- CASE STUDY
- Professional Building Consultants
Professional Building Consultants
https://533526.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hubfs/533526/Screenshot%202026-06-10%20095455.pngPBC and Lancom’s journey from paper, to digital, and onwards
The power of partnership
With the rapid pace of technological change and the inexorable rise of artificial intelligence, the value of a long-term partnerships has never been clearer. That much is apparent from Brent Goldschmidt, director of Auckland-based Professional Building Consultants which has for more than a decade relied on Lancom Technology to guide, deliver and support its business operations. The most recently completed step on its journey to full digitisation has seen the company modernise its cloud centric infrastructure and introduce AWS Workspaces, further boosting efficiency and positioning for optimised performance supporting a growing workforce.
About PBC
Established in 2005, Professional Building Consultants Ltd (PBC) provides consultancy services to numerous councils and Building Consent Authorities around the country, specialising in residential building consents. PBC has partnered with Auckland Council since 2010, proudly supporting the delivery of Building Control services. Certified by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ), PBC offers highly qualified, well-trained and experienced staff facilitating every step of the Building Consent process, from acceptance, vetting, consent processing through to inspections and acceptance of documents for the CCC.
Steady digitisation demonstrates advantage
“We’ve been a customer for around ten years and a lot has changed in that time,” relates Goldschmidt. “Back then, we were doing backups on tape drives and discs in the office; one of my colleagues had worked with Lancom Technology and approached them for a little help in doing our IT better.”
There was some appetite for improvement, Goldschmidt says, because in an era of increasing digitisation, PBC’s roots and the nature of its business meant it ran on essentially paper-based processes. “That’s probably the key area where we recognised opportunity,” he says. “But we’re experts in building consent administration, not IT.”
Lancom Technology quickly racked up early successes, assisting PBC with the design and delivery of an electronic document management system and process, steadily driving out paper and the associated limitations. This has supported a 50% growth in headcount, and Goldschmidt says recognition of the value of digital systems has led to the addition of a full-time programmer to his team.
“Today, just about everything is digital. Applications come in through our portal, then a digital process shepherds it through the process. It’s faster, more efficient, and nothing gets lost or forgotten; even our inspections teams on the ground complete their work on a tablet, and all documents are now issued electronically, with the information instantaneously available to customers.”
It’s all in the cloud, all electronic, and Goldschmidt confirms, “There is a lot there.”
The data of which it is a custodian is valuable, and Goldschmidt’s team which has already seen the benefits of digitisation, is steadily examining new possibilities with Lancom Technology, including exposing potential AI business cases. “Lancom actually helped us become almost fully digital just ahead of the Covid lockdowns,” he notes. “We were essentially fully ready for remote work and had little difficulty maintaining productivity through that time. Serendipitous, he agrees, but also demonstrative of the value of modernisation.
Eliminating ageing infrastructure
The latest step on its continuing path to a flexible digital organisation has seen PBC introduce AWS Workspaces. “We had two cloud hosted servers running Remote Desktop Services. They were cumbersome, with regular failures requiring rebooting and various support interventions, all of which was impacting our business as usual,” Goldschmidt explains.
As the business needs evolved, PBC looked to Lancom Technology for guidance on a modernised solution with a recommendation coming back for WorkSpaces as a suitable alternative.
The managed cloud-based desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) provides with virtual, cloud-hosted Windows desktops, with features including rapid provisioning and scaling of desktops for workers (supporting PBC’s growing headcount), with flexible monthly or hourly billing options.
The service reduces or eliminates the complexity of managing disparate services while fitting neatly with PBC’s ongoing efforts towards consolidation and low-overhead services.
Goldschmidt says Lancom took a detailed approach to delivery, running a proof of concept and then rolling out WorkSpaces to 5 ‘test pilots. “That was good, validating the solution in our environment,” he explains. “This led to getting the team up and running; there were some challenges with application licensing and issues requiring the [Lancom software] development team’s involvement, but access to those sorts of resources means the problems were solved.”
Built on trust
Goldschmidt says relationships built on trust and mutual best interests are essential for value creation. “Lancom believes in us as a team, and we believe in Lancom as a team,” he says. “Over the years, they’ve proven honest, they have invested time and effort into understanding our business, and when they make recommendations like WorkSpaces, we know they are looking for the optimal solution for our needs.”
Having a good relationship with proven experts has supported and guided PBC’s evolution into the digital world, and that gives Goldschmidt confidence to enter the AI era. “There’s a lot of involvement and engagement with executives, which is invaluable in staying abreast with the latest developments from the technology industry, which helps spark ideas of what’s relevant to our business and how we can use that to our benefit,” he says.
“But it’s also about business as usual. And knowing we have reliable support that feels like part of our team means we get it done, every day. We couldn’t do what we do without Lancom Technology.”
Services Used
Managed Services
IT Managed Services
Cloud Computing
Cloud Managed Services
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