Total Synergy builds business software with and for built environment professionals so they can streamline processes for management, fee earners and clients
Total Synergy makes Synergy software with a single focus - to support architects through every stage of their architecture business and project management.
It serves more than 500 firms and over 7,000 built environment professionals globally.
In 1999 Total Synergy CEO and founder Scott Osborne built a project management solution for a built environment design consulting firm that couldn’t find software to meet its specific needs. That first customer still uses Synergy today.
Synergy systems are built specifically with and for architects who want to deliver their best work, on time, on budget and at a profit.
Its software supports architects with the tools they need to excel in three business areas: project management, project accounting and project information and collaboration.
Cornish practice Laurence Associates uses Synergy software because it gives the firm ‘clarity for management, fee earners and, most importantly, for clients,’ so says business manager Katherine Shannon. This frees up more time for design.
‘We use Synergy’s cloud software platform,’ she says. ‘We’re all using one project and practice management system and it makes everyone’s lives so much easier.’
How does Synergy benefit project management?
'Previously, we had different rates of fee-earners doing different things on different phases and different stages of various projects,' says Shannon.
'We ended up with multiple projects on our legacy system to help the fee-earners have some clarity about what their budgets were.
'It wasn’t clear enough for them to work out how much time they had for different stages.'
She says Synergy solves the issues associated with project performance tracking for staff because all the budgets and the time within the different phases and stages can be allocated.
'It’s clear. Our staff are all highly qualified and giving them the actual ownership of their projects - the ability to run with them and take more control - gives them more autonomy and the ability to do their best work.’
How do Synergy’s linked fee-proposals, project budgets, timesheets and invoices enable clarity?
‘In our industry there are always going to be occasions where you can see a potential long-term relationship with a new client and take a bespoke approach to how you put together fee proposals and set up different projects,' says Shannon.
‘Sometimes we know it’s going to take longer than the budget, but we want to do the job for other reasons. With Synergy, we can put notes on the system so that project owners are aware of that as well.
'It takes the pressure off the individual fee-earner because they can see what is expected of them or what’s not expected.’
How does Synergy make remote collaboration and management easy?
‘It’s been good from a management perspective,' says Shannon. 'Fee-earners use the timesheets and look at the project budgets and so on, but from a management and administration perspective, it’s meant that we can continue to manage the practice remotely as a group.
‘The reporting functions mean that we can do a deep dive into our sales pipeline from wherever we are.
'During the lockdowns, we could contact all of our clients and prospective clients straight away and we could use all the custom fields to allocate them different statuses or tags.
'We knew what was on hold because of Covid, what wasn’t on hold, what was done and so on. As a result, we got this clear, realistic pipeline, which is important when you’re looking at staffing levels in a crisis.’
To watch a 15-minute, on-demand webinar on how Total Synergy helps architects deliver more profitable projects, visit totalsynergy.com/riba
For more information and technical support, visit totalsynergy.com
Contact: