Richard McKay, Director of McKay Hardwood Flooring in Glasgow, Scotland, writes in to tell us how his company uses Backpack.
Our company, McKay Hardwood Flooring, a family run Scottish wood floor company, has recently introduced Backpack and is currently planning the future running of our business using Backpack and the other 37signals tools.Our first task was to store documents that we use on to our 'Important Documents' page. Traditionally these documents were stored on our company server but it was sometimes problematic accessing these via a VPN if we were working from home or abroad. Accessing them on the cloud via Backpack has simplified this task and we are now working faster and with less hassle.
Secondly we are working on a list of company procedures using the 'Notes' feature within the Backpack page.
Another use we have found for Backpack is the online storage of supplier's pricelists (these sometimes get lost within our office. We have also uploaded all the indoor sports court marking layouts (basketball/volleyball etc) and our onsite operatives can acces these at any time no matter where they are working in the UK.
Other uses for Backpack that we've identified are:
A page with monthly snapshots of our web 'analytics' results. Minutes of meetings. All our company brochures and print ads.
A page for each employee listing holidays, absence, etc. A page for each of our smaller contracts - to include our quote, client's order, photos.
After we've got Backpack completely up and running we will switch our attention to using Highrise for our CRM.
We like using 37signals software as it's simple to use and doesn't scare off staff (they've actually embraced it as they realise it's saving them time). Also, it's quick and easy to access.
I am also working on a new start-up, Zungalow.com. We are using Backpack to organise tasks, ideas, etc.
McKay installed the flooring throughout the National Galleries of Scotland.
The company also supplied and installed the wood flooring at the Maggie's Centre, Dundee (a Frank Gehry design).
