In the interview with Klaus Beck-Dede, CEO of iDocpro GmbH.

iDocpro specializes in consulting, implementation, and service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with 10 to 100 employees and has recognized that many are not leveraging the full potential of tailored digitalization. The reason for this is often that they lack the expertise to evaluate the products and technologies of different providers and thus select the solution best suited for their needs. Frequently, companies orient themselves toward the “industry standard” and turn to IT service providers who have previously been involved in supplying PCs, servers, and standard software. However, this is often too short-sighted. Instead, iDocpro designs its customers’ business processes within the scope of its projects so that, based on digitalization and the options linked to the iDocpro solution, highly optimized workflows emerge through appropriate data reference and transfer—processes that can be automated wherever possible. iDocpro now primarily supports maintenance and service companies with field staff, such as those in medical technology. In an interview with Klaus Beck-Dede, CEO of iDocpro GmbH, we discuss efficiency gains, outdated business processes, industry standards, and the eternal desire for everything to somehow go faster.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Mr. Beck-Dede, how has your strategy evolved over the past few years to meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises?

Klaus Beck-Dede: Our service offering has shifted over the past 3 years. Until then, the focus was on digitalization, specifically the integration of paper-based processes in field operations. However, the situation at our customers today requires more. That’s why our focus is now on the three pillars: DIGITALIZATION – PROCESS OPTIMIZATION – AUTOMATION. Within the framework of digitalization, we help our customers achieve significantly better processes with greatly increased efficiency and transparency and ensure the automated handling of (partial) processes.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How does iDocpro differ from competitors?

Klaus Beck-Dede: With the introduction of iDocpro, we create fully paperless workflows for our customers that are data-driven rather than document-driven. We achieve this by thoroughly examining the specific conditions of each customer. Over the years, every company has developed special ways of handling business that must be appropriately considered during digitalization. Most of our competitors simply introduce their software or provide it along with video tutorials, leaving customers to figure out how to arrive at a good solution on their own. We aim to understand our customers' processes and optimally transfer them into a digital format. A mere transfer from paper to digital or the workflow dictated by standard software is not the right approach for most customers. iDocpro designs digital processes individually tailored to each customer. Additionally, we use the data available from these workflows to further optimize processes. Using data and rules, we automate many work steps with the Service Automation integrated into iDocpro. This reduces manual work for employees and minimizes potential errors. Overall, we manage to make our customers on average 20 to 25 percent more efficient.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How does iDocpro support companies in identifying and implementing digitalization solutions?

Klaus Beck-Dede: iDocpro primarily focuses on SMEs with 10 to 100 employees who have staff working in the field, for example, for maintenance and service work. In most cases, there is still enormous potential for digitalization and optimization here. However, the foundation of our work is always a comprehensive needs analysis. I am repeatedly surprised that customers are puzzled when we ask questions in the first meeting instead of presenting our solution. We want to first understand and assess what the customer wants and needs. We only offer our solution if we can implement and fulfill the customer's goals and requirements with iDocpro.

In most companies in our target group, many steps toward digitalization have already been taken. Gradually, individual expansions have been made, for example, through complete digitalization of filing or by supplementing the management system with partial solutions and/or apps with special functions. However, when you look at the processes in the company holistically, you can see how much additional, often unrecognized effort is still involved. The flexibility and functionality of iDocpro enable us to create integrated solutions for customers with a single system that consolidates and optimizes all data and processes. However, the focus is always on increasing efficiency across the entire company. Digitalization does not mean that every work step becomes more efficient. In most cases, bringing information digitally into the company's processes requires effort. This effort must then lead to efficiency gains in subsequent process steps to create real value.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: What specific benefits can SMEs gain from collaborating with iDocpro?

Klaus Beck-Dede: Every company has built and maintained its market position through its own strengths in the past. Our holistic approach helps customers preserve and further expand their competitive advantages. At the same time, we enable our customers to improve their economic efficiency:

- More revenue and profit with the existing team
- Growth and improved competitiveness through better
- Cost-performance ratio

Depending on where the individual company stands and what goals it pursues, we focus on the appropriate priorities during implementation.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: What role does cyber security play for you, and how do you ensure your clients' data is protected?

Klaus Beck-Dede: Our customers' data is naturally our most important asset, and the system and customer data must be particularly well protected against constantly growing threats. As a cloud solution, iDocpro has always been operated in a high-security data center. The standards and specialists there help us ensure a high level of security. In addition, our system architecture includes other important components. All communication is encrypted, and each customer has completely separate data storage. Data captured with the iDocproApp can be dynamically encrypted according to customer requirements, ensuring it cannot be read even if a tablet or smartphone is lost.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Which trends and technologies does iDocpro see as relevant for its target groups in the future, and to what extent can you offer or implement these?

Klaus Beck-Dede: If you look at the media today, the topic of AI—especially ChatGPT and its integration by Microsoft into BING and the Office world—is a major issue. This naturally creates medium- and long-term pressure on our target groups to take action. Thanks to its architecture and workflow, iDocpro is already very well prepared to integrate AI elements. This can be done in various ways, and we continuously evaluate where we can offer our customers potential benefits.

However, we see that a very large portion of our customers still need to successfully address many other issues where significant improvements are possible with affordable and proven technology. Just think of file-based storage. A large number of SMEs still store documents (Word, Excel, images, etc.) in a standardized structure, usually customer- and project-based. Finding information from such cross-customer files is hardly possible without significant effort. So, they are lost. Details stored in such files cannot be evaluated automatically. The same applies to forms and documents digitized as PDFs. As the next important step for SMEs, we therefore see the management of information in the form of data that can be visualized as documents at any time. This data is evaluable and can be used for information retrieval, better company management, or customer selection. Once this data is available, AI tools can also help to gain new and additional insights from it.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How does iDocpro support its customers in training and familiarizing employees with new digital systems and applications?

Klaus Beck-Dede: Due to the special approach to implementing iDocpro, employees of our customers are usually involved very early on. The analysis of existing business processes is always carried out together with the employees responsible for them. These employees are also involved in discussing ideas for digital transformation and aligning their implementation with the iDocpro system. This makes employees part of the solution, and it is “THEIR” system. This promotes acceptance and accelerates implementation. In larger companies, however, this only applies to a portion of the workforce. These employees then act as multipliers in their respective areas of work.

Before the newly designed solution is introduced, there is usually an intensive testing phase. This is preceded by training of the test team by iDocpro and the multipliers. Here, the relationships and new processes are explained and practiced. The test employees then train on the completed system as part of system and acceptance tests. Any questions or problems that arise are clarified or addressed in the solution. By the time the system goes live, all employees are appropriately prepared. The exact approach, however, always depends on the individual customers and their framework conditions.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Can you share any already implemented best practices or success stories from iDocpro and list the benefits that users now enjoy?

Klaus Beck-Dede: In principle, all our projects are success stories, because our customers have always been able to derive great benefits from introducing iDocpro. The investments have paid off quickly, mostly within less than 18 months. But of course, there are always examples that stand out particularly. These have always been companies that were willing to embrace the possibilities of digitalisation and question even well-established working methods. I can particularly highlight a company in the temporary employment services sector here. We completely redesigned the entire process based on iDocpro, making it completely paperless and automating work steps wherever possible. Compared to competitors, the company now has only about half the administrative costs and can use this leeway in pricing and employee remuneration. Since then, it has grown by 100% and can now operate regionally.

Another example comes from the field of professional system services and maintenance. Here, great importance is attached to precise documentation of the work performed. With the iDocpro system and the iDocproApp, technicians on site were able to document their work very efficiently and easily. The follow-up processing in the back office could also be sustainably accelerated with iDocpro. In addition, travel and idle times for technicians could be reduced. The high quality of documentation for maintenance and service assignments, combined with the increased efficiency gains, meant that this customer was awarded three times the volume of maintenance services in the follow-up order from its most important client.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Thank you for your time and for this very interesting and informative conversation.