How ACT Security uses Teamwork to keep track of multi-year projects
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ACT Security is a leading expert in commercial and residential security based in Nashville, Tennessee, providing advanced access control, video surveillance, and fire and life safety systems. Their expertise covers every aspect of security systems, from design and installation to ongoing service and monitoring.
Sean Morey, Internal Systems Specialist at ACT, describes how Teamwork gave his 90-person team the tools to manage a heavy workload and attract prominent accounts like Nissan North American Headquarters, The Pinnacle Building, Bridgestone Arena, and Dollar General.
Patchwork solutions
For years, ACT Security has put together multi-faceted security systems for commercial and residential clients of all sizes. Even though team members were performing well at each stage of the process, they were finding it difficult to exchange information or get a project status without multiple conversations, particularly when multiple departments needed to work together.
They kept hitting communication hurdles because ACT Security didn’t have one single system to track tasks and data.
"Everyone was using a different app to get the job done. Some chose project management tools, some had their information in spreadsheets, and some were even using pen and paper. It was hard to know exactly what was going on at any given moment."
Sean even ended up creating his own dashboards for each department as a way to help everyone stay organized, but he quickly found that they didn’t solve the problem either. “It was all very nitty gritty, almost too much for managing 50 projects at once. The granularity was important, but we needed a way to see the bigger picture.” He knew it was time to shift to a tool that offered more transparency and fewer complications.
Seeing the bigger picture
Using Teamwork broke down ACT Security’s communication barriers. Suddenly, team members could trade information or get updates in seconds, which cleared the way for better collaboration and more efficient processes.
“Communication and workflows are better at every level,” said Sean. “We have eight salespeople, and when they sell a new job, we create a new project in Teamwork. A project manager is assigned, and that person creates tasks for everyone from technicians to billing. We have one continuous process instead of lots of fragmented steps.”
The sales team kicks off the process by creating a Notebook to include relevant information that the entire team will need throughout the project, like contact information for stakeholders and essential protocols. From there, the rest of the team can dive in straight away, without needing to wait for handovers or worry that they’re missing important information.
ACT Security’s projects often have much longer timelines than those in other industries, so they need to be able to keep an eye on how their projects are progressing even when the end isn’t yet in sight.. “We do have a set amount of work to do, a set amount of time to do it in, and an established budget, but the nature of construction is that we could be waiting months,” Sean said. To make sure they don’t lose momentum, team members leave comments to update each other on their progress, so they don’t lose track of where everything stands and risk going over time or over budget.
Each department has its favorite features within Teamwork, but there are a few that are integral to their everyday operations. Messages are part of their daily arsenal, especially for field technicians who need to recap their accomplishments and set an agenda for the following day. Task list templates have slashed project setup time and are a key communication tool for change orders.
"This single feature has clarified discussions around change orders. Task list templates take care of all our admin processes and inform our technicians about what’s been changed. We’ve really cut down on in-person updates, and now fewer details are falling through the cracks."
Transparency equals efficiency
Giving the entire team visibility into every aspect of each project has been a complete game-changer for ACT Security. With Teamwork, they have the ability to communicate more effectively and reduce friction points that were preventing them from scaling the company.
“It’s hard to convey the level of efficiency we have now. When we were a smaller company, it was easy to talk to everyone about what was happening, but now with dozens of coworkers, it’s difficult and wasteful to have conversations to explain everything. Now we have a way to offer transparency to everyone without having to repeat the same conversation 100 times.”
Everyone has better access to information, from individual team members who need a question answered to project managers who are trying to evaluate who might be overloaded with work and who might have bandwidth to take on new tasks. PMs are reporting that their time spent monitoring projects has decreased as their ability to find effective solutions has increased.
Teamwork has given ACT Security a single location for all project tasks, materials, and communication, and it’s also become the place where the company can grow. Sean has been working closely with Teamwork’s customer success team to find new ways to use the software as they expand.
His relationship with Teamwork has developed to the point that he is now regularly bringing suggestions for new features to the development team — and seeing them rapidly built into the software.
"If you’re looking for a platform that’s growing and becoming more powerful all the time, you need to get Teamwork. In my experience in IT, I’ve seen too many companies make software decisions based on feature sets instead of product growth and scalability. No one does that better than Teamwork. I know they’re committed to my company’s growth."
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