A Perfect Match – Client Analytics and Outsourcing: The Recipe for Success
The Malzers bakery chain adopted the Nexthink client analytics solution, but soon realized that without sufficient staff resources, the solution’s potential remained untapped. It wasn’t until they implemented Consulting4IT’s DEXOps service that the solution became a resounding success—despite the shortage of skilled workers.
Whether it’s a quick trip to pick up Sunday rolls or a cake for a special occasion—the bakery around the corner is as familiar to many as it is a given. In the Ruhr region, the name “MALZERS” is certainly a household name among those who love fresh baked goods every day.
Yet behind the neighborhood bakery lies a modern company with 150 locations—and an IT infrastructure that is far more complex than one might expect. Even more surprising: this infrastructure is managed by an IT department consisting of just two people. It seems impossible. But Malzers has invested wisely—in state-of-the-art technology and an innovative outsourcing solution that ensures maximum transparency and seamless processes. And in doing so, it actively counteracts the prevailing shortage of skilled workers.
Challenge: Providing IT support with minimal resources
“The two of us handle everything related to IT. In other words, we’re the entire IT department,” explains Stefan Czapiewski, IT systems administrator at Malzers. “However, we’re provided with the necessary budgets to compensate for this bottleneck with state-of-the-art software.” Actually, the company’s IT was already quite well-positioned, as Stefan Czapiewski points out: “There was basically no specific pain point that would have prompted us to actively seek out an additional software solution.”
But then Czapiewski and his colleague Matthias Türpe, also an IT systems administrator at Malzers, attended an informational event hosted by a service provider that had recently partnered with Nexthink. “Matthias and I just looked at each other and said, ‘That’s actually pretty cool—we should take a closer look at this software,’” recalls Czapiewski. According to Matthias Türpe, what was particularly convincing was the approach of conducting analyses from the client side to identify negative trends, disruptions, and root causes of problems before they escalate into a major issue within the infrastructure. “We already had good monitoring for servers and networks, but on the clients themselves, we were flying blind,” he explains. “We hadn’t really been aware of that before. But a good infrastructure is actually of very little use if, on the other hand, we don’t know what’s going on with the clients and they aren’t functioning properly.”
The Crucial Question of Data Protection – Sound Arguments and an Agreement
According to the two IT managers, convincing management of the solution’s merits was not particularly difficult. The ability to quickly diagnose issues, transparent performance monitoring, and the analysis of application errors and malfunctions clearly spoke for themselves.
Explaining the rationale to the works council was a bit more challenging. After all, the Nexthink approach involves analyzing client data, which often raises immediate questions about data protection. “At first glance, some people might get the impression that we’re trying to monitor employees,” Türpe notes. “But the solution’s focus is actually on something entirely different—for example, effective troubleshooting and improving overall performance. Nexthink also helps identify where IT services aren’t being delivered satisfactorily or what the current user experience is like for mobile employees.”
With 150 branches, around 350 endpoints, and district managers shuttling back and forth between locations, this is a particularly critical issue for Malzers, according to Türpe. “On top of that, there’s been a massive increase in remote work over the past few years,” adds Czapiewski. “Whereas we used to meet in the office at least once a week, today this works just as well via Teams and other tools. That makes it all the more important that everything works remotely on the clients. And if disruptions do occur, we can often use Nexthink to quickly identify the cause—for example, a weak infrastructure in the employee’s home office.”
The IT duo eventually reached an agreement with the works council in the form of a company policy. “In it, we stipulated, among other things, that we would not use Nexthink to analyze anything that could in any way provide insight into employees’ personal behavior,” Türpe reports. According to him, after signing this agreement, the works council approved the software solution and was also happy to be convinced of its benefits.
Changing Partners and Cloud Migration – A Fresh Start from Scratch
But implementing Nexthink was only the first step. By the time Malzer switched from its on-premises solution to the cloud, the question of effective support had become pressing. “Unfortunately, our partner at the time couldn’t really provide us with adequate support—they simply lacked the expertise in Nexthink,” recalls Czapiewski. “That’s why it was a lot of learning by doing for us at first. When the service provider finally exited the Nexthink business, we naturally had to look for another partner. That’s when we came across Consulting4IT.” According to Czapiewski, an entire delegation of Nexthink experts from Consulting4IT arrived at the first meeting to understand the requirements. “We found that quite impressive,” he admits. Once the contractual details were settled, the actual work could begin.
Photo: From left: Dennis Depping (Head of IT), Matthias Türpe, Stefan Czapiewski
DEXOps as a strategic decision
In-depth technical expertise and practical experience are essential when implementing an analytics solution as comprehensive as Nexthink, according to the experience of the two IT administrators at Malzers. Since neither was really available with their previous partner, the solution had not been used nearly as efficiently as Czapiewski and Türpe would have liked. “We realized that the results we were getting with Nexthink were too modest. The investment was out of proportion to the benefits of such a powerful software solution.” However, as the sole managers of the entire company’s IT infrastructure, the two simply lacked the time—even after the switch—to delve deeper into the solution’s capabilities.
Consequently, Consulting4IT’s offer of a specialized analytics service generated significant interest. The so-called DEXOps service —short for Digital Employee Experience Operations—provides customers with a flat-rate service under which dedicated analytics experts from Consulting4IT regularly perform comprehensive data analyses via Nexthink, monitor trends on a daily basis, identify the causes of disruptions, and provide recommendations for action. “Of course, this initially involved additional costs,” says Czapiewski. “But the benefits quickly convinced our management. Today we know: The service was exactly the right move.”
Service as a catalyst
It didn’t take long to see that the investment in the service had paid off. “For example, when we switched from Microsoft Teams Classic to the new version, we ran into a problem where the Outlook plug-in stopped working for some users,” he explains. “As a result, those users could no longer schedule Teams meetings through Outlook. It was a massive manual effort to reconfigure it each time. During a meeting with Consulting4IT, the consultant suggested a remote action and set it up for us. Since then, it works at the push of a button whenever the problem arises again.”
Furthermore, according to Czapiewski, without Consulting4IT’s services, they would never have discovered certain issues that could have had potentially negative consequences for their company. “I’m thinking, for example, of the security vulnerability in a specific version of TeamViewer last year,” he explains. “We usually install TeamViewer through our software distribution system. We assume that all updates are installed automatically as well. For some unknown reason, however, this didn’t work with that specific version, so the update wasn’t installed on many PCs. Fortunately, regularly checking for security vulnerabilities is also part of DEXOP’s service. Because if Consulting4IT hadn’t proactively reached out to us about this, we wouldn’t have noticed it at all. The old version might have remained installed on the affected devices for months—a security vulnerability that could easily have left us exposed.” The consultant in charge also developed a corresponding dashboard in Nexthink. This immediately showed which computers still had the vulnerable TeamViewer version installed, allowing the vulnerabilities to be patched as quickly as possible.
In addition to these specific individual cases, the service meetings turned out to be real catalysts for new ideas and further developments. “Sometimes we go into a scheduled meeting and end up running over time because so many ideas come to us during the conversation about all the things we could still implement.”
No complaints is praise enough: The matter of user experience
In addition to the noticeable relief for the IT team, the optimized system transparency also has a direct impact on end users—even if they aren’t consciously aware of it. After all, the name of the DEXOps service says it all and reflects the focus of the Nexthink solution: the user experience. This is measured using the DEX Score developed by Nexthink, which represents user satisfaction. It takes into account metrics such as CPU utilization, load times, and the number of tickets, as well as both direct and indirect user feedback. Türpe interprets the latter in a typically South German way: “If they’re not complaining, that’s praise enough.”
The balanced combination of the two IT administrators’ performance and the ongoing support from Consulting4IT results in a satisfactory DEX score at Malzers, which IT Manager Dennis Depping also keeps a close eye on. “He’s very particular about that,” Türpe laughs. “Whenever the score drops even slightly, we have to explain ourselves to him.” But Nexthink pays off here as well, as he goes on to explain: “In such a case, we can use the data from Nexthink to have a very objective discussion. After all, it’s perfectly normal for the score not to stay the same. For example, a large Microsoft patch that takes forever to install can sometimes cause a slight dip in the metrics. With Nexthink, we can identify this and investigate the root cause.”
Like good bread—Nexthink and DEXOps: the recipe for success
“Using Nexthink in combination with the DEXOps service at Malzers has not only accelerated incident management but has also tangibly improved processes—such as the proactive detection of security-critical software versions, like with TeamViewer.” “The shortage of skilled workers in our field is already enormous,” says Czapiewski. “For years, we haven’t even been able to find a single trainee. That’s why we’re so happy about the DEXOps service. It takes a massive load off our shoulders and is therefore truly worth its weight in gold.” Another factor plays a role in the success of the service concept, as Türpe adds: “I think there’s just genuine passion at Consulting4IT. You could tell right from the start that everyone was really excited to work on this with us.”
For any company looking to get started with Nexthink, Türpe has one clear piece of advice: “Don’t underestimate how challenging this is! Nexthink is great, but it’s by no means trivial. At the beginning, we massively underestimated how much work is involved in effectively implementing the solution.” And Czapiewski adds: “My recommendation is therefore very clear: If you decide to go with Nexthink, you should definitely add the DEXOps service right away! Because, honestly: Without that service, Nexthink would only be half as valuable to us!”
Just as with the perfect loaf of bread, a well-functioning IT system requires the right blend of experience, technology, and top-quality ingredients. With Nexthink and the DEXOps service, Malzers has found the right recipe to ensure that the mix works perfectly for their IT—delivering a result that, figuratively speaking, not only satisfies but also inspires.
About Malzers Backstube
MALZERS Backstube GmbH & Co. KG is a family-run chain of bakeries with over 150 locations in the Ruhr region. Since 1901, the company has been synonymous with artisanal baking and fresh baked goods delivered daily. Under the motto “FROM HERE. FOR YOU. MALZERS.” it provides customers with high-quality bread and baked goods, snacks, and specialty coffees. With approximately 2,800 employees and revenue of 134 million euros (2022), MALZERS is focused on growth through snack and café concepts as well as new store models. The partnership with the organic mill bakery Back Bord expands the product range to include sustainable organic baked goods.
MALZERS has received numerous awards, including recognition for its Goldbrötchen (DLG) and a designation by the German Institute for Service Quality as Germany’s best bakery chain in 2025.