Keeping everyone in the loop: story of Upper Albany Main Street

Upper Albany Main Street

Upper Albany Main Street, upperalbany.com

"Being involved in a project with hundreds of people, contractors, and managers, can become overpowering. User-friendliness is a big aspect of having a successful project, and with Bitrix, all of the features, workgroups, contracts, time clock, etc. are promptly available on your dashboard for each of your project members to use."

Background

Founded in 2000, Upper Albany Main Street is a non-profit organization (a division of the University of Hartford). Located in Hartford, Connecticut, UAMS is devoted to revitalizing and preserving the commercial district of Albany Avenue, the gateway to downtown Hartford. The organization provides community outreach programs and assists business owners with growing and expanding their establishments to new levels. In 2013, UAMS was accredited as a National Main Street Community Development Business Organization by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is the catalyst for the economic revitalization of the Albany Avenue commercial corridor.

Challenge

Over the past several years, Upper Albany Main Street (UAMS) has drafted plans to complete a facade improvement project on Albany Avenue in Hartford, CT. As with any venture, it entails organization, professionalism, and a devoted team of members backing the mission and purpose of the project. In addition, most projects are successful when they have a solid software platform that can organize project tasks and keep all of the project members joined in one place. Some of the daily challenges that UAMS was experiencing prior to migration to Bitrix24 were:

Effectively communicating with project participants
Keeping track of time consumed on the facade project (time clock)
Uploading & distribution documents between people / organizations / suitable departments
Sharing pictures of the project & the process of how the facade was developing
The ability to create / share / print databases (lists)
Contacts (address book) & employee supervision
Departmental workflow and process management
Project daily notes

Before UAMS came upon Bitrix24, they were eager to get a software platform in place that would be solid, stable, and would provide their project members the ability to stay informed about what is happening with the project.

Solution

One of the things that Bitrix24 offered was the ability to combine all of the features into one compact but powerful software platform. It would not be beneficial to the facade program to have to incorporate different software programs for each of the above features.

Why Bitrix24 is the collaboration software you need for your business

Being involved in a project with hundreds of people, contractors, and managers, can become overpowering. User-friendliness is a big aspect of having a successful project, and with Bitrix, all of the features, workgroups, contracts, time clock, etc. are promptly available on your dashboard for each of your project members to use. Communication within the project is key to its success, and by using Bitrix24, UAMS has plentiful ways to communicate with one another. Bitrix24 offers the ability to instant message other online users, as well as send them emails, notes, and updates (through your dashboard). Not to mention the very handy feature of a built in phone that can be used to speak to other project members over the World Wide Web.

When Bitrix24 was incorporated into Upper Albany Main Street, it became possible to add employees. Not only was this beneficial to each new member but, it saved more time because employees no longer have to email documents back and forth. Simply add them to the workgroup and watch as facade members read and extract data from the intranet. With over 15 years of facade planning, Bitrix24 will be helping UAMS as the organization prepares to start the beginning stages of the multi-million dollar project. Both the University of Hartford and Upper Albany Main Street, Inc. (UAMS) are pleased to partner with Bitrix24 and they hope to continue a long lasting and professional relationship with our company.