A Canadian accessibility consulting firm used Accelo to grow its client base and project scope with ease — without having to expand its team in proportion.
Level Playing Field is far from your average consultancy. Along with providing expert accessibility and compliance advice to their clients, the business is known for changing the lives of people with disabilities — one project at a time.
“We work with architects, designers and property managers across Canada and in the U.S.A. to make sure spaces are accessible for everyone — to remove barriers and ensure the world is inclusive for all," says Founder Darby Lee Young. "That way, everyone feels included and has equal access to be involved in their community."
Fortunately, there’s an expanding awareness around inclusivity and the business has grown in proportion with that rising cultural tide. But the trajectory wouldn’t have been as smooth without the help of smart tech.
Darby is skilled at removing built barriers and providing environmentally sound solutions, but she knew when she started Level Playing Field that managing technology platforms was not her forté.
In previous workplaces, she used solely spreadsheets and found herself wasting hours manually updating files. She arrived at business ownership knowing that relying on this same method could hold her new business back by taking time away from revenue-generating work, so she searched for the right software to use on day one.
“First and foremost, I needed and wanted something that was user-friendly. I didn't have experience using project management software before so I needed something that was quite straightforward," Darby explains. “I also wanted something that incorporated all our client work in one place so that my staff and I weren't having to jump around between different programs just to do our work.”
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On the hunt for a user-friendly, end-to-end client work management platform, Darby came across Accelo and felt it would fit the bill.
After implementing the platform, its ease of use was immediately apparent. The integrated products helped Darby’s team easily transition clients through the project completion process without any major headaches.
And if they do run into a roadblock, she says “the speed and the accuracy” of Accelo’s support team gives her a sense of comfort.
Since she spends a lot of time in the field meeting with clients, Darby needs to access all her client work from any location, so she also loves the Accelo mobile app.
"I can easily access projects and data from my phone when meeting with clients, all while tracking the time spent with the built-in timers feature.”
The combination of the app timer and an accounting integration makes accurate billing a breeze.
“I find it super easy to do invoicing now. We’ve definitely saved a lot of time now that our hours automatically show up in our accounting software, Xero, and this alone saves my accounting team a lot of time,” Darby says.
In addition to cutting invoicing time in half, Accelo has helped Darby’s small team handle 3X the projects they once did — including large builds for conference centers and arenas.
She says visibility and easy collaboration have been key.
"My team can see all of the hours they’ve spent working on certain tasks and where they’re up to on a project without having to come and ask me. They can take a look to see if we’ve billed for that work or not and see where we’re up to with certain tasks."
Most impressively, Level Playing Field grew by 20X in just one year.
Darby describes how this was possible: “Everything we need is in one place. I don’t have to fish around or dig for stuff with one integrated platform.”
Using Accelo as its primary platform for managing everything from team projects to client relationships and invoicing, Level Playing Field has the insights and transparency it needs to make the world accessible to everyone.
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