Investment in practice integration pays off for Brewer Smith Brewer Gulf
Brewer Smith Brewer Gulf (BSBG) is a Dubai based architectural practice which was formed in 1976. The company has recently invested in its future by implementing Union Square Software’s AEC Professionals solution. The intelligent software package offers a centralised approach to information management, linking all projects, contacts, organisations and documents, whilst bolt on modules such as ‘Project Accounting’ provide additional functionality for users as required.
BSBG has always had a focus on quality design, projects include industrial, commercial and educational work. The practice prides itself on repeat business from its esteemed clients, such as Brookfield Multiplex and Emaar Properties, therefore organisation, risk reduction and document integration is of key importance.
Prior to implementing Union Square, an existing document management system had supported BSBG’s growth to 75 staff, however this system was reaching the limits of its functionality in terms of user-friendliness and on-site access. In addition, a spreadsheet was in use to manage project costs, resulting in increased manual data entry and potential for errors. There was a desire to implement an accounts system to give a clearer view of the practice’s position on a project by project basis, and with multiple sites in progress at any one time BSBG needed this to be web-based to allow information to be shared across all locations.
Having utilised Union Square since April 2013, Director Kevin Harper is already realising the benefits of an integrated approach: “Union Square automates the majority of our financial management processes, saving us time and effort. Emails are automatically filed from Outlook ensuring all correspondence is traceable should we require it. We now have on-site access to the system on projects across the UAE and the wider region, made simpler by the user-friendly interface and effective search facility. We’ve also had some bespoke work done on the accounting side and are now tracking costs against budgets. The team at Union Square is very open to suggestions and very proactive in working on our specific requirements.”
Union Square is about to launch a range of additional features to enhance the overall user experience of the product, so existing customers will be able upgrade to this very soon.
“We’ve based this upgrade on feedback received from our customers and have responded by enhancing our solution, enabling users to deliver seamlessly tracked projects on an international scale,” said Tim Setchfield, Client Services Director at Union Square Software.
