For the BVH Architecture team, Gather works just the way they want it to
Using Gather is kind of like having a chair that fits you. Before Gather it was like having a chair with arms on it and your arms would hit the table every time you tucked yourself under the table. It was extremely frustrating. Using Gather is like removing the arms off the chair—it just works the way you want it to.
With 50 employees and two offices Jackie Bacon, interior designer at BVH Architecture, says there’s no room for clumsy software.
She knew they needed something that streamlined the firm’s design work for projects ranging from churches to schools to office spaces.
“In the past we were using several different kinds of software, but none of them did all of the work we needed them to do. It was inefficient and made our work more difficult than it needed to be.”
And it wasn’t just the software that was problematic. The customer support was lacking too.
“There was really bad support especially when we had questions or needed tech assistance.”
Adding to the frustration was the software wasn’t visual—a big obstacle for designers.
“We couldn’t produce things quickly because we had to visualize it. I don’t know why a software program made for interior designers wasn’t visual. It just didn’t make sense. It used spreadsheets with columns and rows. It really slowed down our work.”
The search for better software started
“We found Gather right away and signed up for the free trial. We had a new project at that point, so we used the trial as a test to see if it was up for the challenge.
At first it was just me testing it out and I found it extremely easy to use. Then we added two more staff members to support the interiors for the project. They had a few questions starting out, but they picked it up easily too. We were able to accomplish a lot in 30 days.”
The real test, however, would be how well Gather worked between their two office locations.
Jackie says Gather passed with flying colors.
I think it's really helpful. It’s a huge benefit that Gather offers—being able to have people in multiple offices using the same program and being able to see their projects. So, instead of having to email or call or go to a project manager to find the information, I can access that information when I'm in our Gather account. I can see what furniture other people are pulling for different projects without having to bother them for that information. It’s extremely helpful.
“I personally love how visual it is—all of your items have pictures with it and links to the website. You get all the information you need for quick access, and it’s retained in one spot.”
But it’s not just Jackie who’s loving Gather. Her colleagues are enjoying the extra time it saves them.
It used to take them three or four hours to put a proposal together. Now it only takes a few minutes for a polished and professional document.
Besides the time savings, Jackie says that everything is more enjoyable now.
“Using Gather is kind of like having a chair that fits you. Before Gather it was like having a chair with arms on it and your arms would hit the table every time you tucked yourself under the table. It was extremely frustrating. Using Gather is like removing the arms off the chair—it just works the way you want it to.”
She enjoys using it so much, she recommends it to other designers.
“I was talking [to another designer] about processes. The designer mentioned her struggle with how to get all of the project information in one place, and then retain it and communicate it. So I shared that Gather’s been a really great tool for us at BVH. It streamlines the process and it makes it much easier to collect the information and then retain it across multiple offices.”
And it’s not just the efficiency of Gather that Jackie loves. She also really appreciates the customer service Gather provides.
“The staff and the designers at Gather have been extremely responsive, and also really good about asking what’s working best for us and what improvements can be made that would make our life easier. It feels really great to be treated like that.
“Gather is better than anything we were using before.”
All photos copyright: BVH Architecture | Photo Credit: Corey Gaffer Photography
