FiSCHER: efficient invoicing, streamlined procurement
FiSCHER develops battery technology out of Germany. They have over 40 years of experience in safety lighting, heavy lifting and other electromechanical services. The company’s digital ecosystem relies on effective task management to create efficient and flexible collaboration between more than 70 employees.
As early adopters of Trello in 2012, FiSCHER were ahead of the game in their efforts to digitize task management. They recognized the global trend that was shifting operational workflows towards digitized structures and rightly identified the importance of task management tools to assist with these efforts. Since switching from Trello to MeisterTask, the FiSCHER team has been able to streamline collaboration for smoother processes and better project outcomes.
The challenge: establishing collaborative task management in digitized remote working environments
Axel Fischer is a corporate director at FiSCHER, and he spearheaded the decision to upgrade their task management system to MeisterTask. He recognized a need for a task management system that supported fractional and remote work structures, a corporate culture that FiSCHER implemented years before much of the world.
Remote working and home office have been part of our company culture for over 10 years. It was therefore important for us to find a tool that would work on mobile devices and facilitate working on the go.
Axel Fischer
Corporate Director, FiSCHER
Having used Trello, FiSCHER was used to agile task and workflow management systems. However, according to Fischer, growing concerns about data security motivated the need to move away from Trello and towards a new solution.
“Data security is an important topic for us. With Trello, we simply didn’t feel they shared our concerns. It came down to geographical location: the fact that our data was being stored on servers in the USA made us uncomfortable.”
After unsuccessful attempts with two open-source task management solutions, FiSCHER stumbled upon MeisterTask in early 2017. Unlike Trello, MeisterTask met and exceeded FiSCHER’s strict data security requirements. A trial data processing agreement gave FiSCHER confidence that MeisterTask was the right choice.
The solution: data security features that support collaboration
Although security considerations were the catalyst for change, MeisterTask provided several key benefits to FiSCHER that Trello could not. Most importantly, MeisterTask offers ultimate flexibility and practicality for the company’s employees.
“MeisterTask’s automations are a major plus for us. The possibility to visualize processes, plus trigger and automate the steps within them was a defining factor in our decision to switch tools.”
Further advantages that MeisterTask held over Trello were time-tracking functionality and the seamless integration with MindMeister, an advanced mind-mapping tool. With MindMeister, FiSCHER and like-minded companies easily transform creative ideas into tangible outcomes.
“We brainstorm in MindMeister and then export our ideas to MeisterTask directly. From there, we can immediately start formalizing our plans through structured tasks: it’s a great workflow for us to have.”
Transitioning from Trello to MeisterTask was simple and painless. With a few clicks via MeisterTask’s Trello import function, Fischer imported all 110 of the team’s Trello boards — including cards, checklists, and tags — in the shortest time possible.
The outcome: scalable workflows for seamless project management
The FiSCHER team manages dozens of projects and processes with MeisterTask. In addition to classic use cases, such as managing IT support tickets, the team has also shaped its boards to accommodate less-orthodox workflows. Invoice approval and management of the company fleet run efficiently directly within MeisterTask. Axel explains:
“Thanks to MeisterTask, we don’t need a document management system. We have created projects for processing invoices: a task is created for each invoice and assigned to the responsible employee for processing and approval. Our orders from suppliers are also processed in MeisterTask. The Kanban format is ideal for displaying the current status for as many as 20 production and shipping processes simultaneously.”
It doesn’t stop there. FiSCHER uses MeisterTask to plan and organize events, manage returns and complaints, communicate with suppliers and oversee all office management duties. Rather than getting lost in email chains, employees communicate directly on the tasks themselves, ensuring all stakeholders can easily find and comment on important files for approval. Axel summarizes the most notable benefits for the organization:
“MeisterTask is an incredibly versatile tool that helps us visualize workflows and processes. It is the perfect solution — helping us manage our projects together and easily reach our goals.”
