Mark Gjaltema, Chief Rebel from Rebel Projects, shares his story
When our business started to grow a few years ago, we went looking for an online collaboration tool. Since we only work with freelancers and with no physical office, this tool would be the backbone of our company.
We tried a simple setup with Google Apps and various task-extensions, and a more complex one with custom workflows in Podio. Neither did the job. They were too limited, or the interface was too complicated for our users. Then we tried Basecamp, and it did the trick: users liked the simple interface, and they adapted quickly. We were happy!
However, after some time, we wanted more from the platform, mainly to track time and get insight into project expenses. We learned that Basecamp had no plans to extend their platform with such functions, so we had to use third-party add-ons. Unfortunately, this doubled our monthly costs and wasn’t a winning combination. We struggled each month to retrieve the hours and expenses for each project and merge them with yet another system for the invoices.
We split up the company recently and started fresh with a new team and a new name. With renewed energy, we decided it was time to find another platform — a platform with an appealing interface that is not too complex for the average user. More importantly, a platform that extends online collaboration with management tools such as time tracking, advanced reports and invoicing.
Our users loved it from day one, and we’re impressed that we found a system that made time tracking easier for them. On a management level, ActiveCollab has already pleased us by giving insights on a project level. We monitor project budgets much better now. We even send more invoices for time-tracked tickets because it’s all in the same system.
So yeah, we’re happy we made the switch and well, we just never looked back. We have a clear focus on the future again.