Run Energy Speeds Migration from WebEx WebOffice to Quickbase

Run Energy Speeds Migration from WebEx WebOffice to Quickbase

Run Energy is dedicated to maximizing the safety and performance of its alternative energy customers. It does this by providing top quality operations, maintenance, and technical services that are tailored to meet its customers’ needs.

When Run Energy received notice that WebEx was discontinuing its WebOffice platform, it needed to find a solution quickly. The company had built an extensive intranet and extranet on WebOffice to manage most of its business processes across all lines of its business for both internal stakeholders and external customers.

“Almost every system we used to run our operations was on this platform and we only had 11 months to replace it,” says Ian Greig, Group Technical Manager at Run Energy.

Run Energy also had to get the work done with a small staff — just two developers — who had to ensure continuity of business operations and productivity during the project.

Many Apps, Loads of Functionality

To find the right solution, Greig turned to the internet. He wanted a highly customizable solution that would allow his team to replicate as much of the existing platform structure as possible. After testing several products, Greig chose Quickbase for ease of use, and his familiarity with the brand.

“I didnt want to invest in a new system only to have that company decide to shut down,” adds Greig. “And, I could easily create a table within minutes and have it up and running in Quickbase.”

In just 8 months, Greig and his staff built 50 Quickbase apps. As each app was completed, the team transferred data from WebEx WebOffice until the migration was complete.

Critically, Run Energy was able to accomplish all of this without assistance from a third party. All the app building and migration work was done internally using Quickbases documentation and customer portal for support along the way.

“Building on the run like we were, we needed to be able to make decisions and changes very quickly. If we had gone with an outside party, it would have become very expensive and time-consuming so thats where Quickbase is great,” says Greig.

While the structure of Run Energy’s Quickbase platform is similar to its previous solution, the differences between the two systems became apparent quickly. Not only is Quickbase faster, but it also boasts more robust functionality like built-in report generation and the ability to do calculations inside the app that yielded significant productivity gains.

“We run reports on site performance and share that information with our customers through Quickbase, Greig says. We also have to do a lot of complex calculations on data, and we can do that now right in Quickbase without having to put it in a spreadsheet first.”

Up and Running with Time to Spare

In the eight months since Run Energy began converting to Quickbase, 100% of its data has been migrated, beating the deadline for their WebEx WebOffice platform retirement by three months.

Run Energy staff using the Quickbase system are more productive. Greig estimates that Quickbase is about 3 times faster running reports and loading data than WebOffice was.

Preparing for yearly audits is 80% faster now that Run Energy has the data accessible to clients for review in Quickbase saving Run Energy about 20 administrative hours per client per year in fielding requests for information.

And being able to perform calculations within Quickbase instead of having to do it offline in spreadsheets gives customers more visibility into the data thats being generated on their behalf.

“Transitioning from WebEx WebOffice to Quickbase was extremely easy. I immediately felt at home in Quickbase and understood how it worked. It felt like upgrading from an old, slow car to a new, faster car with that familiar feeling, only with more features and capabilities,” says Greig.