Benoy is an established design brand providing architecture, master planning, interior design, graphic design, motion graphics, visualisation, product design and design consultancy services from its global network of 11 strategically located studios to clients in over 80 countries. The culture is one of creativity, collaboration and communication with a strong CSR and sustainability ethos.
The Problem
Benoy’s global teams serve clients across more than 80 countries from its 11 studios situated across 5 countries. Its intranet had grown organically, and whilst it was serving the organisation’s complex needs, it was built on old technology and was hampering the organisation’s efficiency in the following ways:
- Whilst there was an internal system for customer, archive, data, document and email filing, it was dispersed. There was a need for central storage for files that all offices and employees used
- Whilst London was the main data source and could be accessed, access was very slow and unresponsive, so, each country had local systems and files to get round this
- The existing accounting system was dated and inadequate. A new one was needed.
- There was a need to centralise internal communication, which was being sent through different channels and in different formats and was causing problems with accessing and storing information.
The Solution
Working with Oracle and Deloitte (who were contracted to integrate the data management system in accounts), experts from Blacklight Software designed, developed and delivered a .NET bespoke portal, which:
- Could be accessed, replicated and synchronised across all locations
- Became the front face of the entire project - contacts, organisation, projects and internal comms (the data was taken from an Oracle database and integrated via a user-friendly interface designed by Blacklight)
- Used SharePoint (replicated across 5 SharePoint farms) to upgrade the document management system with a data feed from Oracle feeding into the system
- Displayed data from Oracle in a good usable UI
- Was mobile responsive, enabling access anywhere on any device
- Used Windows network security to ensure security
This bespoke .NET portal met the brief in every way and delivered the following benefits:
- Simplified internal comms, ensuring all users have the same formats and channels
- Quick 1 or 2-click access to all contacts and project information
- Local access to all global documentation at local speed, centrally synchronised
- Improved speed of retrieval
- Mobile access
- More intuitive user interface that better reflected Benoy’s brand
Blacklight Software