Business With a Boost
The DriveWorks team have now all been working from home for 8 weeks.
Our investments in technology and our commitment to digital transformation means we are well set up for working remotely. Our transition to home working has been smooth and we have remained open and operational throughout.
All our teams have continued to work and support you as usual via email, by phone and web meeting where appropriate.
When we first made the move to home working, we reassured you that we’re here as normal for anything you need. We promised it would be business as usual.
As we’ve settled into this new way of working, it hasn’t actually been business as usual. If anything, it’s been business with a boost!
Our team have really embraced this time as an opportunity to improve, create and innovate.
Digital Transformation is More Important Than Ever
The manufacturers, communities and individuals who have pulled together to make us all stronger during this pandemic have proved that being agile and open to change is vital.
It’s become clearer than ever that companies who adapt, embrace change and move quickly are more likely to thrive.
There are so many great examples of companies who have adapted what they do like those who previously supplied pubs and bars with beer, and as demand declined, they adapted and made hand sanitiser instead. Not only have they provided the country with much-needed supplies and made a difference, but they are also keeping themselves afloat and keeping their staff employed.
At DriveWorks, we are champions for change.
We’ve embraced digital transformation and almost everything we do is now digital. We use our own DriveWorks software to manage our data, create licenses for our customers and manage purchase orders, book annual leave, submit expenses and even to order fish and chips on a Friday – when we’re in the office of course.
Our digital processes and investments in technology have made transitioning to home working much smoother.
During this pandemic, in work and in our personal lives, everyone across the world has been using technology more. Whether it’s doing an online food shop, a weekly team meeting, or a virtual pub quiz with family and friends, now more than ever, technology connects the world.
Digital transformation is essential – businesses need to embrace digital now, to be stronger tomorrow.
When the world moves on from Covid-19, companies will need to get back to business. Many are more likely to want to work smarter to rebuild the financial losses they have sustained. Automation, selling online and streamlining business processes are 3 areas that can and will make a difference.
Our Customers Are Innovating
We’ve been hearing from our customers who are also using this time to improve and work on projects they don’t usually have time for.
They’re making time for developing their DriveWorks projects, adding features and functionality to help them move forward and continue to work smarter.
Major Software Version Released
We went into lockdown at a critical stage of our software release process – testing! Every release of DriveWorks is tested rigorously across Windows Operating Systems and latest versions of SOLIDWORKS to test compatibility.
As a SOLIDWORKS Gold Partner and a Microsoft Technology Partner, it’s vital our software meets the required standards.
But it’s more than that, our customers – and their teams and customers – rely on our software daily. We are committed to producing software that is robust, obvious and innovative. This is more important than ever during already difficult times.
Our testing doesn’t stop when the software is released. We use DriveWorks software to automate the testing. Every time our automated testing runs, it runs over 16,000 tests on SOLIDWORKS models plus over 3.400 non-SOLIDWORKS tests, across all versions of SOLIDWORKS, including alphas, betas and early visibilities, as well as each service pack. Since the release of DriveWorks 18, we have automatically generated 14,374 models, parts and drawings as part of our testing.
We’re proud that we’ve released a major software version, rigorously tested (and used by us!) during a global pandemic whilst our team are working remotely.
We’ve also updated all of our PowerPacks, releasing new versions for DriveWorks 18. These PowerPacks add additional niche functionality to help our customers automate even more and fully embrace digital transformation.
As always we’ve released a full online help file for DriveWorks 18 and provided training resources and hands-on classes as part of DriveWorks World 2020.
DriveWorks World
Whilst the current global situation stopped us from hosting a face to face event, we still wanted to provide an opportunity for DriveWorks users to learn and connect. So this year we made DriveWorks World a digital event.
We were joined by over 200 DriveWorks customers, resellers and partners for a week of learning, networking and sharing ideas – all online.
The technical sessions we run at DriveWorks World are extremely valuable and are part of our commitment to Helping You to Help Yourself. We wanted to make sure we could still deliver the training content that our technical team had worked hard to create.
During the event, we revealed What’s New in DriveWorks 18 and presented digital training, hands-on learning and advanced sessions all through live webinars and downloadable content.
Using technology, we created an event that was completely online. The sessions are now available to download for anyone who missed them, or for anyone who needs a recap.
Inspiring the Future
The local education community in Warrington have been really embracing digital. The Cheshire & Warrington Pledge have been running online workshops and events for students and young people in the area.
We are proud to have been involved in these events – educating young people about how to be productive during this time and using it as an opportunity to add value for their future careers.
Our team have invested our time and resources into helping the future and inspiring students.
Part of the Community
Throughout the year, we’re heavily involved in the SOLIDWORKS User Group community. We love being a part of the SOLIDWORKS Community and we were so disappointed when all in-person user group meetings were postponed.
However, as usual the SWUGN community came through. SOLIDWORKS worked with user groups across the world to ensure that we can all stay connected and continue to share exciting and innovative content.
SOLIDWORKS set up a series of SWUGN Virtual Events covering a range of topics.
User Group leaders themselves have also been running their usual groups digitally.
The Northern Ireland SolidWorks User Group (NISWUG) is a brand new group that launched their group during the midst of all this and had great success in their first-ever meeting.
Internal Training
Whilst working from home we have continued to run our weekly show & tells.
Every Friday at 2pm, someone from the DriveWorks shares an interesting topic with the rest of the team. It might be a round-up of a project they have been working on, an introduction to a new project they have coming up or anything else that’s good to share with each other.
We have made more time for learning and sharing knowledge. Our team have been training each other and talking about new topics and new ideas.
We’ve even been watching the DriveWorks World sessions together, discussing them and learning from each other’s presentations.
New Team Members
Just before we entered lockdown, we welcomed Gary as Development Team Manager. Gary had a couple of weeks working in the office with us but we’ve all been working from home since. Gary has still managed to get to know the team through online chats but he is looking forward to getting back to the office and using his DriveWorks mug!
We also have 4 new team members joining us in June. We’re looking forward to welcoming them too, even if it is from afar.
Adding to our team’s knowledge and expertise with new people and new skills means we can be really productive during this time and continue to improve and innovate.
Keeping In Touch
We’re a close-knit team so the strangest part of all of this is not being in the office together. It’s been an adjustment for us all but we’ve been using technology to stay in touch.
We’re looking forward to being back in the office and able to play pool and games together at lunchtime again.
But for now, we’re settling into this new way of working and we’re keeping in touch with each other and with you guys as much as we can.
And of course, our home office pets are keeping us company too!