Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about process optimisation
From the first conversation through the analysis to ongoing operations: here you will find answers to the questions we hear most often from trades, manufacturing, service providers, wholesale, logistics and administration — in plain language, without jargon.
Getting started and analysis
- How does a process optimisation project start? With a short conversation about your situation and then with the stocktake. We walk through a typical case together — say from enquiry through quotation, order, execution and…
- What does the process analysis include and what do we get at the end? The analysis covers interviews with the people involved, recording the real working steps, a review of the systems and file storage in use, and the search for media breaks and…
- We do not yet know which workflow costs us the most. Is that a problem? No, that is rather the norm. Effort spread across many small steps barely registers day to day: five minutes to transfer an order, ten minutes searching for a delivery note, a…
- How much time does our team need to set aside? For the analysis we allow one to two hours per contact person from the areas concerned, spread over a few appointments. What matters are the people who carry out the workflow…
- Is this worthwhile for smaller companies too? Company size is not the deciding criterion; repetition is. A workflow carried out manually every day or every week often justifies automation even with only a few employees. A…
- Do we have to buy new software first? In most cases, no. A large share of the friction does not stem from missing programs but from existing programs knowing nothing about each other, so data is moved between them by…
Costs and contract
- What does it cost to get started? The process analysis starts at 1,900 euros net plus value added tax. Included are the conversations with the people involved, the recording of the workflows, the review of the…
- How is the fixed price for an implementation determined? After the analysis it is known which systems are involved, which interfaces are available and which special cases have to be covered. On that basis we put together a package per…
- What does ongoing support include? Support starts at 190 euros net plus value added tax per month and covers monitoring of the automated workflows, notification of disruptions, error analysis, smaller adjustments…
- How long are we tied in contractually? Analysis and implementation are one-off services with no follow-on obligation. Ongoing support runs monthly and can be cancelled at the end of any month. We would rather keep…
- What happens if new requirements come up during the project? That happens frequently, because a closer look reveals special cases nobody mentioned beforehand. We treat such points as a separate extension agreed in writing, with its own…
- Is public funding available for such projects? Federal and state programmes for digitisation in mid-sized companies do exist; their scope, conditions and application deadlines change regularly, however. We do not provide…
Technology and interfaces
- Can you connect our existing industry software? In many cases, yes. What matters is not the name of the program but the route of access: a documented programming interface, a web service, database access with read rights, or a…
- What if our system has no interface at all? Then there are usually several options left. Many older programs can output reports or lists as files, on which an automatic import can be built. Some allow read access to the…
- Do we have to replace our legacy systems? Not necessarily. A system that does its job and can be connected may stay. A change only becomes sensible when running it grows disproportionately expensive, security updates are…
- How often do the automated workflows run? We define that per workflow. Time-critical procedures — the handover of an incoming order, for example — are triggered by events, so the transfer starts immediately after the…
- What happens if a system is temporarily unreachable? Maintenance windows, updates and network faults are part of operations. We therefore design automated workflows so that items are buffered and caught up in the correct order once…
- Can paper records and PDF archives be included? Yes. Incoming documents are captured, made searchable through text recognition and linked to the matching case — delivery note to job, invoice to order, inspection record to…
Data protection and ongoing operations
- Where is our data held? Services we operate run in data centres in Germany. Where data can remain in your own systems, it stays there — we do not mirror anything to additional places that the workflow…
- How is access to our systems handled? We work with personal accounts limited to what the task requires, and with two-factor sign-in wherever the system supports it. Shared accounts and passed-around passwords are…
- Do we need a data processing agreement? As soon as we process personal data on your behalf — customer data in an automated workflow, for instance — we conclude a data processing agreement under Article 28 of the General…
- What happens after rollout, in day-to-day operations? After handover we accompany the first few weeks closely, because special cases tend to surface only in live operation. After that the workflow moves into regular support. This…
- Will our staff be trained? Yes, and in our view this point often decides whether the change sticks. An automation nobody understands gets worked around — side routes emerge in spreadsheets and notes, and…
- Can we run the solution ourselves later? Yes. We rely on open, transparent technology and hand over documentation, configuration and access, so your team or another provider can carry on. That creates no lock-in. Many…