About BE airware
With over 14 years of experience in the field of initial and continuing airworthiness, Robert Richter, founder and managing director of RKR Aviation GmbH, the company behind BE airware, supports small and medium-sized enterprises in the aviation industry in compliance and safety matters. His services include, among other things, mentoring and training on EASA Airworthiness Regulations, refresher training, support during regulatory audits, and consulting on the development of various procedures and manuals. With the goal of “making aviation law light and easy,” Robert Richter is passionate about not only simplifying internal processes for his clients but also making his own organization and collaboration with clients simpler, more understandable, and more efficient.
Robert Richter
– Founder and Managing Director of BE airware
Centralizing client work to simplify processes
At BE airware, day-to-day work revolves around close contact between mentors and clients. Transparent and easy-to-understand processes are therefore essential. Before Stackfield, Robert Richter didn’t have a tool that brought different clients together and enabled secure, cross-client collaboration. To access process descriptions and other client documents, he needed separate access to each client’s internal systems. Robert Richter explains: “To be honest, I found that pretty annoying. There’s a lot going on in the Microsoft world, and until a few years ago, it was very cumbersome to log in everywhere with different Microsoft accounts. It was neither pleasant nor easy.” To minimize the problem, he eventually decided to shift work to his end and tried using a different tool for a while that promised to allow fine-grained changes to the system, customization to his own needs, and the ability to map processes and manage tasks on a large scale. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work at all. I wasn’t able to use the tool even once when working with a client,” said Robert Richter.
Secure customer management in Stackfield
By chance, Robert Richter came across Stackfield some time later – his second encounter with the platform at that point. “I first discovered Stackfield in 2014 while I was in college, when the company was still very young. We had used the tool back then in a student project after a classmate had brought it to our attention. When I rediscovered the platform, I was really happy to see how Stackfield has grown over the last ten years,” says Robert Richter.
To centralize and manage customer collaboration digitally within a single tool, high standards for data security and privacy were particularly important to Robert Richter. “The data I receive from my clients in the aviation industry is certainly a bit more sensitive. So I asked myself how I could handle this data responsibly,” explains Robert Richter. For this reason, he placed particular emphasis on EU-based hosting and wanted to avoid working with U.S. service providers. Additionally, while client management was to be centralized in one place, it had to operate in an isolated manner with no visibility between clients. Under no circumstances should clients be able to access other clients’ data. “It was very important that the tool was multi-tenant and secure,” Robert Richter emphasizes.
Stackfield provided the necessary features to securely manage a large number of customers and their data. In addition to EU hosting and GDPR compliance, Stackfield holds multiple ISO certifications as well as the BSI C5 testate. Furthermore, customers can be managed individually, and access rights can be transparently controlled through roles.
Off to a faster start thanks to a minimalist design
With the goal of bringing customers and freelancers together on Stackfield, Robert Richter placed great emphasis on making it easy to get started on the platform: a basic framework for everyday use, without overwhelming users or becoming a burden. “It should be simple. From my experience with other tools, I’ve learned that while it’s nice to be able to configure everything yourself, it’s even better when you can just get started because someone else has already thought through the basic functions. Stackfield offers customization options, yet you’re not starting from scratch. This allowed us to map out processes in Stackfield very quickly and collaborate with customers very quickly and easily. It turned out that I didn’t have to explain Stackfield to anyone. The platform is very intuitive, and the Learning Center is exceptionally well-organized,” Robert Richter praises.
Manage customers at the organizational level
Today, customer management can be handled centrally in one place, without Robert Richter having to worry about setting up different access points or security vulnerabilities. To achieve this, a separate organization was created in Stackfield for each customer. “That’s a huge advantage for me,” says Robert Richter, because instead of mapping all clients to a single organization using rooms, the clients are logically separated from one another, preventing them from accessing each other's names or data. Using the organization overview, Robert Richter can easily access the Stackfield organization for the relevant client and enter a workspace where all collaboration related to that client takes place. “This was much clearer for me than listing all clients in the same organization,” Robert Richter emphasizes. Within the organization, each client has different rooms. These rooms separate topics or represent entire projects. Collaboration on a specific topic is thus centralized and brought together in one place, whether it involves completing tasks, sharing materials, or sending messages and comments.
To create projects more quickly, Robert Richter also works with room templates. Topics that are similar across clients and are frequently addressed are saved as room templates, allowing him to predefine internal room structures, such as the various modules within a room. This saves him time when creating new projects and topics while simultaneously standardizing relevant client processes.
Video conferencing without a separate telephony provider
At BE airware, video calls are often used alongside written communication when working with clients. This does not require leaving Stackfield, as one-on-one and group calls are available directly within the platform – whether scheduled in a room for specific topics, via private chats for one-on-one conversations, or on an ad hoc basis. Content can additionally be shared with conference participants via screen sharing, for example, to address specific tasks that require input.
“It's great that video calls are possible through Stackfield, because that way I can completely avoid having to run parallel Zoom meetings. Stackfield is simply the place where collaboration happens.”
Transparent task management across organizational boundaries
Particularly in the area of compliance and safety management, clients regularly face specific tasks aimed at expanding existing processes and ensuring compliance with various regulations. Robert Richter explains: “We check whether audits, that is, internal reviews, are planned and conducted on time, and whether employees are qualified.” To verify that compliance is maintained, Robert Richter works with recurring tasks for the client. “The recurring tasks are used, for example, to verify whether all training sessions have been conducted. If that’s not the case, we can schedule them in a timely manner. With Stackfield, I have full visibility into whether clients are reliably completing their tasks.” Any tasks that arise on the client’s side are prepared by BE airware in Stackfield via a checklist and assigned to the appropriate contacts. This makes the current status visible at all times and allows bottlenecks to be identified early on.
Document management and data exchange via Stackfield
As part of the consulting process, documents are regularly revised and exchanged. With Stackfield, this work can take place securely and audit-proof in one central location. Version control, in particular, is crucial here and allows users to track changes made by others. Robert Richter praises: “Different versions of the same document can be uploaded to Stackfield. Instead of having a list of ten separate documents, the versions are stored chronologically, and I can see exactly what has changed. In traditional cloud services, this is often a problem: you end up with Draft 1, Draft 1 Final, Draft 1 Final Final, and so on. Here, you avoid that because you can edit the same document locally and then simply save it as a new version.”
To make process documentation even easier in the future, BE airware has recently started working with the Office add-on, which allows users to edit and create Excel, Word, and PowerPoint documents directly in Stackfield – making Microsoft 365 obsolete. “It’s great that documents can be edited directly in Stackfield this way, saving us the trouble of uploading and downloading them,” says Robert Richter.
Stackfield scores with its all-in-one approach and top-notch support
Collaboration in particular has become much easier for BE airware today, because it can take place in one central location – regardless of the specific client. Robert Richter explains: “I can really handle all communication through Stackfield. In the past, documents were often exchanged via email and questions were clarified via WhatsApp. Today, things are much more convenient.” Within a room, discussions can be organized by topic via the communication stream or the comment sections of the relevant items. “That way, I know right away where the conversation belongs,” Robert Richter emphasizes. In addition, there are private and group chats for communication unrelated to specific projects, as well as video calls.
Another aspect that Robert Richter particularly highlights is Stackfield's support. “I've never worked with a tool that offers such good and fast support,” he emphasizes. The live chat feature in particular has won him over: It's integrated directly into Stackfield. Questions can therefore be sent with just a few clicks, without leaving the platform. “That’s a huge plus. If you have a question, you actually get an answer and don’t have to search the internet for a way to contact them first. As a customer, it makes things very easy for me,” he says.
Looking ahead, Robert Richter also wants to map internal tasks from the remaining process areas such as sales into Stackfield. He is optimistic about the future and is looking forward to seeing what else the platform has to offer.