Dussmann Group digitizes manual HR processes for 19,000 employees.

Challenge: Bringing 19,000 employees – and HR – into the digital age

The service industry has a widely used adage: our employees ARE our business. It’s no surprise, then, that given the labor-intensive nature of providing personalized customer service, high workforce budget costs and razor-thin profit margins are typical.

As a service-oriented powerhouse with more than 19,000 employees across Germany, Dussmann Group had frontline workers spanning various age groups and technology abilities. Throughout the service industry, the creative use of IT is seen as an important way to help manage this complexity.

Yet, in the spring of 2020, less than 15% of Dussmann Group employees in Germany had digital capabilities. Very few of them could be reached online via email, social intranet or elsewhere. And since many of its workers lacked technology savvy abilities, communication was all accomplished via paper.

In some cases, employees had to use as many as 40 different user IDs for systems throughout the day. The organization needed to digitize and personalize the employee experience, spanning their first to their last days within the organization. The goal: provide a single solution for employees across HR administration, business workflows, and employee communications.

Dussmann Group’s cross-functional team included IT, HR and the corporate communications department. The team focused on delivering a simple and intuitive solution that gave employees of all technical abilities access to content and tools tailored to their individual needs.

With a go-live date of fall 2020, Dussmann Group needed a platform that would empower them to build many applications quickly. Additionally, data protection and information security were critically important in any new solution being offered. Enter Neptune Software and its low-code/no-code app development platform.

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Solution: Rapid deployment of single-sign on, one-stop shop across 23 apps

The team was familiar with Neptune Software’s low-code, SAP-centric platform, which had been used to deploy material management apps in one of its divisions prior. The choice was simple once they realized that Neptune DXP had the ability to create stand-alone applications, independent of an SAP back-end.

As anticipated, the project moved forward rapidly. Working alongside experts from Neptune Software, the team was able to quickly launch their pilot. Taking three months of planning and three months of development, myDussmann, the employee portal, and single-sign-on (SSO) capabilities launched on time with 23 applications and multiple languages.

Included among these apps are employee self-service (ESS) and manager self-services apps, as well as employee communication apps for Dussmann Service Germany, its facilities management – and largest – division; Dussmann Stiftung, the organizational framework of Dussmann Group, and Dussmann Technical Solutions (DTS), its division for building systems and plant engineering.

Within the one-stop portal, fourteen of the apps were created from scratch and nine were migrated from an existing implementation of Neptune DXP. To meet the high-security requirements, the Dussmann Group team conducted intensive penetration tests across the system stack. In close collaboration with the works council, the team coordinated across a range of security needs, carefully managing access authorizations and sensitive personnel data.

Dussmann Group continues to deliver on its vision of a single employee portal, including SSO for all needs and 34 applications. Dussmann Group’s Executive Board Spokesman Wolf-Dieter Adlhoch referred to the implementation as a “long-lasting journey” that is critical going forward.

The team has since expanded its HR capabilities to include a time-and-attendance app that interfaces with payroll. The T&A app had also been in pilot since May 1, 2021, and went live in February 2022.

The team also expanded deployment to include 12 languages, provide native mobile apps, and deliver a progressive web application.

Automated permission management to help manage the full employee lifecycle more efficiently is also being implemented.

To continue to grow the one-stop-shop capabilities, a cross-discipline team collaborates to add new functions that enhance the employee experience. Over time, the system has been rolled out more widely, and today eight entities of Dussmann Group are using the app.

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Results: A modern, digital solution that works for all employees and attracts new ones

With voluntary participation, Dussmann Group rapidly has achieved 60% user adoption. That’s a remarkable achievement given the company’s highly diverse user base.

With Neptune Software, the company has replaced its paper-based and direct mail communications. Employees appreciate the new digital platform, with its single point of entry and self-service capabilities, along with digital workflows and online communications.

“Neptune Software has enabled us to become digital, enabled our employees, and elevated employee communication while providing us with the needed cost certainty in operating the solution,” says Christin Purmann, Head of SCC Employee Portals, at Dussmann Group.

Automating the payroll process alone delivered cost savings that justified the project expense.

Plus, connecting central databases and business applications has delivered the ability to tailor information and processes to individual users. Today, employees can access the HR tools and information they need, all in one convenient location.

Perhaps most importantly, reducing the number of user experiences and passwords helps employees spend less time using applications and more time focusing on creating value for their customers.

Dussmann Group is confident that it has delivered a modern and technology-friendly experience for employees and new hires alike. That’s especially important in today’s competitive market, where being seen as a modern employer helps attract job applicants.

Also, having all employees aligned on the latest company news, policies, and procedures creates substantial social and organizational capital for Dussmann Group.

A cost/benefit analysis for the project showed that the system became affordable through the help of the Neptune DXP, and was driven by Neptune Software’s single all-in-one cost per employee. This gave Dussmann Group management the cost certainty to operate the solution regardless of project scope.