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TIMEFOX GIVES PHOTONICS THE
MANAGEMENT TOOLS THEY NEED
Photonics Graphics is a marketing design firm,
co-owned by Alan Brown and his wife, Christie.
Their staff of eleven helps businesses with marketing
communications and strategic thinking,
graphic design and website development.
"We needed to control 'scope creep' and costs, but
we didn't have the right tools," says Brown, "We needed
better, more timely and more accurate information
about each of the projects we were working on so our
management team could track them better."
Photonics was using another well-known installed-software
based time/project management program, but
found it unable to cope with the lengthy, complex
projects the company was working on.
"We couldn't get a good snapshot of a project without
a great deal of effort. Because we had to import each
timesheet manually, we did them only once a week.
That meant our information was often a week or more
out of date. And we couldn't track specific tasks against
our estimates," says Brown.
Brown had been dissatisfied with his information gathering
system for some time. He had investigated many
different approaches, in his search for an appropriate
system for Photonics. He looked at a wide range of
prices and solutions and couldn't find anything with the
features he needed for a price he could afford. He felt
he couldn't justify large-company-structured licensing
fees charged by some of the companies he looked at.
"Several times I had even started to try to write my
own program. It turned out to be a long process that
wasn't getting anywhere," says Brown. "Then I saw an
ad for TimeFox in an industry publication and went
to the FunctionFox website."
Brown talked with FunctionFox's sales people and found
that they were friendly, courteous, knowledgeable, and
actually returned his calls.
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"FunctionFox's pricing structure
made purchasing an easy decision. TimeFox had the
features we were looking for with a minimal investment
of dollars and resources up front. As a small business
owner, that was very, very attractive," says Brown.
"I played with the program for two weeks before introducing
it to our management team and staff.
They had virtually no problems and were up and
using it the day of introduction," says Brown, "And I
was already generating good, valuable information on
our projects. I knew I had a very powerful tool without
having to go through a lot of pain to get there."
"Whenever I stumbled, FunctionFox's tech support
team was there for me. They have been extremely helpful
and extremely conscientious about getting back to
me in a very timely manner. They are very patient and
pleasant," adds Brown.
Using TimeFox, Brown was able not only to see immediately
where the company was overspending, but
was able to get up-to-date information about specific
projects.This let him be more proactive in addressing
issues. Complex projects became easier to track, and
now the Photonics Management team have better
and easier ways to measure their success.
WOULD PHOTONICS CHOOSE TIMEFOX AGAIN
IF THEY HAD THE CHANCE?
"ABSOLUTELY!!" SAYS BROWN
Alan Brown can be reached for further comment at
513-281-5000 ext 101 or visit the Photonics website at
www.photonicsgraphics.com
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