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WrightPlan celebrates 15-year anniversary

WATERLOO – A Canadian company providing software solutions for the construction industry is celebrating 15 years in business.

WrightPlan recently celebrated its decade-and-a-half of serving the crane and rigging, millwright, and machinery moving industries. The company’s software features quoting, estimating, dispatching, tracking and invoicing capabilities.

The founding of the WrightPlan began over a beer between friends.

A friend of Michael Cox had a millwright and rigging business, and was frustrated in his attempts to find a system that fit his workflow.

“Everything that seemed close to what he needed was construction-based software that didn’t quite fit his workflow,” Cox recalls, who is founder and president of WrightPlan. “It was that proverbial ‘trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.’”

The friend shared his frustrations with Cox while the two were out having a beer together.

“My initial reaction was, ‘Hey, buddy, there’s an app for everything. Why don’t I just help you find something that fits, and I’ll help you implement it.’”

However, after Cox did his own search for software, but he too came up emptyhanded.

 “I also began to understand there was a market there that was underserved, and that’s how the idea for WrightPlan was born.”

WrightPlan’s software was designed as subscription-based, but Cox notes that early on construction companies did not understand the value of Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud computing.

“When they invested in something, they were used to a hard asset that they could see at work. This translated into software, so we had to pivot and sell licenses perpetually,” he says.

However, he explains, over time that attitude changed. Businesses slowly began to see the value in SaaS and cloud computing, especially the convenience of using a browser to log onto their system from anywhere and on any device.

Of course, a greater reliance on cloud-based systems also brings with it security concerns.

“In 2010, there certainly were scammers out there on the Internet, but nothing like there is today,” Cox says. “Although the specialized construction market has been slow to adopt technology, they are certainly aware of the risks cyber-attacks and phishing emails pose. Cloud computing using hosting services like Amazon Web Services (AWS) gives customers a lot of security protection. We have also evolved our software to address security concerns.”

Systems that require employees to log on through a VPN are seen as too cumbersome, Cox explains, so instead elaborate password policies and multifactor authentication are must-haves in today’s software world.

“Customers want the convenience of a SaaS system but don’t want to give up security,” he says.

Looking to the future, Cox says the company will continue to follow its purpose of ‘bringing order out of chaos.’

“I’m excited to evolve our technology and introduce new services that help our customers achieve operational efficiency — both in the office and the field.”