Centralising file sharing, approvals, and reporting across headquarters and project sites for a growing Malaysian construction and engineering company.
About Kamal Engineering
Kamal Engineering Sdn Bhd is a construction and engineering company incorporated on 1 December 1999. Starting with small awarded contracts, the company has grown at a steady pace to now handle medium and large-scale contracts, running on desknet’s NEO since 2019 with 50 users across its headquarters and project sites.
The Challenge: No Centralised System, Growing Piles of Paper
Before desknet’s NEO, Kamal Engineering had no centralised file-sharing system — data was only shared upon request, and staff often couldn’t tell who held the latest version of a file. Data loss was a recurring problem, which pushed the company to keep hard copies as a safeguard — copies that then piled up and became difficult to manage in their own right. With many active project sites, sharing files and documents with on-site staff was a persistent difficulty, compounded by heavy reliance on paper-based work: approval applications, including leave requests, all ran on paper, and storing and sharing that paperwork was its own ongoing challenge.
Why desknet’s NEO
Kamal Engineering wanted more than a fix for its immediate file-sharing problems — it wanted a genuine move toward a paperless office. desknet’s NEO offered a centralised system with many features in one place, able not just to solve the company’s existing issues but to enhance its workflows and systems more broadly, at a price the company considered reasonable.
The Impact
Centralising Kamal Engineering’s systems made sharing information significantly more effective — files and documents now move easily between headquarters and project sites, staff on-site can submit reports to HQ without friction, and HQ can share information back just as easily. Work that used to span separate channels for sharing, communication, and reporting now happens in one place, with every record kept and easy to search when needed. Approval turnaround improved sharply too: leave applications that previously took staff several weeks to process on paper now typically clear within a few days through Workflow.
Features in Daily Use
Kamal Engineering has built its day-to-day operations around seven desknet’s NEO features, spanning documents, approvals, reporting, and internal communication:
Document Management
As a construction company, Kamal Engineering needs to share large volumes of files and documents between HQ and its project sites. All required documents are now stored in Document Management, where staff at HQ and on-site can save and check files at any time — including from their smartphones.
Workflow
Every application requiring approval now runs through Workflow. Leave applications, for example, previously had to be filled out manually, printed, emailed, and submitted at least a week in advance. With Workflow, staff can submit and approve applications digitally — including from a smartphone — with a smooth, trackable approval process.
Circulation/Report
Reports were previously compiled through WhatsApp and email, often missing information and difficult to manage. Kamal Engineering now handles daily reporting for all staff, at HQ and on project sites, through Circulation/Report, using templates built for each project team and department so staff simply select a template and fill in the required fields. Reporting is easier for staff, and management can check and trace records for every project without chasing missing content — with previous reports easy to locate through the search feature.
Portal
Company news, updates, and SOPs are shared through Portal, which staff see daily — making it a more reachable channel than previous methods. Birthdays and staff leave for the day are also shared there.
Schedule & Facility Reservation
Staff calendars across HQ and project sites are visible at a glance, and meeting room bookings — previously handled manually on a first-come, first-served basis — are now managed through the system.
Minutes
Meeting minutes are managed centrally, making it easy to trace and check the content of previous meetings and to share minutes with the relevant staff.
Address Book
All company contacts, including vendors and suppliers, are stored centrally and easily shared with every staff member.
