Software · in the cloud or on your own network
Who else can do this, besides her?
Almost every company has roles only one person really knows: customs, payroll, ERP, maintenance, purchasing, year-end closing – right up to the management team. Firnkern is the software a company uses to capture, test and hand over the knowledge of its most important people – with AI that listens, asks follow-up questions and answers with evidence.
Prefer to talk? +41 79 580 86 41 · info@firnkern.com
The films
Under two minutes of promo film, the whole software in the demo film
Both films show Firnkern Server 2.8 with the pilot company “Muster Präzision AG”. All persons and data are invented. English narration with a synthetic (licensed) voice; on-screen text and the software interface are in German; subtitles in English and German.
Synthetic narrator voice (licensed). The demonstration of Server 2.4 (24 minutes, computer voice) is archived and no longer shown.
Product tour · no sign-up
Twelve steps, click-through
Screens from Firnkern Server 2.8, pilot company “Muster Präzision AG”. All names and data are invented. The interface is currently in German.
The AI (the Kern)
The software that listens and asks
In the software the AI is visible as a figure – the Kern from the Firnkern mark. It asks the questions while the person tells, follows up when the reason or an example is missing, and answers what a successor would ask. It is software, not a person – and says so in every bubble.
It asks, the person tells
One question alone on the screen, typed or spoken. The AI checks for gaps and follows up – for instance on “always”: “Was there a case where that did not apply?” At most two follow-up questions.
It answers with evidence
Everyone can ask it like an experienced colleague. The AI answers from the dossier – with evidence and the spot in the video. What it cannot prove, it does not claim. Answers are drafts with evidence.
It holds back
Three levels per person: speaks · on click only · off. It never interrupts while you type, does not rate people and identifies itself as software (EU AI Act, Art. 50).
Language model as the company chooses: off, local without internet, or in the cloud – cloud only with consent and without names. Motion of the figure can be switched off in the operating system (reduced motion).
How it works
Seven steps, one method
01
Analysis
Knowledge risk 1–25 per role: departure × position (IAEA 2006). Skills matrix “who can do what”. Schedule counts back from the leaving date.
staff list from the HR system
02
Capture
A conversation, not a questionnaire: the AI asks, the person tells or shows on screen. 129 role types, 714 questions.
type, speak, show
03
Dossier
Task sheets (main step – key point – reason), decisions, disruptions, deadlines, contacts, glossary, onboarding path.
export Word, Excel, PDF, HTML
04
Approval
The person approves every sheet and answers the approval check: “Can a new person do this task with this sheet alone?”
her work, her name
05
Testing
Testing in stages: approval check always, desk test at risk below 15, practice test of 10 working days from risk 15. Result: handover score 0–100.
tester: ideally the successor
06
Sign-off
The software checks every condition with evidence, management confirms – four-eyes principle. Sign-off by Firnkern on request.
certificate names the stage
07
Handover
Successor's “My day”: what is due today, tick off, sheet with video at the right spot. Then “Do it better” – without rating the knowledge holder.
Firnament for management
The difference
What sets Firnkern apart from a wiki
Testing in stages
Storing is not handing over. Whether a handover holds is shown by the person who works with nothing but the dossier – in a desk test or a practice test. The handover score makes that measurable.
Sign-off with evidence
The software checks every condition with evidence, management confirms. Without approval, testing and sign-off there is no certificate – and the certificate names the stage.
Certificate with author
The dossier is the work of the person who holds the knowledge. Her name is on it, she approves every sheet, nobody changes her content. That is the agreement before the first conversation starts.
AI and data protection
You decide where the data lives
In the cloud or on your own network
The default is your own network: one folder on one computer, employees open an address in the browser; language model local, without internet. As a cloud package with HTTPS and two-factor login – AI in the cloud only with consent and without names. Daily automatic backup, deletion concept.
The AI, traceable
The company chooses: AI off, local or in the cloud. The page “AI and data protection” shows word for word what was last sent to the cloud. The AI does not rate people and identifies itself as software (EU AI Act, Art. 50). “Do it better” concerns workflows, never people – and is never visible to the knowledge holder.
Consent before every recording
Swiss FADP and GDPR: every person decides what she captures and approves every sheet. Without consent the server refuses every recording. The transcript text is stored, not the audio. For sign-off by Firnkern (on request) Firnkern processes data on your behalf – with a data processing agreement (FADP Art. 9, GDPR Art. 28).
Pricing · price list 3.0 · hypotheses
Annual licence by roles, options on top
All prices excluding VAT. There is no paying customer yet; prices are hypotheses until the first quote. Free trial: 30 days or 3 roles. Lighthouse pilot: −25 % for the first two companies – only in return for a measurement protocol, permission to reference and a statement of their own.
| Service | CHF | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Annual licence – by number of roles | ||
| Trial · 30 days or 3 roles | 0 | free; after the Windows test |
| Start · up to 5 roles | 1'490 | updates and support included |
| Team · up to 15 roles | 3'490 | |
| Site · up to 40 roles | 6'900 | |
| Enterprise · up to 100 roles | 11'900 | |
| each further 50 roles | +4'900 | |
| Options | ||
| Cloud operation per year | 900 / 1'900 | two tiers; the default is your own network |
| Strong AI per year | 600 / 1'900 | two tiers; the default is the local language model |
| By Firnkern, on request | ||
| Remote onboarding | 1'490 | |
| On-site onboarding per day | 2'500 | + travel costs outside Switzerland |
| Firnkern sign-off per role, remote | 990 | option – the default is sign-off by your management with evidence |
| Firnkern sign-off on site per day | 2'500 | + travel costs outside Switzerland |
| On-site capture by Firnkern | – | licence customers only, price on request |
Exchange rate on the day of the quote; lists EUR ×0.94, USD ×1.10, GBP ×0.87, rounded. Partner commission 10 %, disclosed. Services to companies abroad are usually free of Swiss VAT (reverse charge in the EU) – no tax advice.
Try it
Trial and sample dossier
Trial
30 days or up to 3 roles, free, with invented pilot data – no certificate. Available after the Windows test with real devices; we will let you know as soon as it is ready.
Reserve the trialSample dossier
This is what the result looks like: the dossier of the customs clerk from the pilot company, exported from Firnkern Server 2.4 – with the notes for the successor. Names and data invented; in German.
Open the sample dossierExpress
Resignation on Friday – now what?
For resignation, garden leave, illness: triage within 48 hours – six points secured first (deadlines, open matters, where access lives – never passwords –, contacts, disruptions, recurring tasks). Then capture in order of damage, testing in stages, a gap list. Requires that the person can still be reached.
Express line: +41 79 580 86 41Honestly
What Firnkern does not do – and what is still outstanding
- There is no paying customer yet and no measurement protocol from a pilot. Prices are hypotheses.
- The Windows test with real devices and real customer operation in the cloud are outstanding. The software is tested automatically: 565 checks green (as of 2.8, Linux container, simulated microphone); accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA without violations in 27 views (as of 2.7).
- A dossier and a software do not replace: relationships, trust, intuition, the feel in the hands. Leadership roles additionally need an accompanied handover.
- Testing measures handover readiness, not expertise. AI answers are drafts with evidence.
- Cutting onboarding time by 50 % is our target value, not a proven promise. The software interface is in German until version 1.0.
How to judge us
Trust before reach
Measurement protocol instead of promises
The first pilot companies get a measurement protocol – and we publish what it shows. No references, no logo wall, no success figures before they exist.
Research we build on
Knowledge risk = departure × position (IAEA 2006, pp. 9–11); “we can know more than we can tell” (Polanyi 1964, p. 12); main step – key point – reason (TWI 1944, third column after Toyota practice); storing is not handing over (NASA OIG 2012, pp. 9/11). Sources are in the book.
The book
“Irreplaceable is a risk.” – handing over experience knowledge when only one person on the team has it. Non-fiction, in preparation; German edition first. Reading sample on request.
About us
Two founders, a company being formed
Firnkern GmbH i. Gr., based in Switzerland · for companies and public bodies worldwide · onboarding and sign-off remote, in person in Switzerland, Germany and Austria on request. Software interface in German until version 1.0; English version after that.
The first step
45 minutes by video – then you know whether it fits
You see Firnkern on a shared screen with the pilot company; we ask two questions about your company. No sales pitch about us. No online booking – we reply within one working day.