RYZE Digital and Henkel: teamwork for reporting success

Schwarzkopf, Persil, Loctite: Henkel is home to numerous globally recognised brands for industrial and end customers. Around 48,000 people currently work for the company, which is headquartered in Düsseldorf. Given the size of the company, it is not surprising that Henkel has a lot to share in its annual reports. In addition to the financial information in the annual report, there is also a sustainability report and a sustainability magazine, a remuneration report, individual financial statements and a list of shareholdings, some in German and English. This resulted in a total of almost 1,700 report pages for the current report.

Familiarity speeds up work processes

Given its size and complexity, it is obvious that the annual reporting represents a considerable amount of work. However, Henkel has an advantage: The company has been working with RYZE Digital for a long time. The annual reports and other reports have been produced jointly for over twelve years. During this time, a great deal of understanding of each other's processes has been developed, which makes the preparation of the various publications much easier.

"Thanks to our long collaboration, we have been able to build up a great deal of expertise and understanding for Henkel. The communication channels are short and our work is therefore very efficient," explains Sandra Burkhardt, who coordinates the work on the annual and sustainability reports as well as the other publications as Account Director. "We were able to establish a good personal relationship between the teams at Henkel and RYZE Digital. This helps during the busy reporting phases. It also makes it easier to reach agreements and optimise the process."

Switch to SmartNotes with the help of RYZE Digital

Thanks to many years of collaboration, even large projects can be managed together, such as the switch to a new disclosure management system. When Henkel switched to SmartNotes four years ago, teamwork with RYZE Digital was a decisive factor in making the switch to the software as smooth as possible. They took part in training courses together so that expertise could be built up on both sides.

"We introduced a completely new system together with Henkel. It was very labour-intensive on both sides. But as a reliable partner, we were able to advise the company very well on how best to work together with SmartNotes. We were even involved at the technical level to ensure that the changeover went as smoothly as possible," recalls Nadine Nowack, who heads the five-strong team of media designers for Henkel. SmartNotes is directly connected to SAP at Henkel, which simplifies the import of relevant data for the financial reports and speeds up collaborative work on the reports.

"Having our partner RYZE Digital, with whom we have a long and trusting relationship, at our side for a project like the switch to SmartNotes gave us a great deal of security. The in-depth knowledge of internal processes, the openness to build up expertise and offer support beyond their own horizons, as well as the transparent communication between customer and agency were and are absolute success factors for us," summarises Lisa Lind, who is in charge of project management for financial publications in Henkel's Corporate Communications department.

Trying out new things together

Even beyond software solutions, the long-standing cooperation has proven to be an advantage. Over the years, reporting formats have changed - from a focus on print to digital annual reports. Various formats have been developed and then revised, each time based on experience from the previous year. "We have also worked together on other projects during this time, such as animations and magazines," adds Nadine.