The new architectural management tool for professional consultants – Featured on Stuff

Working on any development project means lots of people. It’s a collaborative process that spans the breadth of the construction industry, from architects and designers to engineers and contractors.

Keeping track of projects and managing that process means a lot of admin work, often split across multiple tools.

It also means an array of different software tools being used, with information scattered across different platforms, often leading to wasted hours of precious time spent on manual administrative tasks.

But what if it could be done more efficiently using an integrated cloud based platform?

Streamlining the workflow

Architectural firm founder & Clarc CEO Owen Xing found himself in the same situation; frustrated with the amount of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools that were used in his everyday work schedule, and set out to look for a more effective way to consolidate and manage his day to day workflow.

“There was the invoicing tool, a timesheet tool, project progress tracking spreadsheets and of course emailing and calendar apps. Once we grew to 8 or 10 employees, it was all becoming too chaotic and I needed one solution to manage everyone’s workflow,” Xing says.

“There was nothing on the market that did all of these things together in a way that made sense for an architect and professional consultants.”

An architect who also studied computer science, Xing is the engineer behind Clarc, an all-in-one platform that combines features from across a range of existing SaaS tools.

“Architecture is such a unique industry, projects constantly evolve,” says Clarc product manager Dian Tang.

“There are so many moving parts that you have to deal with throughout the whole process, and your client is very much involved in everything as well. It can get very confusing”

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Tang, a designer at Xing’s firm before she started working on Clarc, has found the tool to be an effective solution to minimise the frustrations of her every-day project admin.

“It’s really helpful for someone at management level like project architects such as myself because when there are too many team members and too many projects, it’s really hard to keep track of everything that’s going on.”

Keeping track of important financial elements in a project, such as invoicing can be something that cloud based software can help streamline.

Tang says she spent hours creating invoices each month, as it required a complicated process that span several different SaaS tools, then once combined had to be reviewed by Xing.

“Each invoice takes around half an hour, if it’s really complicated.”

“But now with Clarc, that time can be trimmed down to five minutes, or even less.”

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Power of collaboration

The most important aspect that sets the software apart from other office automation or productivity tech, is the collaboration tools Clarc offers.

Whether it’s assigning jobs, communicating with clients and consultants, or reviewing documentation, everything can be done through a single portal.

It keeps everyone not only on the same page, but also allows Consultants to add in whoever they want to work with and have them instantly caught up on all the information that’s needed.

Walking a fine line that balances everyone’s individual needs, the Clarc team is constantly listening to feedback from both existing users and potential customers.

Xing says that while it’s a tool that’s built for architects by architects, it’s also for more than just those in architecture.

“It’s a tool for all professionals,” he says.

Launched in late 2020 and new to the market, Clarc may be a great solution for improving your workflow process.

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