Year in Review: Avontus Soars to Greater Heights in 2021 

Note from the Editor:

As 2021 draws to a close, we’d like to first give a shoutout to all of you who made it through this extremely trying year. We know this was not how you wanted to learn the Greek alphabet, but with the emergence of yet ANOTHER Covid strain, here we are again like it’s Groundhog Day. Nonetheless, we believe that the fortitude and resilience you have shown so far will get you through what is surely the darkness before dawn. Stay strong! 

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What a year it has been! All we can say is, while Covid-19 works hard, Avontus works harder. Despite the challenges we have faced in this pandemic, we have grown from strength to strength and are now well-positioned to take on 2022 with pep in our step! Our list of accomplishments this year include but are not limited to: rolling out crucial upgrades for Designer and Quantify, bringing back the popular #BeatMyScaffold competition, and welcoming new members to the Avontus family.

Join us as we take a trip down memory lane and recap our greatest highlights this year below!

Avontus Designer® Is Revamped 

Our first major highlight in 2021 was a doozy. As you already know, Avontus Designer is an award-winning design software for the scaffolding industry. What sets it apart from the competition are the intuitive features like drag-and-drop design capabilities, instant material counts, automatically-created 3D models, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) for scaffolding visualization and presentation.

Well, we took all that and kicked it into overdrive. In February 2021, we released a revamped version of Designer with new features, major upgrades, and some crucial bug fixes. While you can view the nitty-gritty of the new Designer here, the gist of it is: you can now create complex custom structures and work with exported CAD files more efficiently with the new features. Regarding the upgrades and bug fixes, Designer can now support newer graphics cards while running smoother than ever.

New Look Team & Website

In April 2021, we welcomed Riaan Du Plooy to our family as our new Sales Development Representative. Riaan is a 25-year industry veteran based in Durban, South Africa, who will service our growing market in the region.

In June 2021, we also welcomed John Brocklehurst from the UK to our family as our new Global Sales Director. John brings with him over 30 years of experience working for multinational companies on both onshore and offshore projects. He will spearhead the expansion of our product range and the growth of our presence globally.

In Sep 2021, Jane Belwal joined us from the UK as a Business Development Specialist. Jane has more than 3 years of experience as a Sales Manager in the scaffolding industry, which is definitely a great asset for us moving forward.

In Nov 2021, Brian Hillier joined our US team as a Major Accounts Manager. With 4 years of experience in sales development in the scaffolding industry, Brian is as experienced as they come. He is also currently sitting on a key committee in the SAIA, which will undoubtedly be an asset to us.

We also promoted our (former) Vice President of Operations, Andrew Smith, to the position of CEO after seven years of driving operational excellence and growth in the company. Our former CEO, Brian Webb, will refocus his efforts on software development and design, which is where his passion lies.

In case you haven’t noticed, we have also revamped our website for a fresher, more user-friendly experience for our customers. Firstly, our customer success stories are now easier to access than ever. Never lose your way again trying to find out how Avontus software can work for you. Secondly, all training and support resources are now just a click away. You can now explore our new training page for our full catalog of on-demand videos. Whether you’re trying to master the basics or pick up advanced new skills, there is definitely something for you! 

Avontus Quantify® 2021 Rolls Out + New HQ 

With Avontus Designer getting an upgrade, we weren’t going to leave Avontus Quantify behind! After tirelessly combing through support tickets and customer feedback, we made a list of top priorities to address so that Quantify is better and more efficient for you.

Some of these top priorities include user experience, security, and compliance features. Specifically, it is now more secure with the implementation of OAuth 2.0 sign-in and authentication. Furthermore, it is also now compliant with ISO 19770-2 software identification. Incredibly, these features are only just the tip of the iceberg. You can check out the full list of changes in Quantify 2021 here.

We also officially opened our new HQ in Spring, Texas. As part of our ongoing commitment to provide scaffolding teams with world-class software solutions and support, we’ve relocated to be closer to the construction and industrial services leaders in the Gulf Coast region.

#BeatMyScaffold Is Back and Better Than Ever Before

Back by popular demand, we held the #BeatMyScaffold competition from October 25 – November 28 with loads of exciting prizes up for grabs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the competition, all contestants were required to submit their most innovative, complex, and creative Avontus Designer project to our contest page. After that, the contestants shared their designs with their network to earn votes. The top five entries with the most votes moved on to the final round, where they were evaluated by a panel of judges.

After five exciting weeks, we had our winner: Enrique Zabala from United Scaffolding. Enrique has more than 15 years of experience in the scaffolding industry. He started using Avontus Designer in 2019, and he hasn’t looked back since. He successfully leveraged Designer’s best features to produce the stunning gem below and bag the grand prize.

What’s Next For 2022?

With 2021 firmly in the rearview mirror, we do have some pretty exciting news lined up for you next year, with a new Avontus Software product to make your lives even easier. Unfortunately, we can’t really let the cat out of the bag yet, so stay tuned to find out more!