Toda Corporation
Migration of physical servers from construction sites to cloud storage.
Leveraging rapid file synchronisation and high-grade searchability to streamline information sharing with internal and external affiliates.
“Many problems and changes occur during construction work, and prompt on-site information sharing is essential. Installing Dropbox has made it possible for personnel at our company and external affiliates, including many partner companies, to share files in real time.“
Product used
Dropbox
Industry
Construction
Size
1,000+
Location
Japan
Challenge: physical servers at each construction site made it difficult to share information smoothly with external parties.
Toda Corporation is a general contractor now in its 140th year of business. With operations in construction, civil engineering, urban development, real estate, power generation and more, the company has achieved steady growth in a wide range of fields.
Toda Corporation used to deploy physical servers at its construction sites for editing and storing construction data such as drawings, photographs and process charts.
During the construction phase, many of its affiliates, including design supervision offices and partner companies, edit and check various types of documents, such as drawings. These documents are updated on a daily basis. However, the physical servers were primarily accessible only to general contractor employees.
“So general contractor employees working at those construction sites were spending a lot of time and money sharing construction information, compressing large drawing files, sending them by email or via a dedicated file transfer service and then additionally providing external file storage”,
says Hiroyuki Ikehata, a manager of the Production System Promotion Section 1 at Toda Corporation.
In the construction industry, being able to share information quickly is extremely important. Toda Corporation was running into costly delays when sending files such as drawings via email to external partners.
This way of operating also led to cumbersome file management. Since nearly 100 emails were received daily, many with attached drawings, it was a hassle to verify which drawings were the latest versions, unzip compressed or password-protected drawings and save the drawings in folders categorised by construction details.
“In construction, just inserting a single wrong line on a drawing can lead to huge costs and rework. To prevent that, we had to phone and verify each time to ask the exact time when the email containing the latest file was sent”, recalls Toshihiro Saito, a site manager overseeing Toda Corporation's construction sites.
Employees at the various sites were also plagued by operational mistakes that accidentally erased data on a physical server. This necessitated the recreation of files from older versions because deleted files could not be easily restored. Every mistake led to additional work.
Solution: Dropbox was adopted for its speedy file synchronisation and advanced search features
Around this time, in December 2019, the company decided to relocate to a temporary building during the reconstruction of its head office building. While preparing for this move, the topic of resolving existing issues came up.
Before implementing cloud file servers for the construction sites, the company began implementing the same for in-house departments that were relocating to the temporary building.
This permitted not only accelerated information sharing but also strengthened BCP and reduced file server installation space. This paved the way for the implementation in the company’s construction sites nationwide.
Previously, Toda Corporation had been using Google Drive to share information among its internal working groups. But as many people had voiced concerns about slow file synchronisation with their computers and their inability to share files with various external partner companies due to account registration issues, it began exploring an alternative solution that would better suit its construction work needs.
“We were looking at two options: Dropbox Business (hereinafter, ‘Dropbox’) or a different company’s cloud storage service. But our research showed that they were completely different. We felt that Dropbox was like a ‘desk’ where multiple people could work together, while the other service was like a ‘drawer’ where you could store completed files.
The former fit our need to frequently edit and share files with partner companies”,
recalls Ikehata.
This was its journey leading to its adoption of Dropbox. The deciding factors were file synchronisation speed, which is essential for sharing and collaboration, and intuitive operability, which allows usage in the same way as a local folder.
Result: Dropbox was adopted as a company-wide standard environment and enabled effective interaction with partner companies
Efficient and flexible file sharing
Since the company began this full-scale transition about six months ago, drawings, documents and data stored on physical servers at branches and existing construction and civil engineering work sites have been steadily migrated to Dropbox. The company is also using Dropbox as the standard for new work sites. Storing files on Dropbox has naturally made it possible for them to share files.
And, by lending its Dropbox licence to major design offices and partner companies, it is now able to facilitate an environment where all internal and external construction members can access the information needed to complete their work.
“Creating shared folders for each partner company has made it possible to eliminate mistakes when sharing the latest drawings. It has also saved us the hassle of managing the files”,
says Saito.
By creating shared folders in Dropbox for each meeting organiser and storing all relevant documents in those folders, the company has been able to use them for remote web meetings as well.
“It has accelerated paperless operations and reduced the work involved in preparing documents”,
says Koji Sakamoto who works in the Construction Equipment Section at Toda Corporation.
In addition, using the link-sharing feature and Dropbox Transfer has enabled the company to batch-send necessary files to affiliates to whom it has not lent its licence.
Efficient and flexible file sharing
The “Version history” feature allows deleted files to be restored easily.
Accelerated information searching
File search efficiency has also significantly increased. “Finding files is 3 to 4 times faster than before”, stresses Ikehata.
It can now store all files in a single place and is maximising the potential of Dropbox's high level of searchability.
Secondary benefits: improved remote work productivity during the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to Dropbox
Smooth transition to remote work
Dropbox's advantages were fully demonstrated even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We consider the smooth transition to remote work to be the greatest benefit of Dropbox”,
says Masakazu Aoki, a manager within the Administration Division of Toda Corporation's International Branch.
The company uses Dropbox Paper for a variety of operations, including schedule management, task management and information sharing for employees working remotely. It says this stimulates communication.
“Although Google Calendar can also manage schedules, it cannot manage tasks for each individual member. Managing both with Dropbox Paper has reduced hassle when switching apps and confirming work details via phone, thereby improving remote work productivity”,
says Aoki.
Smoother interaction with overseas bases and sites
The company has also found Dropbox Paper to be effective for communicating with overseas bases and sites across time zones.
By having users write comments in a single file during work hours, staff can interact closely without having to schedule a meeting at a time suitable for everyone.
“We consider our smooth transition to remote work during COVID to be Dropbox’s greatest benefit for us. Dropbox Paper helps us visualise the current activities of each member and has heightened remote work productivity.”
Masakazu Aoki, Manager, Administration Division, International BranchKey benefits of introducing Dropbox
Advanced search features have improved file search efficiency and eliminated the need to devise a folder structure.
Dropbox Paper has helped us visualise each employee’s circumstances and has stimulated internal communication during remote work. It has also streamlined information sharing with overseas bases and partner companies in different time zones.
Thanks to smooth synchronisation, file changes are reflected immediately, even when drawings and other large files are shared. This makes it easier to manage the latest data.