How the sudden shift to home office unleashes unexpected power: Workflow software as a central hub and process accelerator. In an interview with Jakob Deimbocker, CEO of Joinpoint…

Joinpoints GmbH offers specialized software that transforms administrative business processes into simple, digital, and automated workflows. Joinpoints automatically handles the coordination and communication between individual employees and teams. Each employee receives their own personalized task list from the system. Especially in times of remote work, this is a highly welcome solution for setting up and digitizing company-specific administrative processes.

Many companies have faced challenging demands since the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to organize themselves more flexibly and independently of location without losing access to business-critical data. The economic consequences of COVID-19 have made this requirement for remaining competitive all too clear, demanding appropriate, proactive measures. Today, we speak with Jakob Deimbacher about flexible networks and how software can effectively provide employees with the relevant tasks and assignments for their roles.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Shifting many employees to remote work almost overnight is a significant challenge, especially for more traditional companies. How can telephone accessibility be maintained? How can documents be edited collaboratively? And most importantly: How do work processes now function? Joinpoints promises a solution here. Mr. Deimbacher, what exactly does that look like?

Jakob Deimbacher: The great thing about Joinpoints is its transparency. By clearly displaying all projects and processes and integrating documentation, endless back-and-forth communication from A to B to C and back is no longer an issue. You simply click into the required project and see exactly what has been completed, what remains open, and the latest status. Additionally, there is the option to leave tags, comments, or reactions for quick communication. You can also assign new tasks directly within the project to team members. For example, if an offer needs to be sent to Customer A: I simply click into the associated pipeline or workflow and create a new task for Employee A. They receive a notification and immediately know what needs to be done, for whom, and by when. Normally, Employee A would write the offer and seek approval from the boss. All of this would happen within Joinpoints. This eliminates the need for tedious back-and-forth phone calls and removes location constraints. The beauty of Joinpoints is that I can also store the offer directly in the project. This way, I always have all versions of the document saved and can access the current version at any time.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: You mentioned workflows here. What does that entail, and why is it important to think in such structures?

Jakob Deimbacher: When we talk about workflows, we are referring to digital and automatic operational processes within a company. We see examples of these in every company at all times. They determine what we need to do within the company at any given moment and what the next task will be. All companies consist of such workflows and routines. If a company claims it has no real processes or workflows, then that is simply incorrect or they are not aware of them. The art of workflows lies in managing them correctly and adhering to them. Especially in times of home office, it poses a challenge to suddenly switch those workflows that have always worked well in the office to decentralized work. Workflows help decision-makers and employees ensure that these structures do not get lost and that their efficiency and quality are maintained.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Due to the switch to home office, many companies are struggling to smoothly handle their internal administrative processes. What are the biggest hurdles from the perspective of the existing infrastructure?

Jakob Deimbacher: The biggest hurdle here is simply the new way of communicating and staying in touch with each other. In the office, it’s often the case that I spontaneously go to a colleague in the next room to ask about the current status of a project. Or that I quickly leave a Post-it note on my colleague’s desk next to me with a request to complete a task. When the switch to home office suddenly happens, such uncomplicated habits become difficult. What do most companies do then? They switch to emails or MS Teams and simply write everything in chat programs. This may seem like a quick solution—but it can easily end in chaos. Why? Because information about projects, etc., is scattered again, and you have to painstakingly piece everything together. I can’t efficiently manage 100 customer requests—or keep track of them—just through emails or MS Teams. What’s missing here is a clear structure for how to process these requests and ensure that no information is lost. Workflows provide this structure—the core element of Joinpoints.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Which work processes can be managed within your software?

Jakob Deimbacher: Thanks to its neural network as a basis, Joinpoints is very flexibly structured and can therefore be adapted to any company. You can let your creativity run free in deciding which processes should be managed in Joinpoints. In addition, our Process Store offers some templates for workflows that companies like to use. These primarily include workflows from project management and HR, such as handling customer requests or onboarding new employees. The main goal here is to simplify and automate communication between individual departments or colleagues.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: That sounds quite effective. What about tasks for individual colleagues or entire teams? How can managers assign these tasks and simultaneously monitor the results?

Jakob Deimbacher: In fact, Joinpoints can use Task Management 3.0 to automatically assign such tasks to colleagues. The system achieves this through predefined workflows. Joinpoints controls the distribution of tasks and notifies the person when it is their turn to work on the next task for a project. Joinpoints automatically compiles each employee’s daily task list.
In addition, the tool always logs when each employee completed which task. This allows the manager to keep an eye on individual teams at all times. Ideally, however, this is no longer necessary, as the workflow in Joinpoints itself controls what has already been completed. What Joinpoints already offers is efficiency measurement. Joinpoints Analytics shows in real time how economically or efficiently my workflows are running and clearly highlights weaknesses. This gives me the opportunity to take targeted measures to complete projects faster and more cost-effectively.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Is the system also capable of handling simple tasks on its own, optimizing and automating recurring processes?

Jakob Deimbacher: Yes, individual steps can also be automated with Joinpoints. With Joinpoints, you can create a hybrid workflow—a mix of tasks that must be completed by humans and tasks handled by machines. A good example of this is handling repairs. When, for instance, a laptop has been repaired, the technician marks the task as complete in Joinpoints. Thanks to the predefined workflow, Joinpoints knows that the next step is to send an SMS to the customer to inform them that the laptop is ready for pickup. This step is handled by the machine. Joinpoints provides this simple interface between humans and machines.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: That is certainly important for many interested parties. To what extent can the tool also be integrated with other, perhaps already existing software? Are there interfaces? How open is your solution?

Jakob Deimbacher: Joinpoints is very open in this regard. We have our own API, which allows Joinpoints to be seamlessly integrated into an existing infrastructure. We also have integration partners who can assist with this. It’s even easier via our Zapier interface. Zapier is the world’s largest platform for connecting different tools via interfaces. Joinpoints can be linked and integrated with more than 2,000 tools through Zapier. This allows Joinpoints to easily control other tools and send commands to other systems. With Zapier, it is also possible to connect larger systems such as SAP or Salesforce with Joinpoints.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: To conclude, one last question about the target audience: For whom is your system ideally suited, and is there a company size for which you would recommend the product?

Jakob Deimbacher: In principle, Joinpoints specializes in SMEs and is well suited for all industries that need to coordinate recurring projects and tasks between individual departments. However, Joinpoints really shines when it comes to managing projects. One example is our customer teamazing, which among other things offers digital Christmas parties. Its small team had to process over 300 inquiries and 125 Christmas parties throughout December. Without Joinpoints, this would definitely not have been possible.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Great, thank you very much for this exciting interview.