About the client
Boldare offers digital products: the company develops software and provides consulting services to enterprises operating in a number of different industries (including energy, government, medical, education and e-commerce).
The company provides comprehensive services – examines the needs of the market and users, advises its clients on product development and proposes solutions tailored to their needs. At the same time, it keeps the end user in mind, refining the interface for convenient use of the website or application.
Boldare cooperates with clients from all over the world – most frequently with companies from the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Teams at Boldare are eager to build products woth a real impact on the environment.
The company’s employees indicate business partnership as the greatest benefits that Boldare provides to its customers; specialised teams that feel real responsibility for the products; and full cooperation in their production. This approach makes effective communication extremely important in the company – both inside and outside the organisation.
Challenge
One of Boldare’s distinguishing features is holacracy – an alternative to the hierarchical management system. The company’s structure is flat and based on circles (teams) that are responsible for a given thematic area. Within the circles there are specific roles with clearly defined scopes of responsibility. The organization includes, among others, circles responsible for business development, product implementation and employee well-being.
Holacracy assumes that each employee organises his or her own work, and responsibility is not transferred from the highest levels of the structure down. One of the biggest challenges of running an organisation in such a model is orienting people towards a specific goal and maintaining agile and effective cooperation within and between teams.
With this approach to running an organisation, Boldare needed tools to support employees in a transparent work culture based on close cooperation and self-organisation.
Solution
From the very beginning, the company focused on Google Workspace. The cloud application suite was a natural choice for the team due to its ubiquity, simplicity, intuitiveness and easy integration of the solution with other tools.
Additionally, thanks to cooperation with the Google Cloud partner, Boldare has gained an additional layer of support in everyday use of the package.
We value FOTC for their high responsiveness and eagerness to help. We feel safe and taken care of working with them. We can always count on FOTC’s assistance – in difficult cases their team is available and supports is in problem solving. We receive all instructions and help in a quick and clear manner.
Results
Google Workspace tools are the cornerstone of Boldare projects. They make collaboration easier. They support smooth communication and co-creation of documents by allowing them to comment on each other’s content. Google applications also allow synchronisation with other tools that Boldare uses on a daily basis, e.g. Asana or Slack. This way, employees can easily log in to all the tools they need for work through one account.
Boldare teams make good use of the Calendar and its features. They also make sure the structure of folders stored in Google Drive is appropriate. Maintaining transparency is crucial at Boldare.
We can share files and work together on one document. This makes our cooperation smoother and more effective. I can’t imagine going back to the time when we would have physical document circulation. … I think this is especially important in the context of the way our company operates, which is self-organisation. Each person who joins us must learn how to properly prioritise their tasks and how to move around in this organisation in a good way. And this is where Google Workspace supports us.
Communication with clients
Boldare employees have a great sense of agency and feel responsibility for the solutions they implement for their clients. Feedback and detailed information is crucial for the development of an app at every stage of digital product creation. Partnership and working side-by-side with the client are crucial to develop a product.
With this approach, ongoing, effective communication is key. That’s why video conferencing is a common way to talk to customers. Boldare employees stress that online meetings, which convey gestures and facial expressions, allow them to better understand the needs and intentions of their clients.
Google Meet is the first tool I reach for when I want to contact someone. The solution has two advantages that are extremely important to me. First of all, I can see the person I’m talking to, and we don’t need to do anything extra to achieve it. The video conference starts automatically. Secondly, I can very easily invite someone to a conversation by simply sending them a link.
Collaboration on shared files
Google Drive is the place where we store all our documents. It helps us a lot to structure these files into folders that we share both with clients and for collaboration within teams. Working together on documents allows us to easily exchange ideas and supports us in our daily activities.
Boldare employees also appreciate that Google Workspace security settings. Some folders are available only within the company domain and cannot be shared outside the organisation. This allows the company to maintain data security. At the same time teams can conveniently work on shared files and create new ones at any time.
When the team needs to work out a solution or create something together, they naturally reach for Google Docs. When they need to simplify data structure, they use Google Sheets. Both apps are natural tools for Boldare team members to work together. Many people can work on the file at the same time, provide their own solutions to a problem, and comment on the ideas of others. Thanks to this approach, they can quickly develop new solutions.
Google Sheets data analysis
Google Sheets are also an important element of work in the company, which teams use to analyse and process data. This app allows employees to create dashboards and summaries for customers, which do not need to be sent by e-mail. Customers have access to them at all times and can verify changes on an ongoing basis. Filtering and visualising data in Sheets makes report analysis easier and more convenient.
I worked exclusively in Excel for 12 years and was concerned about whether I would be able to switch to Google Sheets. It turned out that there was no problem with it. I really appreciate this tool and I don't know if I would go back to Excel. I think it is also worth remembering that this application allows you to open sheets created in third-party programs – either Microsoft files or the Open Office suite.