KOKE GmbH: 50% Fewer Meetings With Meister Software

Founder and MD Dirk Koke has been at the helm of KOKE GmbH since 2011. The full-service provider for digital signage specializes in consulting clients on digital advertising, VR, and AR technology. Today, KOKE GmbH is well established in the German market for digital signage – digital media content for the purpose of display advertising and interactive touch systems. From concept creation to software distribution, installation to on-site maintenance of the end devices: Dirk and his team take care of it all.

It’s no wonder demand for the company’s services is so high: Dirk’s expertise in innovative communication systems, particularly virtual and augmented reality, is regularly requested for lectures. In 2023, he was recognized by ERFOLG magazine as a “Top Expert in Digital Communication“. Two of Dirk’s secrets to success? MeisterTask and MindMeister… 

KOKE GmbH was growing steadily before the pandemic, with 40 colleagues collaborating on tailored digital advertising and communication projects. As the expanding team worked on multiple tasks across various projects, it became incredibly difficult to keep track of progress. Dirk knew this would eventually lead to time delays, cost increases and resource bottlenecks, so he decided to get ahead of the problem. 

Dirk’s team began entering all tasks in an Outlook calendar while handling updates and administration in face-to-face meetings. Dirk anticipated that employees would complete all tasks after the meeting and report back when they were done. However, this process wasn’t as efficient as Dirk had hoped. The team needed a clearer way to track and document tasks, and they looked to Microsoft’s Task List as a solution. This helped individual employees organize their work, but the team still lacked a full, transparent project overview. 

A Project Manager at KOKE GmbH was tasked with finding a better, more collaborative solution. Trello – along with many other tools – were put to the test, but the team agreed MeisterTask was the one to beat. The reason was clear to Dirk:

KOKE has been using MeisterTask since 2018. The pace of work has only increased since then, but thanks to the clear overview in MeisterTask, they’re always in the driver’s seat. Dirk explains how he keeps his to-dos under control:

Dirk has created a “Focus” section in his Agenda, where he adds tasks he wants to work on throughout the day.

In every project board, priority tasks are added to the top of each section. Automations are set up so that team members cannot have more than four tasks assigned to them at once. This ensures their workload remains manageable and deadlines are met. 

When the Purchasing team needs to order new hardware for a customer project, they add a task to their project board in MeisterTask. When a Task is added to the “Requests” section, the assigned team member receives a notification. They can quickly check and approve the order request and move it to the next section on the board.

Dirk explains how – alongside MeisterTask  – the team also uses MindMeister in their day-to-day work:

Marketing and Sales collect all their signage ideas for different industries in the following mind map, assigning colors to each industry. They also use Connections to show relationships between ideas and make their maps easier to read.

Today, KOKE GmbH has automated repetitive parts of their workflows by connecting their own software with MeisterTask. This saves the team time and effort and ensures nothing slips through the cracks.

The KOKE team also uses Meister software to collaborate with external parties on individual tasks easily.

But it’s not just collaboration with customers and partners that has improved. Meister software has also sped up the onboarding process for new employees, helping them reach productivity faster.

Dirk enjoys it when new employees who have never worked with MeisterTask before reach that “aha” moment with the tool.

Recently, an employee who had been handling an urgent ad for a client was off sick, Dirk recounts. A colleague stepped in and found everything they needed – including all the working files – in MeisterTask.

Although he is an advocate for face-to-face meetings, Dirk is glad that they no longer need so many. Just a few years ago, he was meeting twice a week with each of the five departments, which meant very little time for focus work. Since implementing MeisterTask, Dirk has managed to reduce his meetings by at least 50%.

That said, they continue to hold creative brainstorming sessions regularly as these meetings are incredibly valuable for the team – and the business.