Let’s start with a question:
Has your email inbox actually changed in the last 6 months?
Strange question you think?
The reason I ask is the following:
In our last OKR planning for Q4, Felix, our zap Audit Product Lead, told me that he received 50% more emails from customers in the last 6 months than in the 6 months before.
For him this meant more work.
But it was really worth it when I look at the latest version of zap Audit.
But let’s start at the beginning:
Since March millions of Germans have moved into the home office.
So has our team.
That was certainly not always easy at the beginning:
we had – like most of you probably – besides Zoom and Teams breakdowns, we also had connection and communication problems without end in sight.
In our daily work we used all tools and methods we were familiar with – from project management tools like Jira Tickets and 15Five to communication tools like Slack.
As already mentioned, we have also switched to the OKR method in order to improve our planning and achieving of goals from the home office.
The corona crisis has shaken up some things – but counteraction is possible.
All this has completely changed the way we work together.
Fortunately, almost all companies I know reacted in a similar way to us with agility and took advantage of the now widely available technologies.
The European Internal Audit Summit 2020, for example, was completely remote this year.
For example, a Reuters webinar, which before Corona had around 600-800 participants, now had a turnout of over 2950 participants in May.
An increase of over 250%!
In the last few months, our customer meetings have also been held mainly via Microsoft teams.
The acceptance of remote solutions in combination with the lockdown has also cleared the way for new concepts at zapliance:
The 1-day zap audit workshop, which we have always conducted on-site up to now, has been converted into a 3 x 2-hour remote workshop.
To the advantage of our customers, who are now not only trained very briefly and effectively but can also flexibly integrate the workshop into the week.
The amount of feedback on zap Audit is at a record level.
But now back to Felix and his emails.
In addition to the increased number of workshops, we have received more feedback on zap Audit over the last few months than ever before!
Working from our home offices has not only brought us new customers but has also encouraged our existing customers to perform at their best.
As a result, we have achieved absolute record values in both the number of active zap Audit projects and the amount of customer feedback.
So, a lot to do for Felix – One might think that after 5 years of zap Audit, most of the questions regarding automated data analysis have been answered.
Far from it!
One example of the technical challenges our customers have faced in recent months is the reduction of VAT in Germany.
This had to be implemented by the specialist departments within only 3 weeks – a real tour de force with a high error potential!
Therefore, we were not surprised to hear from our customers again and again that the VAT reduction in Germany had simply not been checked by the specialist departments in the invoices.
If that does not sound like a matter for auditing!
The feedback has been implemented – and zap Audit has continued to develop!
And this is where Nick, our data scientist and co-founder, joins the center stage.
Based on this customer feedback, he sat down and developed two new indicators – unofficially we call them the ‘corona memory indicators’.
Well, it certainly wasn’t as simple as I describe it now.
Interesting for you:
Basically, zap Audit now also comes into play when there are bookings with incorrect VAT rates.
Zap Audit users therefore have one less thing to worry about in these turbulent times.
But the new zap Audit version contains a whole range of other innovations for all those who want to generate added value for the organization from their SAP data:
In zap Audit 2.5.0, for example, we have improved 20 indicators, significantly reduced false positives and also used the time to optimize performance. All based on customer feedback.
For example, 31% of the tickets booked in the zap Audit 2.5.0 update come directly from customer support.
If you look at this figure in connection with the usual bug fixes anyway, it means that the impulse for most updates came directly from our customers.
Thank you for that!
The crisis is a challenge for sure – but it also has positive aspects
In retrospect, the further development of zap Audit in these times of crisis was certainly not an easy task – especially the change in communication caused me and my team a lot of trouble.
But we also took a lot of positive things with us from this challenge:
A closer cooperation with our customers, an open ear for their problems and feedback, and a stronger focus on the quality and performance of our products.
This means for you:
zap Audit 2.5.0 is not just any update – it is an update that has been developed from YOUR needs and makes working with data even easier now than it was been with zap Audit anyway
But as always, this time too, it’s easier said than done.
It’s best if you try zap Audit 2.5.0 for yourself!
The good news:
We continue to offer a free option, zap Audit Free.
Now you have absolutely no reason not to try zap Audit 2.5.0 yourself!
It looks like we will all soon be back in the home office on a long-term basis.
Therefore, you should rather try zap Audit 2.5.0 now, so that you and your team are prepared for the next lockdown!
