BDB Go Live with Workspace mini

Nottingham, United Kingdom, March 05, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Sheffield based contractor BDB, have just gone live with Workspace mini, an out of the box version of the Workspace ix solution from Union Square. BDB specialise in design and build construction and last year turned over £22m. Workspace mini enables smaller companies to implement world class business management solutions at a reduced cost and reduced implementation time.

Director Nick Goodson recognised two main problem areas in the business that were leaving them increasingly exposed to risk. The first was document storage and drawing issue, and the second was email management and retension. Drawings were issued as hard copy or via email depending on the design team’s preference and there were no formal procedures in place. This escalated the risk of losing a drawing as there was no formal tracking of what had been sent. Nick recognised that a lost drawing could cost the business thousands of pounds and a more formal solution was needed which forced people to follow standard procedures.

Like many construction businesses BDB found that emails had been increasing in their prevalence and therefore importance over the years. Nick comments, “There was a time when the MD could review all post going in and out of the business and gauge the status of project work; with the increased volume in email this was no longer possible. Without an effective email management solution there was a sense of loss of control from the top of the business and the design teams were suffering from ineffective sharing of project communications.”

Nick first saw Workspace in 2008 at a Union Square seminar, “I was very impressed with the product and the client speakers, who were very enthusiastic in their endorsement of Workspace. It gave us confidence that businesses similar to ourselves had achieved great results with Workspace.” Given the economic conditions at the time BDB decided to put the investment on hold. The project was reignited this year with the launch of Workspace mini. Workspace mini has been written as an out of the box solution for companies with between 6 and 50 users. BDB have been able to implement Workspace mini at half the cost and in half the time of Workspace ix. Nick comments, “While ix is great for larger companies, the management time needed to implement was too great for a business of our size. With mini most of the complex decisions have been made for us and with some small customisations we can make it work for us. Union Square have successfully cut out the parts of the full Workspace system that smaller users don’t need and made decisions for small companies based on their experience of best practice in the construction industry.”

BDB have completed the mini implementation in less than 2 months, Nick comments: “The initial response from users has been great and despite our initial fears about adoption they have picked up use of the system very quickly thanks to its intuitive interface and the clear training that was provided by Union Square. We have been extremely impressed throughout the implementation with Union Square’s professional and pragmatic approach.”

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