Smallwood Architects signs up for an integrated future

Jan. 4, 2013 - PRLog -- Smallwood Architects is a 15 person practice that was established in 1976. Specialising in high end private residential projects the company was looking to improve the management of business information and find ways to work more efficiently.

The business has always been aware of the need for a good IT infrastructure and over the years has taken on a number of different systems to meet its requirements. In the 80’s Smallwood Architects commissioned a bespoke piece of software to manage documents, a project which helped highlight the importance of reviewing processes. The business later bought a software package designed around projects which, due to a lack of investment, did not live up to expectation and was only really used for recording time. After several bad support experiences Smallwood Architects again switched to a new package for timesheets but quickly realised it needed to do more.

The practice needed a more comprehensive system which would address all the company’s project information requirements in one place as Managing Director, Jonathan Dinnewell explains. “We set about searching for a more inclusive system, initially with CRM and contact management (http://www.unionsquaresoftware.com/aec-professionals-corp...) in mind. We received a mailshot through the post which is how we heard about Union Square and the once we’d been introduced to all the functionality we were sold!”

Not only does Union Square offer a CRM framework that could pull together Smallwood Architects’ contacts into one central location, it also tackles document management (http://www.unionsquaresoftware.com/aec-professionals-docu...), project financials and project resources (http://www.unionsquaresoftware.com/aec-professionals-reso...) effectively. “We like the fact that we can do everything in one place. Areas that weren’t initially in scope for the project now make sense to incorporate and the more we learn about the system the more functionality we want to include. The product’s modular approach gives us the flexibility to do this and will allow the system to grow with us.”

Smallwood Architects reviewed several other systems but felt Union Square was the most user friendly option with the best knowledge of industry processes. The system implementation was one of the quickest Union Square has ever delivered and the whole team at Smallwood are already up and running.

“Feedback from the team has all been positive and the business is looking forward to increased transparency of projects, better clarity with regards to IT and an embedding of efficiency and accountability in our corporate culture” Jonathan concludes.