Markus Reithwiesner
About the person
Markus Reithwiesner, born in 1962, is the holding company leader of the Haufe Group. In this position, he is responsible for the areas of electronic publishing, product development, business development and program development as well as the brands Lexware and Haufe. He joined Lexware GmbH & Co. KG, a former company of the Haufe Group in 1998, and has been a member of the Haufe Group management since 2005.
Business & IT: Mr. Reithwiesner, what's new to lexoffice?
Markus Reithwiesner is a proven expert in the IT industry - and from the beginning. After studying business administration in Nu? Berberg, he began his career at the Muenster Distributor Computer 2000. Afterwards he moved to the American branch of the American software manufacturer Intuit. The company made a name for itself with the Quicken, QuickBooks and QuickSteuer finance programs.
What role does lexoffice play in the Haufe Group portfolio?
Before Markus Reithwiesner joined Lexware in 1998, he was responsible for the development of the European business at Intuit as Director of Product Marketing. The activities of Intuit in the United States were adopted by Lexware in 1998.
How were the users involved in the development?
Markus Reithwiesner is married and has two children. He likes to spend his spare time with his family, classical music and reading.
Markus Reithwiesner: For more than a year, developers and design teams worked on a new online complete solution for freelancers, self-employed and small businesses, using the crowdsourcing principle with more than 800 friendly users. With the methodology of integrating customers early, the quality, user friendliness and user experience of a solution are significantly increased.
One of the most important findings in the crowd sourcing process for us was that the users did not want to be often praised "completely new" or "unprecedented" operating concepts. On the contrary: the user would like to use the solution quickly and without manual. Together with the users, we have always found analogies that simplify their operation. For example, the search for the function and appearance of a large search engine is modeled on the web. Or the collection of incoming invoices: these are as simple as photos.
The intuitive design and the user-friendly interface are just two of the many advantages offered by lexoffice users. The dashboard provides an overview of the financial situation at any time - which is also compared in real-time with the current account balances of the bank accounts - even from the road. Sales, incoming payments, offers and order confirmations, credit notes and delivery notes: Everything that is important to the business can be graphically displayed with just a few clicks. The integrated online banking system compares invoices automatically and assigns the appropriate receipts to all banking transactions. Input documents are automatically recorded and archived - reliable text recognition included.
All this works as a pure cloud solution, without installation and with the usual browsers from any PC, notebook or iPad. Ultimately, the price and the completely transparent offer model are also unique. Lexoffice is available for 4,90 Euro (net) per month as a free introductory offer for three months. This without further obligations and without a minimum contract term.
Markus Reithwiesner: lexoffice is an offer for the customers, for which it was previously easier to work with Word, Excel or a slipcase and leave the booking to the tax consultant. Among the self-employed, small businesses and freelancers, this is the majority. Lexoffice offers many advantages, from the quick overview and the better organization to integrated banking - and works together perfectly with the tax consultant.
Markus Reithwiesner: We started with an intensive needfinding phase. Here the needs and requirements of the target group were determined. We conducted interviews and "leased" us by the "follow me home" principle over a period of time at small companies to learn more about their way of working through observation. During the development, we presented the users with countless prototypes, which were discussed and then constantly improved.
As of March of this year, I was able to apply for my solution for the crowdsourcing project. For the first time, the solution could be used during workdays. The response was very good: a community of more than 800 small businessmen, self-employed, entrepreneurs and freelancers emerged. And the integration of the user is by no means completed even after the live performance of the solution. Users also have the opportunity to contribute their own ideas and to vote on suggestions from other customers.
Markus Reithwiesner: The user wishes were very realistic and were treated accordingly. Obviously, we had to prioritize this as well: individual opinion versus general opinion. Additional functionality can add value to a small part of customers. In return, however, it is quite likely that this function will take the greater part of the users the desired ease and simplicity of the product. In addition, we were able to derive a clear opinion through the user's agreement.
How realistic were the user's wishes?
Markus Reithwiesner: Yes, but these are released for voting among all users. That is, if the majority of users vote for a particular function, then these decisions are incorporated into the development.
Markus Reithwiesner: Due to the fact that we always actively involve the users, it does not quite meet the word improvement. If the desire of the data export is preferred by all users, this is implemented.
Were there also wishes, which remain unsatisfied?
Functions such as data export are still missing at this time. When is improvement made?
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