Interactive click tutorials, two million views and better customer self-help

DATEV eG

DATEV eG is the third-largest provider of business software in Germany (IDC ranking 2023) and one of Europe’s major IT service providers. Founded in 1966, the cooperative of the tax advisory profession generated revenue of 1.51 billion euros in the 2024 financial year. Based in Nuremberg, the company provides software, cloud solutions and expertise as the basis for digital collaboration between small and medium-sized businesses and the tax advisors who look after their commercial affairs. Through this community, DATEV supports a total of 2.8 million companies, self-employed people, municipalities, associations and institutions. With more than 9,000 employees, the company guides over 750,000 customers as a partner through the digitalisation of their commercial processes. Data protection, data security and tax compliance have the highest priority.

Source: What you should know about DATEV

In the DATEV Help Center, more than 750,000 customers receive comprehensive support on using DATEV software. The aim is to present the many use cases so clearly that they can be understood and carried out independently.

Until the introduction of readyplace’s click tutorials, guidance was mainly provided through help documents and individual help videos in the DATEV Help Center. To complement these formats and make knowledge transfer even more intuitive, DATEV decided in 2021 to use readyplace’s interactive step-by-step tutorials.

What initiative did DATEV take?

To extend the existing self-help media portfolio in the DATEV Help Center, DATEV relies on interactive click tutorials with readyplace. These are created independently by customer support, updated regularly and continuously developed further.

What was the goal?

Customers were to be offered an additional, practical and visual way of absorbing knowledge – as a complement and alternative to existing formats. Classic documents are predominantly text-based, while videos cannot always be used situationally, for example because of volume or a lack of interactivity. Videos are also costly to create and maintain, which makes broad scaling difficult. Customers should also be able to view the solution at their own pace in future. Click tutorials close exactly this gap.

How did DATEV implement it?

DATEV has now created around 600 click tutorials, which have been embedded in existing help documents to offer users even more comprehensive, interactive support.

How big is the success?

The view counts of the click tutorials speak for themselves: they have now been viewed around two million times. That saves noticeable time and money on all sides, increases customer satisfaction and enables a targeted shift of support from the telephone to efficient self-help.

What do DATEV customers say?

When the click tutorials were introduced, DATEV involved its customers. Around 90% of the feedback rated the click tutorials 5 out of 5 stars. DATEV continues to receive regular feedback from its customers on the self-help media. The click tutorials are very well received. The feedback is consistently positive and underlines the high acceptance and practical benefit of the tutorials in everyday work.

What does DATEV say about the partnership with readyplace?

Fairness as a cornerstone

Fairness is a central part of our cooperation with readyplace. This partnership is based on the values of respect, trust and cooperation. In a constantly changing world, maintaining strong and reliable partnerships is of the utmost importance to us.

Shared values

We are committed to ensuring that everyone involved benefits from the partnership. Our cooperation is based on mutual respect and an open exchange in which we meet as equals.

Contractual framework

We have been working closely together in partnership since April 2021. Enquiries have always been answered promptly, and together we have found solutions that meet our mutual requirements.