A success story spanning more than ten years: Knowledge management for BARMER

An insured person calls the BARMER service hotline. She has a question about a new benefit. The representative on the phone must find the right answer immediately – one that is up-to-date and easy to understand. It doesn’t matter whether she is in Berlin, Wuppertal, or Schwäbisch Gmünd.

With 8.3 million insured members and around 360 locations, BARMER is one of Germany’s largest health insurance providers. All BARMER employees need a shared knowledge base – a place that consolidates knowledge and maps out processes. Our Digital Workplace specialists have created just that. It’s called “WIM,” BARMER’s knowledge management system.

How it all began

Our collaboration on the WIM project began in 2012 with a clear vision: BARMER wanted a unified knowledge management system – a single point of truth for the entire organization. The ideas were there, and the requirements were extensive.

In workshops, our UX consultants and information architects worked with BARMER to refine the requirements and developed a technical concept that brought together the navigation structure, editorial roles, search logic, and process mapping. At the same time, our developers assessed the technical feasibility using CoreMedia Studio as a powerful CMS technology. To provide stakeholders with a transparent basis for decision-making early on, we presented the concept as an HTML prototype. This transformed the draft into a tangible vision.

From design to full-scale operation

During the project’s implementation phase, our UX designers created wireframes, which were then implemented by front-end and back-end developers in CoreMedia Studio. Our system architects designed an infrastructure that operates reliably within BARMER’s highly secure hosting environment. The project management team kept everything on track across all disciplines, all stakeholders, and all locations. The result speaks for itself: The project was completed ahead of schedule and has been providing valuable support to BARMER employees since 2014.

Built for people, not for organizational charts

A knowledge management system can be technically flawless and still fail if it doesn’t meet users’ needs. We wanted to prevent that from happening. After the initial release, our UX experts conducted usability tests with employees. In guided interviews, numerous colleagues continuously tested the platform under real-world conditions.

The results were directly incorporated into subsequent releases. This led to the development of a knowledge management system that is intuitive to use. Employees can quickly find relevant information, handle customer inquiries in a structured manner, and access standardized processes.

Working alongside BARMER for over ten years

Projects come to an end. Strong partnerships do not. Since the go-live, ]init[ has been supporting WIM with application management, with a team that knows the platform better than almost anyone else. Additional support services range from UX consulting and UI design to CoreMedia development and Agile coaching. We have trained over 200 editors across multiple locations in how to use the platform. Since 2025, it has been running on CoreMedia 12, the current version.

The “neoWIM” Project: Rethinking Search

An administrator is looking for up-to-date legal information. A consultant needs to quickly find the right advisory guide for a client meeting. Until now, that meant opening multiple systems, trying different search terms, and comparing results. In 2025, we fixed this pain point in collaboration with BARMER.

Processes for consulting and case management, reference works, legal sources, and product and company information now flow into a single search: neoWIM. Thanks to typeahead and intelligent suggestions, employees find answers before they’ve even finished typing their question. Filters by source and topic narrow down results precisely. And related search queries lead to content that might otherwise have remained hidden.

Technically, the solution connects CoreMedia Studio, Index Service, and Search API via new interfaces. We developed the MVP iteratively and in close collaboration with BARMER’s business unit. Tailored to their needs, technically ambitious, and always with a focus on the people who use the system every day.