Case Study: STEAG GmbH
"We only need 1/8 of the time."
The Company
As of January 1, 2023, the two independent companies STEAG Power GmbH and Iqony GmbH have restructured and are now operating under the umbrella of STEAG GmbH. Iqony consolidates the areas of photovoltaics, wind energy, hydrogen activities, energy solutions for the decarbonization of industries and municipalities, climate-friendly district heating supply, energy storage for electricity and heat, as well as activities in the field of digitization. STEAG Power GmbH consolidates the power plant business, thereby significantly contributing to the security of supply in Germany. Their share of total electricity generation in Germany is about five percent. They remain committed to phasing out coal-fired power generation in the long term.
The Challenge
In a conversation with Noemi Belker, Assistant to the Management Board of STEAG GmbH, and Roman Scheuschner, Head of the Management Board Office, we discussed how they have improved the organization of their management meetings with the help of Boardwise and how their work has changed since then.
How did you come across Boardwise?
Roman Scheuschner: It was a recommendation from the head of our legal department. He had previously led the management board office and was very impressed with Boardwise. After we took a closer look at it ourselves, we were quickly convinced that it would allow us to make our work better, more digital, and more efficient.
What led you to this decision?
Roman Scheuschner: We also looked at other solutions. However, Boardwise was a better fit for our processes, wasn’t over-designed, and the price-performance ratio ultimately convinced us.
What challenges were you trying to solve at that time?
Noemi Belker: When I started in the management board office, I noticed that the templates and workflows had changed very little since the 1980s. In STEAG's archives, I could find documents that were very similar to the ones I prepared twice a month for the meetings. I used the classic Microsoft Suite for this, like Word, for example. I would then compile the participants and topics for the meeting and implement all last-minute changes. I also had to recalculate the time required for each agenda item and make adjustments accordingly. For our meetings, which take place every 14 days, this process took about a full day of work each time, solely dedicated to these documents. It was time-consuming.
The Solution
How exactly does Boardwise make your work easier?
Roman Scheuschner: The creation of documents now takes only a fraction of the time. The submission deadline, which is made transparent and consistent for everyone by Boardwise, plays a significant role in this. This makes the system much more practical, as we no longer have so many individual decisions to make.
Noemi Belker: The workload has also decreased for the assistants and the management. Boardwise handles the email communication regarding appointments, topics, and changes, reducing the flood of emails that typically precede such meetings.
What were the reactions to the introduction of Boardwise?
Noemi Belker: Boardwise enforces discipline on all sides. We also have to hold ourselves accountable and ensure that we don’t manually enter topics for our colleagues into Boardwise. The step we are currently working on is how we can better support our people in integrating Boardwise into their processes. Fortunately, the interfaces are very intuitive for most people, including us.
Roman Scheuschner: The learning curve for our users was also very steep. We have very few instances where we need to ask questions or provide help. From an IT perspective, it was also very pleasing that all our concerns were promptly addressed and taken seriously by the Boardwise team. As a result, we were able to customize Boardwise to our needs in a very short time. This level of customization is impressive.
What do you like most about Boardwise?
Noemi Belker: We have become extremely fast.
Roman Scheuschner: We’ve gotten rid of the tedious "monkey work" and achieved absolute quality assurance in our resolutions.
The Results
What do you use Boardwise for?
Noemi Belker: We have recently started organizing our management meetings with Boardwise. Additionally, there is a desire to extend Boardwise to supervisory board meetings once we are more confident in the processes.
Roman Scheuschner: At the same time, we also have other committees in the company that would like to use Boardwise. One of them is our works council, but there are also working groups that have expressed interest.
How would you quantify the time savings?
Noemi Belker: To make a clear comparison: Without Boardwise, we needed one to two workdays for preparation and a whole day for the minutes and follow-up. With Boardwise, this process is significantly faster. For a 4-hour meeting, the minutes now only take 30 minutes, and for preparation, we only need 1/8 of the time.
Top 3 Reasons for Boardwise
Degree of Customization:
Boardwise's modular system allows various process steps to be tailored very individually to the company's needs.
Time Savings:
Manual, repetitive tasks are significantly reduced, leaving more time for substantive work.
Upcoming Audits:
With Boardwise, all minutes, resolution templates, and resolution lists can be easily collected and made available for the next audit. This saves time, and there is no need to send sensitive data via email.
