Georgiou Group
iManage WorkSite Mobility Case Study
Georgiou Group specialise in earthworks; roads & bridges; structural concrete; water infrastructure; precast; non process infrastructure; marine & port infrastructure; building construction; camp accommodation & villages; and land development.
Overview
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Established in 1977, Georgiou began as a subcontractor on storm water, sewerage, and water components. The company later acquired two new business capabilities, Roadpave and its Geocrete concrete facility, and created a new entity, Georgiou Group. A review of their brand in 2007 and the addition of Building and Mining Services units brought forth Georgiou Queensland and Georgiou Victoria. Then, in 2009, Georgiou introduced a new brand identity to reflect the company’s growing and dynamic structure. Today, the company continues expanding into the oil and gas sector while operating in line with its vision of being “the best people to work with”.
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Challenges
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Standardise information management processes across the company
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Streamline staff transitions between business units by implementing a single document management system
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Provide easy access to information for mobile workers traveling to different sites in the course of regular business
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Rein in the size of email stores in inboxes
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Challenges
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-
Standardise information management processes across the company
-
Streamline staff transitions between business units by implementing a single document management system
-
Provide easy access to information for mobile workers traveling to different sites in the course of regular business
-
Rein in the size of email stores in inboxes
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The Need
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Create a unified information management system accessible by mobile workers on iPads Dean Fearnall, Georgiou’s Information Communications and Technology Coordinator, explained how the company came to its decision to implement iManage Worksite with Mobility. Fearnall said, “Because we have grown in such a dynamic manner, we have separate divisions for engineering, building, and infrastructure. As the units were established, each one created its own filing standards for managing documents and other types of content. This created confusion when we needed to shift resources to accommodate changing project requirements.” Because employees naturally become accustomed to certain systems and technologies, when staff moved between business units there were challenges adjusting to the different systems, which impacted productivity. As a growing company with aspirations for continued growth, Georgiou wanted to implement quality management practices over documents and emails. Email management presented some serious gaps in the company’s structure and email inboxes were being capped due to excessive volumes.
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The Solution
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Implement a unified document management system enterprise-wide To standardise document and email management across three main divisions, close the gap on email management, and streamline mobile access to files Georgiou chose iManage WorkSite, iManage WorkSite Email Management, and iManage WorkSite Mobility. Implemented on the iPad platform, mobile workers now access files and email remotely using a thin, light, state of the art device. “The increased accessibility of information provided by WorkSite and the portability of the iPad made iManage WorkSite the right choice for workers on the go. Now, instead of heavy 3 laptops, mobile workers carry the much lighter iPad,” said Fearnall. iManage WorkSite puts enterprise information at the fingertips of staff as they travel to different sites, ensuring they can remain connected to important documents and files without loss of productivity. The iPad also reduced training requirements, since staff had already been using iPhones, and were familiar with the Apple operating system. With the help of Office Information Australia, a local iManage partner, Georgiou has begun introducing the new technology first to managers. Next, the plan is to roll out the new system to construction operations managers and project managers. Fearnall said, “The choice to deploy the solution first to managers helps ensure adoption, and paves the way for future uptake by direct reports.” A survey taken prior to the implementation revealed that when upper managers use a particular system, adoption flows more readily down the management chain.
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The key reason Georgiou selected iManage WorkSite was its handling of email. Fearnall said, “WorkSite’s excellent ability to handle email on an iPad was the main reason we picked the product. Emails were not previously captured within the company. People hung onto them in a siloed situation. Now, with WorkSite, we have an excellent collaboration tool that users can access from anywhere at any time.” WorkSite allows users to locate and share information for research or to distribute updates, regardless of their physical location. The environment provides the company with needed visibility into valuable information. Currently, Georgiou manages approximately 1 million items in WorkSite, including emails and documents. With iManage’s ability to understand over 1000 file types from over 400 repositories, Georgiou is able to manage a broad range of content types including PDF, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, .avi, Microsoft applications including Visio and Publisher, Corel applications, .mpg, Autocad, Quicktime, MediaPlayer, and .wav files.
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