About the HKS Dreh-Antriebe GmbH
HKS Dreh-Antriebe GmbH has been one of the leading international manufacturers of hydraulic rotary actuators and part-turn actuators for over 50 years. Under the motto "We turn the world", solutions for machine, vehicle and ship construction are developed and produced in three different German locations.
Julia Göb has been employed at HKS for four years and explains, how Stackfield has found its way into the HKS marketing department about one year ago.
Email-only traffic, no suitable collaboration tool
Prior to Stackfield, the team communicated primarily via email as team members were switching between the office and remote work frequently. However, it was virtually impossible to keep track of projects, as email inboxes barely provided an overview of the current status, responsibilities, the latest meeting minutes and potential bottlenecks. As a solution, the team tried out another tool for a while, however, nobody really wanted to get used to it. Göb recalls: The UI wasn't particularly user-friendly or intuitive. The structure wasn't logical.
Stackfield as a more intuitive solution with advanced Kanban functionality
After several attempts, Göb and her colleagues started looking for a better solution. Since Göb's boss was already using Stackfield to collaborate with their social media agency, he suggested the tool as an alternative.
Stackfield not only turned out to be more intuitive, but also offered well thought-out Kanban boards. Tasks are visualized here in the form of cards in a grid. Each task card presents a title, assigned individuals, labels for closer categorization and other information. This way, important information is visible at a glance. Implementing Stackfield's Kanban functionality, the HKS marketing team aimed to map project flows and make connections visible.
Implementing Stackfield at HKS
To make Stackfield operational for all team members, Göb's boss first defined subject areas under which Stackfield was to be organized. Göb and her colleagues were then added and were able to experiment with the tool themselves. Instead of extensive planning, they trusted the learning by doing
process. Göb remembers: We worked with Stackfield from day one.
Marketing topics in Stackfield: PR, sponsoring, podcasts, and more
Today, Stackfield is used across the board at the HKS marketing department. To coordinate and formulate posts together (be it internal news for the employee app or specialist articles for PR and media), Göb and her team make use of Stackfield's task cards and Kanban boards. Each new article is assigned a task. Texts are then stored in the task, images are attached, and, if required, post-related communication can take place there as well. Göb and her team attach special importance to only storing relevant information in the task.
Additionally, to-do and approval lists can be created via subtasks within the task. In the process, checked-off subtasks are hidden to make it easy to see which work steps and approvals are still to be completed. Furthermore, press materials for PR are stored in the room's file module so that all team members have access to the relevant materials at all times.
A separate room is dedicated to documenting donation projects and donation recipients. Each donation recipient is given their own task, the title bears the company name, additional information (contact person, links, donation size, etc.) is included in the description and important files, e. g. donation receipts, are attached to the task. All donation projects are thus documented in detail and are available for articles and other purposes at any time.
Another room is used for Göb's own project: the internal podcast for the HKS staff, for which she regularly records episodes with people from the company. With Stackfield's help, Göb coordinates her guests, collects ideas and topics and plans her episodes. In this way, she can ensure that she never loses track and always knows which guests she has already invited and which topics have already been discussed.
Coordinating posts, fundraising projects and Göb's podcast are just a few of the many marketing topics managed and handled in Stackfield today: Marketing budgets, sustainability issues, employer branding and merchandising - Stackfield provides support in numerous areas.
Thanks to Stackfield's intuitive user interface, everyone in the team can now quickly access the relevant information or instructions.
Stackfield as the marketing department's memory
Before Stackfield was used at HKS Dreh-Antriebe, information often had to be gathered from a combination of emails and Excel spreadsheets, which was particularly time-consuming. Using Stackfield as a central overview not only saves a lot of time in the marketing department. All information is also neatly prepared and can be accessed digitally by the entire team.
Today, if a team member is absent, colleagues in Stackfield can pick up the relevant work directly. The current status no longer has to be laboriously researched and can simply be viewed in Stackfield.
Important files are available to colleagues and outstanding work steps are documented in the subtask lists.
This can also be practical for successors. For example, if Göb had to pass on her podcast at some point, she could simply add the relevant person to the podcast room.
When starting a new job, sometimes you only receive the old emails from your predecessor, and that doesn't help a lot.
There's a lack of context and reflection. I think Stackfield is great here. I know that if someone has to take over my job, all the relevant information is available.
Another advantage of Stackfield: Information about certain processes remains accessible in Stackfield for the future. This is particularly useful for Göb and her colleagues when planning trade fairs. The ÖGA trade fair in Switzerland, E&H Construction and Building in Denmark and INTERMAT 2024 in France: HKS regularly takes part in international trade fairs and each time, the marketing department has to manage stands, travel and other organizational issues. The organizing team can now easily take over the many tasks that regularly arise at a trade fair from previous months, as checked-off projects are retained in Stackfield and can be called up again in the future.
Stackfield is like a brain that stores everything. We rarely make mistakes now.
Stackfield instead of emails: Team communication in one central location
Thanks to Stackfield, team communication at HKS no longer has to take place only via email. Stackfield offers numerous other communication channels: from private chats to group chats to comment areas in tasks, files, and more. The chat history is visible at all times and old messages can be referenced without having to search for them. Emoji reactions, GIFs, and stickers also allow WhatsApp-like interactions. Göb praises: "My emails have decreased a lot since Stackfield."
Collaborating with the social media agency in Stackfield
To coordinate the social media channels, e. g. Instagram, the HKS marketing department employs a social media agency which also uses Stackfield and collaborates with its customers centrally in the tool. Each customer is given their own room in the agency's Stackfield organization. The room can then be used to collect ideas and discuss feedback together. In this way, Stackfield creates an interface for joint interactions.
The great thing about this is that even if Göb is currently in the agency's organization, messages from her own HKS organization are displayed to her in the sidebar. On top, a small icon shows whether new activities have taken place in the other organization.
Up to date with Stackfield
In conclusion, Göb is certain of one thing in particular: Stackfield is a great support in everyday life and she is keen to find out more about the various areas in which Stackfield can be used.
Thanks to Stackfield, we are always up to date. Everyone in the team knows exactly what the others are working on. There really are worlds between now and the time before Stackfield.