Colliers Engineering & Design transformed 2,500 workstations by syncing design resources locally, saving 15 minutes per engineer per day and hours of weekly maintenance.
Eliminated network latency by moving design Software resources from mapped drives to local C: drives
Engineers gained back time previously lost to slow CAD file loading while trying to access resources
Distributed 25-30 GB of standardized design resources across entire organization
Colliers Engineering & Design is a multidisciplinary firm comprised of engineers, architects, designers, and project managers dedicated to shaping environments where people and communities thrive. The organization operates across eight core divisions encompassing 46 distinct disciplines, ranging from building architecture to golf course design, all of which rely extensively on advanced CAD, design, and engineering technologies.
The Design Technology Services (DTS) department plays a critical role in supporting these operations. Responsible for the implementation of GoodSync, DTS provides comprehensive internal support to design teams while overseeing the management, deployment, and optimization of software and technology resources across the enterprise.
During the transition to remote work prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, DTS recognized a critical need to reduce reliance on on-premises infrastructure and bring essential software resource files closer to end users. This shift was driven by the need to eliminate network latency that had become a significant bottleneck to productivity for distributed design teams.
As operations stabilized post-pandemic, DTS observed substantial performance improvements and efficiency gains through the use of GoodSync. Building on this success, the organization expanded its implementation, standardizing the approach across its broader portfolio of design software to further enhance performance, accessibility, and user experience.
Design apps taking 15-20 seconds to load assets from mapped drives. Designers losing time on every block insertion, hatch pattern, and template access. Network speed became the productivity ceiling.
Field engineers and remote staff were required to establish VPN connections to access even basic design resources. When working from job sites or while traveling, this dependency often resulted in significant latency, negatively impacting productivity and overall user experience.
Managing templates, standards, and custom tools across multiple design platforms presented significant challenges for the organization with its geographically distributed offices. This complexity introduced inconsistencies, increased admin overhead, and made it difficult to maintain and deploy standardized resources at scale.
Updating templates, prototypes, and shared resources like fonts and hatch patterns, required coordinated distribution to multiple servers, often limited to off-hours to avoid disrupting active users. This process was time-consuming, complex, and lacked a reliable way to ensure all designers were working with the most up-to-date resources.
Speed is everything. When design applications slow down, projects break down. GoodSync has been a critical solution in maintaining the performance our teams rely on.
The DTS team at Colliers Engineering & Design now maintains a centralized single source of truth, synchronizing it to Azure Blob Storage through GoodSync and leveraging the GoodSync once again to distribute content and updates seamlessly to each designer’s local environment.
All design resources were stored locally on users’ machines rather than on network drives. Design applications accessed fonts, templates, hatch patterns, and blocks instantly from local storage, eliminating network dependency and significantly improving performance.
DTS synchronized resources to Azure using GoodSync, then leveraged the platform to distribute content and updates to over 2,500 workstations. With content automatically synced to local environments, remote users achieved the same performance and experience as in-office engineers.
Template updates, software changes, and custom in-house tools were deployed automatically. Designers consistently worked with the latest company standards without requiring manual downloads or DTS support, reducing overhead and improving consistency across teams.
Designers were automatically configured during device setup based on their software requirements. Users could access multiple “toolsets”, often 10 or more, fully synchronized to their local environment without IT intervention, enabling rapid and scalable deployment and onboarding, as well as integrations.
Colliers Engineering & Design implemented dedicated two-job workflows for each software platform. Civil 3D, Revit, Bluebeam, and other applications each utilized their own sync pipelines. In total, 25–30 GB of data are available for distribution. With distribution tailored so that some users may receive the full dataset while others receive only the resources specific to their workflows. Allowing DTS provide custom configurations based on a designer’s need.
The solution operated seamlessly across the organization’s design software ecosystem, including AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Revit, Bentley applications, and Bluebeam. Each platform was supported by a dedicated sync workflow, ensuring consistent performance and resource availability across all tools.
The GoodSync runner was deployed automatically as part of the standard device imaging process, alongside Windows, Office, and core design applications. New devices and replacements were fully configured upon setup, enabling immediate access to required resources without additional IT involvement.
With engineers gaining instant access to design assets instead of waiting for files to load, application responsiveness improved significantly across all platforms. Beyond time savings, Colliers Engineering & Design enabled true location-independent work, eliminating VPN-related bottlenecks and delivering a consistent user experience regardless of where work is performed.
Operations that previously took 15–20 seconds now complete instantly. Designers routinely insert 50+ objects per session with zero lag, resulting in a noticeably faster and more efficient design workflow.
Field engineers and remote staff no longer require VPN access to retrieve design resources. Whether working from job sites, home offices, or while traveling, users experience the same level of performance as they would in a traditional office environment.
Reports of slow software performance decreased significantly. As a result, DTS has shifted focus away from troubleshooting network-related issues and toward supporting core design initiatives and advancing user productivity.
The automated nature of GoodSync has been a major win for our team. Previous approaches, including SFTP, never scaled effectively. Once we got past the initial learning curve, the solution performed exactly as needed and scaled seamlessly with our environment.
The implementation of GoodSync enabled Colliers Engineering & Design to fundamentally transform how design resources are managed and delivered. By shifting to a locally synchronized model, DTS eliminated long-standing performance bottlenecks, improved user experience across all environments, and established a scalable foundation for future growth.
By transitioning design resources to local storage, Colliers Engineering & Design removed network dependency from daily design operations. This resulted in consistently high performance across more than 2,500 workstations and 85+ offices, regardless of location.
Designers saved an estimated 60+ hours annually through faster load times and streamlined workflows. When scaled across the organization, this represents thousands of hours regained each year, allowing teams to focus on delivering high-quality design work.
See how GoodSync can transform your engineering workflows with local resource sync and automated distribution.
