Toda Corporation
Migration of physical servers from construction sites to cloud storage.
Leveraging rapid file synchronization 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, Manager, Production System Promotion Section 1 of Toda Corporation.
In the construction industry being able to share information quickly is extremely importance, Toda Coperation 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 being 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 categorized 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 of Toda Corporation who oversees actual construction sites.
Employees at the various sites were also plagued by operation 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 adopted for its speedy file synchronization and advanced search features
Around this time, the company decided to relocate to a temporary building in December 2019 during reconstruction of its head office building. While preparing for this move, the topic of resolving existing issues came up.
Prior to implementing cloud file servers for the construction sites, they 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 provided the groundwork for implementation for the company’s construction sites nationwide.
Toda Corporation had been using Google Drive to share information among its internal working groups. But as many people voiced concerns about slow file synchronization with their computers, and their inability to share files with various external partner companies due to account registration issues, they began exploring an alternative solution that would better suit their 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 is like a “desk” where multiple people can work together, while the other service is like a “drawer” where you store completed files.
The former fit our need to frequently edit and share files with partner companies,”
recalls Ikehata.
This was their journey leading to their adoption of Dropbox. The deciding factors were file synchronization speed, which is essential for sharing and collaboration, and intuitive operability, which allows usage in the same way as a local folder.
Result: Dropbox adopted as a company-wide standard environment, and effective interaction with partner companies
Efficient and flexible file sharing
Since the company began this full-scale transition about half a year 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 their Dropbox license to major design offices and partner companies, they are now able to facilitate an environment where all internal and external construction members can access the information necessary 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 organizer 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, Construction Equipment Section, Toda Corporation.
In addition, using the link sharing feature and Dropbox Transfer has enabled them to batch send necessary files to affiliates they have not lent their license to.
Efficient and flexible file sharing
The Version History feature allows them to easily restore deleted files.
Accelerated information searching
File search efficiency has also significantly increased. “Finding files is 3 to 4 times faster than before,”stresses Ikehata.
They can now store all files in a single place, and are experiencing Dropbox's high level of searchability even more.
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, Manager, Administration Division, International Branch, Toda Corporation.
The company uses Dropbox Paper for a variety of operations, including schedule management, task management, and information sharing for employees working remotely. They say 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 finds that Dropbox Paper is also effective for communicating with its 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 visualize 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 visualize each employee’s own 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 synchronization, file changes are reflected immediately, even when drawings and other large files are shared. This makes it easier to manage the latest data.