Business and Technical situation
Before starting to use TeamDesk we relied on an outdated database solution (Lotus Approach) which had significant problems which were hindering the growth of our company.
- The database was not on a network so there were significant problems with the sharing of data.
- The software was outdated and lacked functionality.
- The hardware was running at near capacity which resulted in an unacceptable amount of downtime.
Solution
Our business is involved in testing of products to various standards and specifications and then certifying the product by issuing a report. We produce approximately 3,000 reports per year and needed a system to log all the information and generate reports.
The specification for the new system was as follows:
- As our staff works on-site away from the office we decided that we needed a system that could be accessed by staff from any location.
- We needed a system that is scalable and would be able to handle the number of records we produced.
- We needed a system that not only would be easy for our staff to use day to day but one that could also be updated and administered in-house quickly as required.
- We also needed to partner with a company that was going to work with us and provide timely support when necessary.
Process
The implementation process for TeamDesk in our business was straight forward and uncomplicated.
We started by using the 14 day trail and assessing whether the TeamDesk platform would be suitable for our needs and would fulfill the specification. After the 14 days we still had areas we would like to test before we committed and TeamDesk allowed us to extend our free trial so we could further test the system.
In May 2012 we signed up to the Starter Edition and initially had 3 users on the system. Two years later due to growth within our company we upgraded TeamDesk to the Team Edition and now have 7 users on the system.
We really did not have much need to contact TeamDesk support during implementation as the system is really easy to use and well documented. If we did contact the support desk they always responded quickly and were very helpful in sorting out any problems we had.
Benefits
The benefits to our business have been substantial and have played a part in helping our business grow to the size it is today.
So of the benefits have been:
- Fixed cost solution: You pay the same price every month regardless of how much you use the system or how much support you need.
- No hardware to maintain or data to backup.
- Access of data from anywhere in the world.
- You have full access over which users can view and change records.
- Having TeamDesk helped with our implementation of ISO 9001 due to the way we used it to hold data and generate reports.
- It is very easy to use for end users. We find that we really don’t have to train people to use it because it’s so easy to use (almost intuitive) with most new users picking up how to use it in less than 5 minutes.
- Great uptime record. We know that when we need to access our data we’ll have no problem in logging on.