Streamlining Internal Communication and Operations: A Case Study on MeisterLabs

MeisterLabs is the creator of MindMeister and MeisterTask, two popular productivity tools. The company is committed to developing intuitive and collaborative software that helps teams stay organized and efficient. As the company grew, it faced challenges in maintaining effective communication across different departments and managing operations efficiently. The operations team, in particular, was burdened with managing vacation requests via email, a process that was inefficient and time-consuming. Additionally, the company wanted to streamline its lead generation process, which involved manually exporting and importing leads from various sources into their CRM.

As MeisterLabs, creators of MindMeister and MeisterTask, expanded, they faced a common challenge that many growing businesses encounter - maintaining effective communication across different departments. The company's operations team was particularly burdened with managing vacation requests via email, a process that was inefficient and time-consuming. The team was constantly chasing 'inbox zero', but the influx of time-off requests made this goal elusive. Additionally, MeisterLabs wanted to streamline their lead generation process. They were looking for a way to consolidate leads from various sources, such as Livestorm webinars and MailChimp email signups, into their customer relationship manager (CRM), Close.io. The manual process of exporting and importing leads was laborious and inefficient.

MeisterLabs turned to Slack, a team chat application, and Zapier, an app automation tool, to automate their communication and operations. They built a Slack-based vacation approval workflow to manage time-off requests more efficiently. Employees would fill out a Google Form to request time off, which would create a row in Google Sheets. Zapier would then notify the employee's team lead in Slack, who would approve or deny the request. This action would trigger a series of automated responses, including notifying the employee via Gmail, creating a Google Calendar event, and updating the Google Sheets row. For lead generation, MeisterLabs used Zapier to automatically funnel leads from Livestorm webinars and MailChimp email signups into Close.io. Whenever a new lead was created in Close.io, a Zap would notify the Sales team in Slack. This eliminated the need for manual data entry and constant browser refreshing.

• The implementation of Slack and Zapier has significantly improved MeisterLabs' internal operations and communication. The automated vacation request process has not only made the process more efficient but also ensured that no requests fall through the cracks. The streamlined lead generation process has eliminated the need for manual data entry, allowing the sales team to focus more on sales and outreach. Moreover, the automatic sharing of updates has enhanced cross-team communication, making the international and partially-distributed team more communicative. The automation has also allowed the team to add a personal touch to their work, especially in sales and customer success, while Zapier runs in the background.

• Automated vacation request process, freeing up time for the operations team

• Streamlined lead generation process, eliminating hours of manual work

• Improved cross-team communication, enhancing overall efficiency