building.
Accessibility begins at the entrance
The headquarters in Nuremberg has five building complexes of its own – including the IT Campus, newly opened in 2015, in the construction of which 110 construction companies, planning and engineering offices were involved. The DATEV III building, built in 1983, is also located in Nuremberg and houses different areas of DATEV eG – more than 80,000 mail items and payrolls are processed there every day. Due to the daily strain, the entrance area of the building needed modernisation and redesign. Particular attention was to be paid to the aspect of accessibility. With the tactile guidance system emcoSPIN® SAFE, orientation is now also made considerably easier for blind and visually impaired people.
The term “accessibility” is often equated with the concept of wheelchair-accessible facilities. However, this neglects other cognitive limitations such as blindness and visual impairments, although these in particular should be taken into account when planning and renovating public buildings. These special guidance systems are already in place in many places, both on pavements and on various squares – but it becomes problematic when the exterior and interior guidance system is interrupted by the entrance area, so that cognitively impaired people lose their orientation and it becomes difficult to find their way again.
“DATEV traditionally stands for forward-looking systems. Now, with emcoSPIN® SAFE, an equally innovative system on the floor provides orientation in the entrance area of the DATEV III building.”
Sandra Denzinger
Architect, Technical Building Management
Future-oriented solution for the entrance area
emco SPIN® SAFE offers the optimal solution to this problem and, thanks to the integrated guiding system, enables visually impaired employees and visitors to DATEV eG to arrive and enter in a relaxed manner right at the entrance. By connecting the exterior and interior guidance system, there is no break in orientation, because the robust stainless steel elements, which integrate in an aesthetically sophisticated way, offer assistance through tactile, visual and acoustic features. In this way, the emco SPIN® SAFE system combines barrier-free functionality with the highest visual standards.
