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WF Group Aligns Innovation to Major Goals Across its Businesses

We sat down with WF Group's Director of Innovation to hear how they're using edison365 for transformative innovation!
WalterFedy logo

Location

Ontario, Canada

Industry

Architecture, Engineering, Construction

Needs

Innovation Innovation, Ideation Management

Meet Canadaโ€™s AEC Powerhouse ๐Ÿ‘‹

Where multi-disciplinary talent meets ambition, meet WalterFedy, one of Ontarioโ€™s leading AEC groups. An outfit with 70+ years under its belt, and almost 300 skilled designers and construction professionals across three brands.

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  1. WalterFedy
  2. AEC
  3. Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

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A group built on exploring whatโ€™s possible, with a hunger for bold ideas that challenge the status quo, has led them to become one of Canadaโ€™s premiere multi-disciplinary design firms.

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We recently caught up with their Innovation Director, Braden Kurczak, and Marketing Manager, Leah Mackie to get some insight on building innovation from the ground up, and the journey they have been on so far with edison365.

Summary

Challenge

WF Group found that ideas were difficult to execute without the right tools, leaving some opportunities overlooked or without the right time and dedication to implement them.

Solution

The AEC powerhouse required a digital solution that made ideation and end-to-end innovation easier, accurate and accountable. One that would bring about engagement across its business entities, teams, and departments.

Results

edison365 modernized the innovation management process for WF Group, providing a streamlined environment where more than 40 great ideas have been captured in a matter of months.

Challenging Innovation Norms ๐Ÿ’ก

To understand how far WF Group has come with innovation, we must rewind the clock to see the challenges they faced. Braden explains that โ€œFrom an innovation perspective, our industry is surprisingly slow to implement significant change. I donโ€™t want to say there isnโ€™t innovation, because thereโ€™s always something new, it just seems to take a long time to implement.โ€


A true observation of an industry where traditional methods and tools are favoured, causing innovation to fall short of the priority list. Braden goes on to describe how that tide is turning, saying โ€œThere are things Iโ€™m seeing in my career now that I discussed as being innovative some twenty years ago.โ€


Ultimately, with the rise of things like AI, automation, and tools such as edison365, innovation is becoming less of a buzzword and more of a must-have! And in the very nature of WF Group, they have been quick to kickstart their innovation journey.


โ€œAs a firm, we are really pragmatic with the way weโ€™ve traditionally done our work. We recognized that to meet our ambitions and goals, we needed to invest in innovation.โ€ Like many businesses, having a centralized environment for new ideas to thrive isnโ€™t readily available.


Braden emphasizes this, saying, โ€œBefore edison365, we didnโ€™t have a way to capture new ideas. They might be discussed at meetings, or someone would have a great idea, and if there was time or interest, we might pursue it โ€” if it reached the right people.โ€


โ€œWe didnโ€™t really have a formalized process for end-to-end ideas. Going from the ideation stage to deciding to make things happen.โ€ WF Group needed a way to streamline their innovation efforts, encompassing process and procedures, and being more ambitious with their design goals.

Goodbye Suggestion Box ๐Ÿšซ

Every organizationโ€™s innovation journey starts somewhere. For most, itโ€™s the suggestion box. Before turning to edison365, WF Groupโ€™s Innovation Director describes a time when a SharePoint suggestion box was created to host new ideas.


Braden accurately likens the suggestion box to a place ideas gather dust, and rightly so! Despite this, many organizations adopt the suggestion box, with most either completely empty or packed with unactioned ideas!


This is one of the many reasons why WF Group has done away with the old and introduced a new cloud-based foundation for innovative opportunities. So, letโ€™s look at the results theyโ€™ve achieved!

Embracing edison365 to Host Great Ideas โญ

Their initial goal was to build the foundation and infrastructure to support a culture of innovation. Moving from platform selection to implementation was simple and accomplished in only few months while managing a number of other initiatives simultaneously.

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In short order they were seeing interest and engagement; the platform has given innovation, as part of their strategic roadmap, a place to grow.

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โ€œThereโ€™s a team member who is full of ideas! Once in edison365, he started entering them rapidly and found the tool easy to use, adding 15 new ideas in just an hour.โ€

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edison365 was built for exactly this, and WF Group are truly leveraging the platform at its best. With around 40 new ideas captured in short order the firm looks forward to building out business cases and projects.

โ€œThe structure of the system lends itself to driving actionโ€

Join the worldโ€™s most innovative brands using our end-to-end innovation management tools.

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Marketing Manager Leah Mackie also adds that the platform serves as a form of inspiration for others: โ€œYou can see the different ideas and submissions coming through, which sparks creativity among other team members instead of relying solely on one group for innovation within the organization.โ€


But itโ€™s not just the toolโ€™s simplicity that is favored โ€“ itโ€™s the transparency it offers around innovation. Leah makes a great point on the topic of transparency, saying โ€œThe team has a place to submit ideas, and then have a collective space to really document and action them.โ€


Itโ€™s safe to say, that WF Group are laying the groundwork for ideas to thrive and finding their feet with the tools available to them. As their list of ideas builds, they are beginning to gear up for the end-to-end experience, bringing business case and projects into the equation.

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New Tools, Happier Teams ๐Ÿ‘

We always like to hear how teams are enjoying edison365. After all, user feedback is pivotal to the direction we take our tools, and the cool things we build next! Braden offered some insight into what his workforce made of our platformโ€ฆ

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โ€œThe team is happy to have a voice, and a place to put ideas. Theyโ€™ve been impressed by the ease of use, and how simple it is to log and create an idea.โ€

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But thatโ€™s not it. A lot of our tools are backed by gamification, and Braden acknowledges its impact, saying โ€œPeople are starting to buy in on the gamification. I think once we see some more ideas and voting, it will snowball from there.โ€

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On the topic of onboarding and training, WF Group describes edison365 as โ€œintuitive enoughโ€ that, with minimal training, people have been able has been able to start engaging.

โ€œThose that are jumping in and using it are figuring it out pretty easily and quickly.โ€

The End-to-end Experience ๐Ÿš€

WF Group is configuring an end-to-end environment within edison365, allowing ideas to flourish into business cases and projects in one place. Ultimately, projects and business cases are the last pieces to a transformative innovation puzzle. One they are scaling quickly. The addition of these features will equip Braden and his team with a robust, holistic application.

One where ideas arenโ€™t just documented but move freely from one stage of the lifecycle to the next. The tools and features are constantly evolving, with a huge focus currently on innovation and ideation capabilities.


The Innovation Director added, โ€œOnce we get into the project side of edison365, it will tick a few boxes with other challenges within our firmโ€ further expanding their use of the platform into other areas of the business.


As WF Group continues to adopt different ways of utilizing edison365, they aim to meet industry trends, such as AI, describing the tools as their โ€œcapture platform for identifying whatโ€™s going to fit.โ€


Other trends Braden foresees edison365 supporting focus around sustainability and low carbon practices, virtual construction, and day-to-day operational improvements. This demonstrates WF Groupโ€™s long-term vision for the tools and how they can hit key innovation goals.

โ€œWe want to take the end-to-end, and say hereโ€™s the idea, letโ€™s do it! Weโ€™re absolutely diving right into the holistic platform your team has created.โ€

Join the worldโ€™s most innovative brands using our end-to-end innovation management tools.

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An Exciting Future Ahead ๐Ÿ†

From team engagement to seamless onboarding, and levelling-up ideation, WF Group has benefited from a platform like edison365. Weโ€™re excited to see what else they achieve in the coming months as they lay the foundation for end-to-end innovation, project, and business case management.


Bradenโ€™s vision for WF Group is one of new ideas and opportunities, and having a single environment to capture, manage, and execute them is pivotal to the companyโ€™s strategic plan and future growth.


We want to take this opportunity to thank Braden and Leah for their help in putting this story together. Itโ€™s examples like this that really celebrate the success of major players in industries like architecture, engineering, and construction.

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