Basecamp helps Epsilon Concepts communicate, manage projects, and handle worldwide staff collaboration

Epsilon Concepts is a marketing-driven web design & development firm based near Richmond, Virginia. They utilize Basecamp, Highrise, and Campfire to manage 99% of their business via the web. We caught up with CEO Rob Berthume to discuss how Basecamp helps his team with communication, project management, and worldwide staff collaboration.

How do you use Basecamp and why do you like it?
For the last seven years since Epsilon Concepts was founded, we have sought after the "ultimate" solution to help us manage our business as well as keep things as web-based, simple, and mobile as possible. Luckily, we found Basecamp.

I truly believe that one of the biggest problems in the web design/development industry today is the lack of excellent project management. In fact, we believe that the horror stories we hear (usually at least a couple per day) about web design experiences can almost always be traced back to project management. Unmanaged expectations, missed milestones, miscommunications, blame shifting, lost e-mails, etc...You name the problem and it probably could have been minimized/prevented via Basecamp.

I'm proud to report that primarily through utilization of Basecamp, Highrise, and Campfire, we can say that our business is completely mobile, flexible, and seamless. Additionally, all of our information and transcripts are secure, always available, and the software is constantly being improved without having to do a thing.

The number one reason we love Basecamp: it's a powerful, flexible, and extensible application that is actually EASY. Initially, when I decided to implement Basecamp for our project management needs, I was somewhat concerned that our less "computer literate" clients may have reservations about jumping out of their e-mail accounts and into a program like Basecamp. This concern turned out to be completely bogus as to this day we haven't had a single client that hasn't been able to instantly understand, utilize, and harness the power of Basecamp. In fact, we were surprised just how many clients instantly uploaded a picture in their Basecamp profile and just how much they bought into the concept.

We also use Basecamp for managing things like public relations, proposals, contracts, miscellaneous tasks, even some of our employees!

Which features in Basecamp do you use most?
"Subscribe to iCal" (Perfect for viewing/managing milestones on my MacBook Pro and TREO.) Time tracking (Intuitively designed, useful time-tracking functionality in relation to specific to-dos in specific projects, and excellent "create a report" and "export to CSV" capabilities.) Private messages (A great tool for internal communication.) To-do lists (Helpful for breaking down proposed deliverables into meaningful "task nuggets".) Chat (Yes, there is SKYPE, AIM, YAHOO, etc...but are all of those chat transcripts stored in one place? Do clients or staff have to download applications? What about file sharing and data security?) Writeboards (Online whiteboards. The concept is simple, but 37signals' execution on this element should be applauded. Hands down, most clients talk about the Writeboard functionality being the coolest feature.)

What did you use before Basecamp and why did you switch?
This question gives me a headache just remembering "life before Basecamp!"

Before using Basecamp, we tried traditional project management software as well as simply e-mail/phone communication. At one point, we had over 46 simultaneous projects going and the e-mail load in my inbox was 300-500 messages per day. It was a management nightmare and it was next to impossible to keep things clean, organized, and on track. We switched to Basecamp because it's powerful enough for our needs, flexible enough for our wants, and easy enough for a ten-year old.

Get specific. Tell us a story about a project or situation where Basecamp helped you out.
1) One area in particular that may be overlooked is the fact that Basecamp is excellent for record-keeping purposes. In the past, issues regarding content delivery, milestones, and communication could have easily escalated into a "he said, she said" unproductive discussion. After all, the communication may be in different e-mail boxes with disconnected individuals and it's not easy to find information that isn't dated, isn't clearly organized, and isn't available in one place. With Basecamp, we successfully salvaged a client relationship because we were able to pinpoint EVERYTHING ever said, transmitted, described, proposed, and committed to in ONE place where everything is categorized, organized, and dated. Simply having easy access to this information enabled us to turn a potentially rocky situation into another successful relationship because Basecamp ensures expectations are managed while creating complete transparency.

2) I talked with a prospect this afternoon and we gave her a demo of Basecamp. Her first words? "I get it." The second thing she noticed? She noticed that the milestones can be subscribed to via Apple iCal. She was blown away! She couldn't believe that she could check, in real time, milestone information on a project being worked on by a company 2,500 miles away even on her new iPhone!

3) Because all of our projects are fed into our RSS readers via Basecamp, every staff member has context with the happenings of our projects. This means if someone takes a vacation, someone falls ill, or someone needs backup, each of our team has up-to-date context on projects without having their inboxes wrecked with time-consuming e-mail clutter.

Any tips or tricks for other Basecamp customers?
I think there are many, MANY customers that could benefit tremendously from the features provided by Basecamp, but don't realize it. People like:

College students (Setup each class as a project and watch your life and grades improve.) Event planners (Setup each event as a project and it will be the smoothest event yet.) Authors (I can't think of a better way to organize oneself as an author.) Homeschool parents (What a great way to manage your children's education!) People with health issues (All of that information has to go somewhere!) Universities (The systems currently utilized by most universities for online class work is archaic compared to Basecamp...how wonderful it would be if professors created a Basecamp project for their class and invited all of their students in order to manage every class activity!) Families (What a great way to manage family events, college students on the other side of the country, family discussions, shopping lists, etc...)

Heck, I even have a project setup in our company account for managing my personal life! Yes, Basecamp is that useful and that addictive.

Anything else?
Our approach to business is untraditional: our staff is located across the US and around the world, our clients are worldwide, and we actually strive to stay small, focused, and remarkable instead of simply growing via inertia. Luckily, the 37Signals staff is untraditional as well: providing clean, simple, usable, and powerful applications that are inexpensive, fun to use, and easy to fall in love with.

Here's what a couple of our clients said about their experience with Basecamp while utilizing our services:

"Epsilon Concepts, through its utilization of Basecamp, has made me feel like part of the design team every step of the way and has taken the website design process to a new level. I could not be more pleased with the service I have received and I believe Basecamp was a large part of my experience."
–Benjamin Henrich, President, BH Carolina Development

"I found Epsilon Concepts – they had a portfolio that was very impressive and professional...the only major issue was their distance – I'm in California and they are on the east coast. I was very concerned that I would have to fly to the East Coast from California...then they explained the program they use for project management...Basecamp. Basecamp allowed me to stay at home and still be part of the development team. I open my personal Epsilon Concepts Basecamp site and post messages, files, graphics and calibrate with a whiteboard – all from my home in California. Heck – I never even had the need to talk to the developers via phone – it was all done in and through Basecamp. Looking back at our entire design and development process – I don't know how we would have accomplished the project in the manner it was accomplished without Basecamp. Thank you Epsilon Concepts and thanks for using Basecamp!"
–Len Fishman, Computer Idiot & Owner, Reverse Mortgage Appraisers

Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.