how we do it

Honest and open advice – this guiding principle characterizes the work of Holisticon as much as that of Berenberg. This common understanding of consulting proves to be particularly constructive for our cooperation. This is shown time and again in the projects we implement together. With its growth and progressive internationalization, the bank is driving forward the comprehensive digitalization and automation of its business processes. We are at its side as a partner with pronounced BPM expertise.

Camunda is used as a powerful process engine in all projects. The focus here is on the digital control of task management, including in the areas of customer administration, payments and accounts. For example, multi-stage release and coordination processes are considerably simplified, as is master data, invoice and creditor management. The high manual work and control effort required by many of the analog and partially analog internal processes has been significantly reduced.

With its comprehensive digitization strategy, Berenberg is responding to current requirements and strengthening flexibility and efficiency in the company with modern process structures. We are very pleased to continue to accompany them on this path!

Holisticon has worked for and in collaboration with Fiege to develop an innovative IT platform to organize collaborative e-commerce logistics. In addition to same-day delivery, it facilitates delivery and return collections for the end customers in a time window of their choice. The project is part of the “NexTrust” research program funded by the European Union to increase the sustainability and efficiency of the booming online retail trade. In a consortium of 30 European companies, Fiege is a byword for “e-commerce innovation”.

The platform’s central element and therefore the key to the control, monitoring, and future optimization is the Camunda process engine. A modern web front-end supports the dispatcher in managing shipments and planning routes. An extensive real-time tracking system is available to the end customer to track packages. The drivers also use a smartphone app developed by us. All the stages of a route, including barcode scanning and digital signatures, can be completed on the driver’s own smartphone with this app. There is therefore no need for any other special software – a basic requirement for a collaborative approach.

We carried out the project on the basis of our BPM/SOAgil model. This facilitates an efficient and, above all, a targeted design and development of complex, process-based systems.

process model SOAgil (in German)

With the goal of advancing the development of shopping centers and to equip them with state-of-the-art technology, ECE Marketplaces launched the international Smart Buildings Challenge. The challenge was carried out in partnership with Bosch, Microsoft, TÜV Süd and Deka Immobilien. Holisticon and Chroma Experience (formerly Markenwerk) participated in the competition as one out of 26 competing companies and won in the fourth sub-discipline, the development of a Smart Building Cockpit.

The task for this discipline was to prepare data from a large number of measurement sensors in such a way that it adds new possibilities to the work of various stakeholders. Our result is a dashboard with integrated task and action management that not only supports sustainable decisions on a management level, but also revolutionizes work in the operational business. We have thus laid a visionary foundation that impressively demonstrates the multi-faceted use of smart technologies in building management. With our victory, we were selected to implement a proof of concept in the Ettlinger Tor shopping center in Karlsruhe so that it can be subjected to a practical test by the operator ECE Marketplaces and the owner Deka Immobilien. The results of this PoC will be presented in 2021.

More about the Smart Buildings Challenge

Holisticon supported Panasonic in the Europe-wide replacement of Lotus Notes, by designing and implementing a new workflow platform based on Camunda BPM for the specialist processes in the consumer area.

The new platform offers the user a comprehensive overview of upcoming and completed tasks as well as intuitive, modern possibilities tom complete the tasks. The responsive design enables access via all possible end devices - from computers to smartphones. The tasks are distributed on a rule-based basis using DMN and a representative regulation reduces drastically the downtimes. All processing and results in the ongoing process are recorded and transparent. This facilitates collaboration in distributed processes and is also the database for future audits.

In the project, Panasonic successfully entered a new territory with the help of Holisticon - thanks to an agile approach we were not only able to optimally control the project. We have also succeeded in continuously migrating the existing specialist processes and we could introduce the new platform as a "Big Bang" after a short period of time.

Process Model BPM/SOAgil (In German)

The Independent Aircraft Modifier Alliance (IAMA) develops standards for aircraft modification projects that raise the independent modifications to an even higher level in the long term. Holisticon/Markenwerk developed a cloud platform for IAMA, which is available to the association as added value for all members. The start of the project was settled before COVID-19. The development teams Holisticon/Markenwerk also collaborated from different locations. During the project video conferences were already used for regular exchanges and the first stage of the project was completed even before the pandemic. We are looking forward to a long-term cooperation, as the platform has been launched as an MVP with many more features to come.

"The cooperation with Holisticon/Markenwerk is a success: Although the stakeholders are spread over a large part of the world, we have made great progress in the digital way. We look forward to further developments to take our platform to the next level," said Nicole Noack, Managing Director of IAMA.

For Holisticon/Markenwerk it was the first joint project, which required both sides to reevaluate their respective working methods. There was a clear separation of responsibilities between UI/UX and Web Components and backend and cloud infrastructure. This kind of close cooperation resulted in achieving a stable overall result and all project participants are very satisfied with the outcome and the high level of transparency.

Independent Aircraft Modifier Alliance

Cloud-Platform

In cooperation with our customer igefa, we are developing an innovative app for process support in the cleaning industry. The igefa GO app simplifies communication between cleaning staff and property managers and integrates all of the order processes across the board.

Even a prototype of the app came in the top 3 for the Purus Award at CMS, the most important specialist trade fair in the world. The first productive version was available six months after the start of the project to selected igefa customers.

Technologically, igefa GO is being developed with the cross-platform framework Nativescript for iOS and Android. High-performance SpringBoot back-end systems ensure operation of the app; the entire infrastructure is based on Amazon AWS and has been fully automated from deployment through to backup. The subsequent course of the project provides for an extension of the interfaces to integrate third-party systems – Navison or SAP, for example, and thus ensures the widest possible breadth of application for igefa GO.

igefa GO App at YouTube (in German)

igefa GO IOS

igefa GO Android

Together with our client HanseMerkur, in 2011/2012 we received the Gold Award for an outstanding BPM/SOA project in the region of Europe at the “Global Awards for Excellence in Business Process Management and Workflow” for our role as an integrator.

Our BPM Craftsman of the Year: Jan Galinski. For his numerous contributions, committed community work and, last but not least, for founding the Camunda User Group Hamburg, Jan was given the prestigious Camunda Community Award 2016. His work includes the camunda-spring-boot extension, which has now proved itself many times over in practical application, and the extension camunda-bpm-reactor, which facilitates event-based process applications. Well done, Jan!

Camunda User Group Hamburg

camunda-spring-boot

camunda-bpm-reactor

One of the most important business process of HanseMerkur health insurance is processing claims. In particular, the above-industry-average portfolio growth of recent years made an increase in efficiency in creating claims settlements necessary through standardization and automation. At the same time, the previously monolithic system architecture was to give way to process and service orientation driven by internal IT.

Holisticon supported HanseMerkur in the requirements analysis, technical process modelling, and creation of specialist concepts and designed and implemented the SOA underlying the processes. In addition to practical support in implementation, we continued to establish our agile model for BPM/SOA projects and thus made a significant impact in encouraging business-IT alignment at HanseMerkur. All these measures ultimately made it possible to exceed the targets set and to increase the automation rate across all settlement invoices significantly.

Success story: automated service billing at HanseMerkur (In German)

Technical article: Automated service accounting at HanseMerkur (in German)

We have had a partnership with Camunda for many years and became their first Advanced Partner in the world in June 2017.

We have extensive practical experience in using Camunda BPM. As an active member of the Camunda community, we bring the experience and ideas of our BPM craftsmen to bear and regularly contribute new components to the Camunda BPM platform. This includes several community extensions for automated testing of processes and the extension camunda-spring-boot, which has now proved itself many times over in productive application. As an initiator of the Camunda User Group Hamburg, we share our knowledge with other users and offer customers a platform where they can share experiences directly.

Jakob Freund (cofounder and managing director of Camunda) on Holisticon: “Over the years, Holisticon has proven itself to be a very professional and reliable partner and impresses us time and again with the success of the Camunda BPM projects it implements for our clients.”

Camunda User Group Hamburg

camunda-spring-boot

Fachartikel: Testen von Geschäftsprozessmodellen in BPMN 2.0 (in German)

Telefónica Germany (with the previous brand Alice, now O2) operates a new customer portal through which initial contact with the customer usually takes place. On the highly competitive telecommunications market, where competitors offer similar products at comparable prices, an optimal user experience can be crucial in the customer selecting a provider.

The performance of this new customer portal had to be increased significantly – and the success of the project has exceeded all expectations. The average loading time with the same content has been reduced by approx. 40%; network access and the data moved have been reduced by about half. In this way, a better customer experience, higher conversion rates, and lower infrastructure costs can be achieved.

Success Story: Performance-Optimization at "Alice" (in German)