As Los Angeles, CA-based Accurate Staging likes to say “We make it happen!”. And that’s exactly what the company does. From Super Bowl parties to music festivals, and awards shows to car shows, Accurate designs and fabricates stages, structures, and sets for every component in entertainment, production, and touring since 2001. Look no further than this incredible time-lapse video showcasing the build of the broadcast staging for The Ultimate Surfer from Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch to see their work in action.
Jose Cantu, President of Accurate Staging, and his team have been using Flex since 2012. When speaking to Accurate operations before Flex it sounded a bit like a scary movie. “We used a bit of Google Calendar, some Excel, and…” he paused before finishing, “every day we were just winging it.” And while that was working, lots of phone calls, guessing where things were and knowing how many jobs they could handle was hampering growth. Thankfully, alleviating these types of fears is exactly the reason why Flex was created!
When asked about the most immediate advantage Flex provided his organization, Jose didn’t hesitate, “We were able to use it wherever we were.” He continued, “We travel a lot. We could be anywhere in the world with reliable internet service and have access to Flex.” Not to mention the ability to copy quotes, manage versions, track history and save changes to the cloud which solved many of yesterday’s challenges. “It immediately made life so much easier.”
And if those were the biggest immediate advantages, what was the biggest surprise? “Quickbooks integration.” Jose shared that integrating with Quickbooks saves the company at least $50,000 annually. “We were able to centralize our entire accounting operation in our Los Angeles office, which meant saving on labor costs in Nashville and Atlanta.” He pointed out that teams don’t love change…until they do. So while they didn’t utilize the Quickbooks integration immediately, they can’t get enough of it now.
Jose said that Flex allows Accurate to say yes to more jobs. When we pushed for detail he shared that Flex has simplified the workflow, which saves time, and makes it easier to share the workload. “Now that all of our operations are in the cloud multiple team members can seamlessly work on the same deal. No single person ever becomes the bottleneck.” With 40+ employees that’s opened the door for additional opportunities. He concluded his thought with, “Flex has allowed us to expand into new areas we might not have considered.”
Including new locations. Accurate Staging opened in Nashville in 2007 and recently bought a building and is focused on growing in Atlanta to support the burgeoning production needs of the local corporate and TV industries, “We have gear and capabilities all over the country. Flex has helped us create efficiencies to get more value out of that gear by putting it to use in more places, more often.” Whether that is sharing assets, sharing staff, or even on trucking Flex has “saved us a lot of money.”
What’s next for Accurate and Flex? Again, Jose didn’t hesitate, “RFID & barcode scanning. We lose up to $50,000 a year in assets and we don’t often know it’s gone until it’s too late.” He explained that it’s been difficult to get the system implemented because they are just too busy making things happen. “We don’t have time!”
The good news is that our own Lisa Fossler was on the call and she jumped right in. “I’m taking notes and we can get this done by…” and she launched into a plan to help Accurate adopt RFID & barcode scanning quickly and efficiently; including getting Flex’ers on site to support the team. That is probably exactly why Jose ended the call with a glowing referral.
“I love it, Flex makes everything so much easier. It has been a godsend.”
Flex is proud to have worked with Accurate Staging and its passionate team to support their growing market presence, since 2012.
