There are two different routes you can take when you’re planning a Wrike rollout at your company: you can do a blanket rollout to all employees, or you can use what we call Wrike Champions, which are select employees who pave the way for successful Wrike usage across the company.
Brandon Meyer at Kasper Architects planned the latter version, with a single Wrike Champion to build projects, test workflows, and document results before rolling Wrike out to the rest of the staff. In this installment of Championing Change, we get to learn just how that went (spoiler, it went very well), straight from the source.
We’re passionate about change management because we know it can take standard Wrike usage to a transformative experience. If you’re interested in more change management tips, check out our free eBook on the topic.
And now, let’s hear from Brandon.
Moving from Excel to Wrike with a phased rollout
Florida-based Kasper Architects previously relied on a mix of software and Excel spreadsheets for project timelines, tasks, and timesheets. This process had obvious issues with efficiency and visibility, and when the team chose Wrike for a better work management solution, they knew they needed to roll out the new processes methodically.
Brandon explained, “We started by identifying key pain points within our current workflows and configured Wrike to directly address those issues.” His team built out project templates and dashboards that mirrored existing processes in order to make the transition feel less disruptive. Additionally, a dedicated Wrike adviser facilitated the process through video calls, demonstrating how to effectively structure the new Wrike database based on existing workflows.
Knowing they would face pushback with new software, Brandon focused on demonstrating Wrike’s value through practical application and tailored training. “We had to prove to all that Wrike was superior and could streamline their daily tasks by using real-world examples that were tailor-built for us as architects,” he said.
To put this plan into action, Brandon recruited one of Kasper’s studio managers to serve as a Wrike Champion, whose processes they could easily tweak and whose experience they could showcase to other employees. “We collaboratively built their project database, calendars, and custom reports,” Brandon recalled. “Following testing and refinement, we presented the benefits and features to other studio and project managers and incorporated their feedback for further adjustments.”
This gave Brandon the foundation necessary to roll out a pilot implementation to the Kasper management team, followed by a company-wide implementation after some final tweaks.
Open communication facilitates ongoing success
Kasper’s phased rollout was ultimately successful, but as is typical with any large process or software change, it wasn’t without resistance in the early phases. Some individuals were accustomed to their existing systems and expressed concerns about a lack of universal applicability.
However, Brandon leaned on Wrike’s extensive customization capabilities as a significant benefit of using Wrike. “By collaborating with each manager to develop tailored reports and calendars, we addressed their concerns and demonstrated the advantages of a unified system with personalized data views,” Brandon reported.
Brandon continues to ensure open dialogue with everyone at Kasper Architects, working to make sure Wrike is always working for them. He explained, “I particularly enjoy the problem-solving aspect of collaborating with users and project managers to analyze their workflows and construct customized reports, fields, and automations, ultimately driving efficiency and simplifying their daily tasks.” Brandon prioritizes identifying and automating users’ potential repetitive tasks, leveraging Wrike’s automation options to ensure each workflow is optimized for success.
Wrike’s custom automation capabilities offer exceptional versatility, enabling us to create tailored solutions for virtually any workflow.
Brandon Meyer, Project Manager, Kasper Architects
Enjoying total workflow transformation with Wrike
Kasper Architects now fully uses Wrike for project timelines, task management, reporting, hour tracking, timesheets, contract administration, and consultant coordination. Brandon described how pervasive Wrike use is now: “Our employees rely on Wrike to understand their weekly goals and tasks, our weekly office-wide Monday meetings leverage Wrike’s customizable calendar for studio workload visibility, project managers utilize Wrike for weekly manpower allocation coordination, and executives and partners use its reporting features for quick overviews of allocated versus used project hours.”
Brandon reported that the Kasper Architects team uses Wrike to allocate and adjust resources more efficiently. “Our entire company tracks project hours in Wrike, which enables us to dynamically reallocate manpower as needed,” he explained. Kasper uses a simple automation that is triggered when a project manager marks a project phase as completed, automatically assigning it to the finance team and changing the status to “Billable.”
“The shared calendar feature, in particular, has been invaluable, offering instant visibility into each studio’s current workload and upcoming projects,” Brandon noted. “This real-time transparency has streamlined resource allocation, preventing bottlenecks and ensuring optimal utilization of our teams.”
Finally, Kasper Architects’ project managers use comprehensive project reports to empower leadership to make strategic decisions regarding new project assignments. “By providing a clear overview of each manager’s capacity and expertise, these reports allow us to match projects with the most appropriate studio, ensuring successful execution and maximizing overall productivity.”
And whenever Brandon has a question about Wrike and how he can use it to continue increasing efficiency, he heads to the Wrike Help Center. “The Wrike community is very active, and Wrike’s own how-to articles are very detailed and include images to further clarify.”
Brandon’s efforts have delivered big results; Kasper Architects has successfully transitioned its workflows from Excel and a collection of other software platforms into one single source of truth.
“Switching to Wrike revolutionized our workflows.”
We’d like to thank Brandon for sharing his experience of a successful Wrike rollout with us. Interested in transforming your workflows with Wrike? Take us up on our offer for a free two-week trial and see for yourself.
