There are many complex processes, reporting requirements, and manual workflows in the manufacturing and construction industry. In fact, nearly 50 percent of construction professionals still manually prepare a daily report, leaving less time for high-value work. Like in many industries, construction companies’ growth depends on their employees’ ability to get work done in the most efficient and effective way possible.

Schuster Concrete Companies needed an integrated solution that could improve operational efficiency while increasing employee productivity. Citrix enabled Schuster to build a customized solution for their unique needs to drive collaboration and business automation, all in an integrated experience. Let’s look at how this leading concrete construction company drove innovation with Citrix Podio.

The Challenge

Schuster targeted its IT team first to reduce the amount of manual, repetitive tasks and drive operational efficiencies. Before turning to Citrix in 2012, Schuster’s IT team relied on manual effort and multiple systems to complete routine tasks, like handling support requests.

“At that point, we were looking to break out of spreadsheets and documents and get more collaborative around the things that we manage on a day-to-day basis,” said Chris Blanchard, Director of IT, Schuster Concrete Companies.

Since then, the IT team has managed nearly 10,000 support requests in the tool.

The Solution: Citrix

After Schuster’s IT team accelerated work with Citrix Podio, they realized they could use Podio to improve other company-wide bottlenecks and workflows for specific departments, including the safety, human resources, and sales teams.

Transforming Manual Processes

Schuster saved 10 hours per week in administrative time with workflow automations in Podio. By automating downstream communication with project stakeholders, general contractors and owners immediately receive inspection results. This cut an entire manual step from the safety team’s process, delivering faster and more efficient reports. Today, the safety team can easily submit incidents, inspections, safety violations, and other related items using web forms, and organize the information in one collaborative space, all with a few simple clicks.

End-to-End Document Workflows

Not only does Schuster use Podio to accelerate work, they also use Citrix ShareFile and Citrix RightSignature to further expand the solution’s value and empower end-to-end document workflow automations. With seamless integrations among the three solutions, Schuster can automate e-signature processes and internal/external document collaboration with a few simple clicks in one place.

A demo environment of Citrix ShareFile and Citrix RightSignature integrated in Citrix Podio to automate document workflows.

Simplifying HR Processes

Hiring and onboarding are crucial for industries like manufacturing and construction that need efficient HR processes to complete projects on time. Schuster’s HR team relied on a manual, paper-based process that was largely managed on-site. By transforming their processes in Podio, Schuster now conducts all hiring and onboarding processes in the tool.

The HR team collects applications via webforms generated in the tool, which collects the data and then organizes it into their backend processes seamlessly. Offer letters are also generated through workflow automations, delivered to employees as PDFs through RightSignature, and then signed and returned. The time it takes to hire a worker decreased by nearly 90 percent, and tasks that used to take an average of 45 minutes per person now take an average of five minutes.

A demo environment of a HR workflow process in Citrix Podio.

Expediting Sales Processes

Schuster’s sales team executes all sales quotes in Podio using automated workflows. Once a quote is ready to be signed, it’s automatically sent to the client through Citrix RightSignature, where the client can securely review and sign electronically. Once received, it triggers the next steps in the process removing all manual bottlenecks.

Podio also has transformed Schuster’s sales operations with improved data management and visual reporting. Instead of hiring another sales admin to execute these tasks, Podio was able to fill the need seamlessly with easy-to-build dashboards from their data. Across the board, Podio estimates that Schuster saved more than 14,000 hours in a 30-day period using workflow automations, driving cost efficiency for the organization.

A demo environment of a sales team reporting dashboard in Citrix Podio.

Driving Forward with Citrix Podio

Schuster continues to innovate and drive efficiencies internally and externally in partnership with Citrix. Their mission is to help every team experience the benefits of Podio.

“Our goal is to replace manual or inefficient processes,” said Chris Blanchard, Schuster’s Director of IT. “We’ll work with individual business units and ask, ‘What if I could do it faster, cheaper, more automated?’ ‘What if you had more time to focus on things that matter instead of busy work?’ And we’ll invest some time, solve a problem, and just rinse and repeat.”

Learn more about how Schuster utilizes Citrix to redesign and innovate their business processes to drive growth. Ready to start driving growth in your organization? Start using Podio for free.