The Tax-Tech-Talk featuring hsp Managing Director Paul Liese took a dynamic turn, moving from the initial question of patch management to specific tools for team collaboration and related data protection issues.

There was a consensus amongst the software developers that communication with customers is more important than fixing bugs straight away. At hsp, error reports are logged in the ticketing system. If a member of staff can reproduce the error, they record a video using Microsoft Stream. This is then sent, along with log files, to the development team, and the customer receives feedback. If faults cannot be rectified within a day, the customer is kept in the loop. This is also a priority at kanzlei.land. In this context, the causes of problems tend to be user settings or maintenance work at the cloud data centre or the DATEV interface – factors over which the company has no control.

Company wiki on videos and tools

In day-to-day operations, knowledge management is a key issue for both manufacturers and their customers – videos are becoming increasingly important. Kontool and hsp use them for internal purposes to build a knowledge base. Questions, including those from customers, are answered by Paul Liese via video, for example, and made available as tutorials via the helpdesk. The provider WIADOK is currently setting up a ‘University’. However, Microsoft’s OneNote tool has proved too confusing for a law firm’s wiki.

A voice from the audience added that it had proved useful to make videos on topics that clients were concerned about – such as the digitisation of pay – in order to answer questions quickly and avoid having to make phone calls.

For the Process documentation is used by some Confluence users: this software development tool offers a wide range of features, including attachments, note-taking and table functions, as well as a sophisticated search function. hsp uses Microsoft Teams for its own purposes and the process documentation for onboarding.

Trello is a popular collaboration tool. With features such as notifications, checklists and document integration, everyone – including external partners – is kept up to date. It eliminates the need for email communication, as this used to result in significant gaps in information.

Data protection is a matter of trust

The other major topic discussed during the session was the Privacy Policy: It plays a central role in the legal practice sector, but is handled in different ways, even though the standard is high in itself and is always governed by contract.

Some software providers take a proactive approach and provide customers with detailed information on data processing and storage, as well as their rights – such as the right to a system audit – although these are rarely exercised. Others report that new clients, in particular, are paying closer attention to how data protection is handled.

A comment from the audience highlighted just how much of a target the GDPR can provide: not only for rendering contracts invalid, but also for lawyers specialising in issuing warning letters. Data erasure policies, for example, are often neglected. One difficulty here is maintaining an overview; on the other hand, not everything can be deleted completely for liability reasons. However, the objection was also raised that, whilst there are formal requirements, it is not possible in practice to track exactly what servers and software do with the data.

WIADOK, for example, uses the project management tool EasyRedmine, as it runs on-premises on German servers. The workflow is based on comprehensive data processing agreements: only authorised personnel are permitted to access or provide content. However, when dealing with large volumes of client data, there is no alternative to this approach. kanzlei.land clearly distinguishes between which processes run on German servers and which run „somewhere“ in the cloud. At hsp, an external data protection officer and specialist solicitor in IT law assesses the service providers.

Last but not least, data protection can be a key driver of digitalisation: if information can no longer be sent by email, a switch to a cloud-based solution becomes necessary. Clients are on board with this, and for the law firm it is simpler, cheaper and more efficient – as one member of the audience pointed out.