Autor: Denisa Kupsová

Baumüller Brno, s.r.o. is a subsidiary of a German company specializing in industrial production. The company employs around 400 people, 76% of whom work in manufacturing roles. But how can you ensure fast and efficient communication in such a production environment? The management of Baumüller decided to take a modern approach — by implementing the Plusco app!

Expectations and the Situation Before Implementation

Before digitalizing their internal communication, Baumüller relied primarily on noticeboards, complemented by emails, social media, and a company magazine.

The company expected the new app to speed up and unify internal communication across all employee groups. “Since communication through noticeboards is essentially one-way, we were also excited about the opportunity to easily collect feedback from employees and get closer to them,” explains Petra Dvořáčková, HR Manager at Baumüller.

The Birth of the App

Baumüller first came across Plusco in November 2022, when the Plusco team introduced the app’s features to company representatives. “Already at the first meeting, I felt Plusco was the right choice — their fair approach, professionalism, creativity, and great chemistry simply convinced us,”
says Jana Pechurová, CFO of the company.

During December 2022 and January 2023, the teams fine-tuned the requirements and options, and the order was placed. Implementation began in January 2023, and the app officially went live on June 19, 2023.

Why Bappka?

To align perfectly with a company’s visual identity and support its brand, Plusco allows clients to customize both the color scheme and the name of their app. At Baumüller, the name Bappka was chosen by employees themselves through a naming activity. The app’s color palette also reflects the company’s signature design, making the digital environment feel familiar and on-brand.

The Power of Promotion

Before launching the app, Baumüller’s management focused on a strong internal promotion campaign. The app was introduced in the company’s podcast, and employees found creative flyers with QR codes for easy downloading around the premises. Company representatives also personally visited workshops to help employees install and navigate the app if they needed assistance. And the effort paid off — Bappka quickly became a favorite daily companion for most employees.

Results

A year and a half after launch, Bappka continues to deliver excellent results.

• 72% of employees open the app at least every third day
• A total of 92% of all employees actively use Bappka

The most frequently visited modules include News, where employees find all the latest company updates, and the Lunch Ordering module — a custom feature developed specifically for Baumüller.

Thanks to this functionality, employees can:

• Browse the daily menu directly in the app
• Check their balance
• And order lunch with just a few clicks

“The app saves time — and time means money — for both the company and our employees. Plusco makes our work easier, it’s useful and valuable for both sides. In my view, it’s the best benefit we could have, for employees and for the company alike,” says Jana Pechurová, CFO of Baumüller.

Employees share the same enthusiasm. In a satisfaction survey, one of them wrote: “Fantastic! Especially the lunch ordering feature — it’s absolutely amazing.”

Want to Digitalize Your Internal Communication Too? Watch an inspiring video interview with Jana Pechurová and learn more about Baumüller’s real-world experience.

If Baumüller’s story inspired you and you’d like to start your own digitalization journey, get in touch with us!

We’ll be happy to share more details about the results, including economic savings achieved thanks to Bappka built on the Plusco platform.

Simply contact us and mention that you’re interested in the webinar recording — we’ll gladly send it to the email address you provide. 🙂

How are Czech companies approaching the digitalization of internal communication? And how can the Plusco platform make a real difference? We asked Petr Mikšovič, CEO of SOVA NET, the company behind Plusco, which continues to support it strategically, commercially, and in marketing.

Why Should Companies Care About Digitalizing Internal Communication?

When you make it easier for employees to access information that’s interesting or useful for their work — and that positively affects their motivation — you naturally increase engagement. And engaged employees directly contribute to higher productivity, profitability, and lower turnover and absenteeism. Digitalization also offers an enormous range of possibilities. A major topic, for instance, is the paperless company — especially in larger organizations that aim to digitize employee-related administration.
Digitizing processes such as contract management, approvals, requests, or other documentation reduces HR costs, minimizes errors, and enables fully digital communication.

Studies show that 82% of organizations that adopted digital internal communication reported higher employee engagement, and 70% of employees in such companies said they feel better informed about company goals, leading to lower turnover. These are numbers companies shouldn’t ignore.

Which HR Areas Can Digitalization Help With?

There are many areas where digitalization can make a difference. Typically, companies want to:

• Centralize all information in one place
• Deliver the right information to the right people at the right time
• Make it easier to collect employee feedback
• Engage 100% of their workforce — even those without company email or devices
• Securely distribute payslips
• Share information about vacations, time off, benefit accounts, and internal documentation
• Provide access to company guidelines, manuals, and shift schedules
• Or even create internal spaces like company marketplaces, chats, or carpooling tools

How to Approach Digitalization to Make It Truly Effective?

We advise companies to treat employees as if they were their target customers.
That means understanding the principles of internal marketing — knowing your audience, choosing the right communication channels, tone of voice, and methods of delivery.

The key realization is that you can’t force employees to engage in internal communication — you can only motivate them.
You need to offer what’s relevant, helpful, and brings a sense of safety, satisfaction, and joy.

Of course, digitalization alone can’t achieve that — but it can provide an environment where meaningful communication across the company becomes possible.

How to Build Such an Environment in an App

The first step is understanding your employees and knowing the company strategy. Then comes the question:
Do you just need a simple chat or Facebook group, or do you want a platform that reflects your brand, culture, and identity through its design, content, and communication style?

That’s how our cooperation with Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech began in 2018.
Their goal was clear — they wanted an app that employees would love to use.
They aimed for over 90% adoption, even though 76% of their employees don’t have company IT access. Today, we’ve reached 96%.

What Was the Initial Impulse to Create Plusco?

Back in 2020, there was no similar solution on the market, and our experience with Hyundai convinced us to focus on developing this product. For me personally, the biggest motivation — then and now — is that Plusco helps build relationships. It makes employees happier, which in turn brings more positivity to their families. It helps make work more meaningful. That might sound bold, but it’s truly what drives us.
We also see huge potential in strengthening and creating communities within companies.
Through Plusco, both our team and our clients have found a sense of purpose — and we hope it shows.

How Did the Name “Plusco” Come About?

After much brainstorming, we found a name that perfectly captures the platform’s priorities.
The “CO” in Plusco stands for three key ideas:

• Community – building human connection, kindness, and togetherness
• Communication – enabling effective two-way exchange between employees and employers
• Cooperation – fostering collaboration, one of the main pillars of every community

Plusco thus represents meaningful, fulfilling, and successful cooperation for all employees. Our mission is to create a safe and accessible environment that brings employees closer together, keeps them informed, and increases their engagement.

How Long Did It Take to Develop Plusco?

Development has been ongoing for many years.
Even before working with our first Plusco clients, we built the core framework of modern web applications — modular, scalable, and secure. With our marketing background, we’ve always focused on user experience. We officially introduced and launched Plusco as an internal communication platform on September 22, 2021, at a MeetUp for entrepreneurs in Brno.

There are countless ways to develop Plusco further — but our focus is clear:
to deliver maximum value, even at the cost of fewer modules.

How Does Implementation Work?

This part is absolutely crucial.
You can’t just install the app, tell everyone “Here it is,” and expect results.

We recommend implementing Plusco gradually and thoughtfully, involving all key company groups.
The technical setup itself takes only a few days or weeks, but the content and communication strategy require collaboration

• With HR, we define content and purpose
• With marketing, we align the visual identity and tone of communication
• With IT, we handle integrations and server setup

Promotion is another key step — we help clients launch successfully with texts, videos, or even full internal campaigns prepared by our marketing team. After launch, we monitor user activity and provide feedback to administrators to help keep employees engaged.

Who Uses Plusco?

Most of our clients are companies where a large portion of employees don’t have regular access to company IT systems. Thanks to smartphones, these employees can now be fully connected to the company digitally.

Our long-term partner Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech is one such example.
Their Hyundai Plus HR portal even won the Zlatý středník award for Mobile App and Innovation of the Year in 2020/21.

Another great example is Baumüller Brno, a Czech subsidiary of a German company.
After just 12 months of using their customized app, Bappka, 92% of employees actively use it.
In autumn 2024, Baumüller also became a finalist in the HR Project of the Year Award, organized by the Employers’ Club.

And the KofoAppka for Kofola has also achieved strong results — after just half a year, it’s already used by 70% of employees.

This positive feedback constantly fuels and inspires us to keep evolving Plusco.

What’s Next for Plusco?

We receive many great ideas from clients — and we prioritize those that bring the best balance of cost and added value. That’s how we developed Baumüller’s Lunch Ordering module, fully integrated with their catering provider’s system. Other new modules include Carpooling and Attendance Tracking. In the coming days, we’ll release a new version with features for Whistleblowing, Shift planning, Offboarding support, Training management, Document approval and digital signing, Smart notifications, Enhanced targeting, And a unique integration interface.

Future updates will bring even more — like a company noticeboard, HR system integrations, engagement tools, sensor and reader connectivity, and even AI-driven dynamic behavior within the app.

There’s a lot of work ahead, but we love when clients share their ideas and needs with us. Together, we’re shaping a platform that becomes an integral part of their company culture.

We are constantly working to ensure that the Plusco internal communication app meets the needs and expectations of both our current and future clients. And since the saying “a hundred people, a hundred tastes” is true, we want to give users the option to choose the kind of layout that fits them 100%.

Editable Menu

The menu is a key feature of any app, helping users quickly find their way around. That’s why we’ve now added the option of an editable menu.

What changes are now available to users?

• Custom order of menu items – management can arrange categories in Plusco based on their importance
• Add, temporarily hide, or remove menu items
• Different menu versions for different roles – thanks to targeting options, you can now create one menu for shop-floor workers and another for management
• Separate desktop and mobile menusbilu

With these updates, we’re moving much closer to our goal of making Plusco fully customizable for every company’s environment.

Two Menu Options

Separating the desktop and mobile menus has also opened up new possibilities for mobile views. Plusco users will soon be able to choose not only the classic menu but also a new tile-style menu. This option will be available by the end of this year.

Plusco – 100% in Your Brand

With Plusco, you can effectively strengthen your brand among employees.

Plusco doesn’t even have to be called Plusco – to give the app your company’s identity, you can choose any name you like. This way, you’ll have your very own app, complete with a custom phone icon and login.

You can also select the app’s color scheme (primary and secondary colors), which will then automatically be applied throughout the app. For the strongest brand impact, it’s best to choose the colors your company already uses in its marketing and materials.

The new editable menu brings even more options to tailor Plusco into your own company-branded app.

With Plusco, your internal communication platform can truly be made-to-measure for your business.

Hand on heart – do you think your former employees speak positively about your company when talking to their friends? Or do they curse your name and badmouth every minute they spent with you?

Employer branding is all about your efforts to ensure that, as an employer, you’re perceived in the best possible light on the job market. This way, you don’t have to worry about what people are saying about you behind your back…

Build Your Brand

An employer brand can be understood as your reputation as an employer. It’s the perception your past, current, and future employees have of you.

That’s why you should care about your reputation among all of these groups

Often, companies only start paying attention to employer branding when they suddenly need to hire new people. But at that point, it’s already too late – building your reputation is something you need to focus on from the very start of your business.

A Communication App as a Reliable Partner

How can Plusco help you build a good reputation among your employees?

1) Give newcomers all the information – simple and clear

The first weeks and months in a new job bring a lot of stress and uncertainty. New environment, new colleagues, new work routines… It’s important to get oriented quickly. Use Plusco’s targeting feature to provide new employees with all the key information they should know about your company and its people.

2) Find out what your employees really think of you

Who talks about you more than the people you interact with daily? If you assume your employees are satisfied without ever checking, it’s time to pay attention. Is there really nothing you could do better? Create a survey and ask what your employees value at the company and what they feel is missing. For more candid answers, you can enable anonymous responses.

3) Make communication fun

Work doesn’t always have to be about stress and deadlines. Give employees opportunities to enjoy themselves! Publish a regular company magazine, share photos from team events, or organize a contest with some tasty prize… A bit of relaxation can only benefit the company.

4) Don’t turn your back on departing employees

Everything comes to an end, and saying goodbye is rarely pleasant. But ignoring employees who are leaving is not the right approach. Again, you can use targeting to send them a survey where they can share their feelings and help you uncover what could be improved.

5) Learn to communicate even negative news openly

Every company experiences moments that aren’t entirely positive. These are things you might prefer to sweep under the rug and keep hidden from employees until the last possible moment. But that’s not the ideal solution – only open communication will earn your employees’ respect and give them the feeling you see them as equals. So don’t shy away from sharing unpopular news via your communication app – instead, explain the situation as clearly as possible. You’ll see that instead of criticism, you’ll gain understanding and appreciation. Honesty truly pays off.

Happy Employees = A Happy Company

Although it’s often said that clients should come first, you mustn’t forget about your employees. Show them you care and that their well-being matters to you. Only then can you ensure they’ll speak about you positively and respectfully. After all, you don’t want potential candidates to be discouraged by negative online comments from former employees.

Curious about how Plusco can improve your internal communication? Get in touch – we’d be happy to set up a meeting and share more information with you, no strings attached.