PCL Adds Mobility and Cuts CostsCloud-based collaboration and mobile integrations accelerate projects

Doubling Data, Eliminating Costs

With original roots reaching back to 1906, PCL is a group of independent construction companies in Canada, Australia, the Caribbean and the United States that carry out diverse operations in the civil infrastructure, heavy industrial, and buildings markets.

The Challenge: A little bit of everything

PCL was like most organizations in the early days of cloud adoption; it lacked a standardized strategy for reliably managing documents. Employees used a mixture of cloud-based point products for their individual document-sharing needs, raising security and continuity concerns throughout the organization. Without a strategy in place, it soon became a digital free-for-all that undermined productivity.

Approximately 200 PCL projects at any given time were large enough to require a dedicated, on-site file server. While functional, it led to document duplication - a nightmare for construction companies that generate a lot of CAD (Computer- Aided Design) drawings and other large file types. Meanwhile, those projects without dedicated job-site servers were run out of a district office, resulting in the poor performance associated with remotely accessing large files from a far-flung location.

But, the final incentive for change was triggered by an upgrade to its in-house “PM3” construction-management app. The business technology team realized PM3’s existing on-premises architecture would not scale to support its next generation PM4 application and the amount of data generated by such geographically-diverse operations.

It was determined the future for PCL needed to center around a cloud-based collaboration solution, with superior mobile and integration capabilities.

The Solution: A comprehensive content strategy

After proof of concepts and technical validations across vendors, Egnyte showed advantages in cloud document management, storage, collaboration, mobility, and security, with API extensibility that could easily integrate with its in-house application upgrade.

Some key attributes making Egnyte the right choice for PCL:

Hybrid environment: Remote sites get rapid access using an on-premises repository while users elsewhere can use the cloud. Business technology maintains visibility across all systems.

Integrations: Critical integrations, such as with Salesforce, Microsoft Office, Bluebeam, and PCL’s in-house apps, help streamline business processes and address continuity requirements.

Synchronized access from anywhere: Employees can access and upload the most recent file version from anywhere, regardless of file size or device. The mobile app eliminates the need for paper documents to be stored in trailers and now digital documents are always in sync, even with intermittent internet access.

Vanquished file server issues: Larger PCL sites that require their own file servers are set up and operational in minutes. They are synced in the cloud, making files accessible remotely and shareable, eliminating file duplication issues.

The Results: Double the data, not the cost

Three years into its Egnyte deployment, PCL is still seeing great results. Egnyte Connect has been deployed to everyone in the company, its in-house applications continue to be developed, and users have successfully migrated away from unsanctioned products for file sharing.

PCL has seen increased efficiency from Egnyte’s mobility.

Field workers save significant time by accessing the most up-todate files at project sites via electronic plan rooms and mobile devices that eliminate steps to and from the jobsite trailer for manual changes.

Thanks to Egnyte, despite seeing its data doubling in the last few years, PCL has been able to reduce costs. This benefit alone has made Egnyte the right choice.