IBI Group, now a part of Arcadis, a renowned global design and consultancy firm, was looking for a way to improve its workflows. That’s when they revolutionized their operations with the implementation of OpenAsset. With OpenAsset’s advanced features, Arcadis IBI Group was able to enhance its overall efficiency and collaboration.
Before joining Arcadis IBI Group, Marketing Manager Abby Blake had never encountered OpenAsset. But in the span of just six months using it, she was blown away and claimed it was
“one of the most amazing things I’ve ever experienced in the world of Architecture and Construction.”
This success story explores Abby’s experience at Arcadis IBI Group, highlighting the transformative impact of OpenAsset on their day-to-day activities, team alignment, and utilization of assets.
The Challenge
IBI Group now within the Arcadis family, is a global leader in the delivery of sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. Together, with passionate thinkers, designers, and engineers across 70 countries, the combined strength of Arcadis IBI Group provides unprecedented opportunities to offer new client solutions, while defining the cities of tomorrow, together.
Arcadis IBI Group has completed 40,000 (and counting) projects worldwide. However, preparing proposals for projects involves immense image management, and is a significant task demanding careful attention to detail. This requires a robust tool that offers streamlined features.
Abby’s experiences at her former firm highlighted the limitations of tools that didn’t offer these necessary streamlined functionalities. For example, she struggled with the substantial time and effort required for image management. The thought of adding images was burdensome, not because of the content, but because of the anticipated hours of adjustments and placements.
For Abby, image selection, placement, and adjustments in proposals, which should have been straightforward, often became significant bottlenecks. The process of manually inserting images into tools like InDesign was far from smooth.
Each insertion required checking for the correct resolution and size adjustments, which led to the repetitive strain of constant clicks—each tiny detail became a tedious step. It was not uncommon for these tasks to take up an astounding 3–4 hours for a single proposal.
How Did Arcadis IBI Group Achieve an Efficient Workflow?
The answer is simple: With the top Digital Asset Management (DAM) tool in the AEC space— OpenAsset. Here’s how OpenAsset helped Arcadis IBI Group (and Abby!):
1. Enhanced Data Maintenance
Abby emphasized the importance of maintaining a regular maintenance schedule to ensure data validity and accuracy. By keeping their data up to date and complete, they experienced improved reporting and project management, resulting in increased confidence in their processes.
2. Utilizing Available Features
OpenAsset isn’t just another tool for Arcadis IBI Group—it’s an everyday ally. Abby outlined the many ways they use the platform: overseeing the digital library, ensuring seamless user access, and streamlining data through keyword matches and secondary categories.
Plus, with OpenAsset integrations, such as InDesign, Arcadis IBI Group staff like Abby could seamlessly drag and drop images directly into their documents. The process became effortless, eliminating the tedious task of manual insertion and revision.
The ease of searching, creating saved searches, and discovering diverse imagery that was previously unknown to them makes OpenAsset unbeatable.
3. Confidence in Imagery
OpenAsset provided Arcadis IBI Group with a reliable source of truth for their imagery needs. Not only did OpenAsset efficiently reduce time spent on image resizing and placement, but it also gave Arcadis IBI Group the confidence to use high-quality, validated imagery for their collateral, events, and projects.
This led to a reduced dependency on stock photos and an elevated quality of visual assets.
4. Collaborative Process
OpenAsset also helps Arcadis IBI Group with its collaboration process. The marketing team collaborates closely with other departments, including the safety department and administrative support.
Safety plays a crucial role in validating imagery related to ongoing projects, ensuring compliance and visual standards. The administrative support team assists with uploading in-progress imagery, providing multiple touchpoints for maintaining quality and adhering to established processes.
5. Customization and Adaptation
Arcadis IBI Group also values the ability to customize OpenAsset to fit their specific needs and processes. While they currently use certain features of OpenAsset, such as project profiles, resume templates, and document creation, they also recognize the potential for further integration with other systems, such as their HR system, to enhance efficiency.
6. Buy-in and Training
Change can be daunting, but Arcadis IBI Group took the bull by the horns and achieved impressive buy-in from employees. Effective communication, innovative tool showcases, and hands-on training sessions, from webinars to one-on-one interactions, have created an environment where employees aren’t just users—they’re OpenAsset advocates.
Arcadis IBI Group Results
Arcadis IBI Group has experienced a remarkable transformation in its asset management practices through the implementation of OpenAsset. By leveraging the platform’s capabilities, Arcadis IBI Group has achieved enhanced efficiency, collaboration, and confidence in its operations.
OpenAsset’s robust features have streamlined processes, improved brand consistency, and facilitated quick access to high-quality assets, empowering Arcadis IBI Group to deliver exceptional results to its clients.
So, How Did OpenAsset Help Accomplish These Results?
To reach such beneficial results, you need a tool that seamlessly integrates into your existing workflow, offers intuitive functionalities tailored to your unique needs, and empowers your team to collaborate effectively, ensuring consistency, quality, and efficiency at every step.
Here’s how OpenAsset did it:
- Unmatched Efficiency: Arcadis IBI Group experienced a dramatic reduction in time spent on image management. Tasks that once took up to 4 hours were now completed in 20 to 40 minutes.
- Elevated User Experience: The enthusiasm of Arcadis IBI Group staff like Abby is a testament to OpenAsset’s impact. The tool didn’t just streamline their workflow—it made them genuinely excited about tasks that were once dreaded.
- Brand Consistency: With OpenAsset serving as the single source of truth for all visual assets, Arcadis IBI Group saw a marked improvement in brand consistency. The shift from relying on stock photos to using their curated library ensured authenticity in every piece of collateral.
- Empowered Collaboration: Integrating OpenAsset fostered collaboration between various departments at Arcadis IBI Group. With safety departments validating imagery and administrative support aiding in uploads, there was a unified approach to maintaining quality and processes.
Abby recalls,
“Before OpenAsset, most of my time was spent on resizing images. I mean, OpenAsset has made me love my current company. That’s how I know I work at a good company; because they’re willing to invest in the tools that make my job easier.”
So, are you ready to be that company for your team?
Get in Touch
Are you inspired by Arcadis IBI Group’s transformative journey with OpenAsset? Can you envision similar improvements happening in your organization’s workflow? If so, we invite you to explore the numerous possibilities that OpenAsset can unlock for you.
Don’t just take our word for it; experience it firsthand. Schedule a demo with us and experience for yourself the benefits OpenAsset can bring to your organization. Our team is eager to understand your challenges and showcase how our solutions can be tailored to your unique needs.
Redefine efficiency and quality in your organization by getting in touch with OpenAsset.
