Adams Kara Taylor

Adams Kara Taylor (AKT) is a dynamic and successful structural and civil engineering consultancy. As a design-led practice, quality images are central to reflecting the excellence of its work.

AKT knows the value of using the right images to showcase its engineering designs, whether in a design presentation, a tender or in marketing materials.

Before adopting OpenAsset, AKT harnessed the skills of one member of staff who had been with the consultancy for more than a decade. He knew about every project, the images available and where to locate them. The results were excellent and the process was seamless.

However, its growing volume of highly photogenic projects along with a huge number of images generated by its parametric applied research team, led AKT to review its image management needs. The consultancy decided to embrace an IT solution to deliver improved control and efficiency, and so it embarked on a search for a product to help them achieve this.

OpenAsset from Axomic was designed with engineers and architects. It now has over 6,000 users in the AEC sector, in Europe, UK and abroad. AKT knew that it needed a system that was robust, resilient and sophisticated. Having reviewed several products, there was only one solution that exactly met the criteria and could be up-and-running quickly because very little customisation was required. This was OpenAsset.

OpenAsset was ready to use just one month after AKT confirmed that they wanted to partner with Axomic in the delivery of an image management tool. Populating a new system with an organisation's entire image collection is often perceived to be a time consuming exercise that ties up internal resources. However, Axomic welcomed this responsibility and seamlessly handled the data migration of 40,000 images that were stored on a separate server. They were well-catalogued by project number and date order so could easily be transfered into OpenAsset.

Due to its simplicity, OpenAsset does not require lengthy, costly training. The level of training depends on the type of user, but Axomic always takes the time to ensure that the scope and potential of the system as well as its benefits are clearly understood.

Axomic prides itself on explaining how to use OpenAsset clearly and thoroughly. It is committed to supporting its clients following their investment so if any user has a query following training, Axomic promises to respond immediately. As part of the partnership Axomic develops with its clients, it encourages suggestions for improvements or new elements. This ensures that Axomic provides an optimum, market-leading solution now and in the future.

The vast majority of the team at AKT, when asked for the greatest benefit of OpenAsset, said that the system had saved them time, and lots of it. Directors are delighted to see the best quality images in presentations to new clients. Being able to compare all the different alternatives so easily ensures that the most appropriate image is used each and every time.

OpenAsset has given AKT control over the images that they use and how they use them.