Managing Your Firm Through a Crisis and Into the Future

The means and methods of creating a sustainable practice during and after the COVID-19 crisis

June 2020
Sponsored by BQE Software, Inc.

Presented by Steven Burns, FAIA

Continuing Education

Use the following learning objectives to focus your study while reading this month’s Continuing Education article.

Learning Objectives - After reading this article, you will be able to:

  1. Based on your current state of affairs identify and itemize what your firm needs to do, not only to get through the crisis, but to come out of it stronger and more resilient.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the best practices on dealing with your clients, employees, finances and business practices and processes.
  3. Create the business plan of the future by examining the unique opportunities presented by COVID-19.
  4. Evaluate your firm's current technology and learn the requirement for technology that will sustain your team's need for productivity, scalability and flexibility into future decades.

The economy was thriving, unemployment was at its lowest in recorded history, and your firm had enough work to keep you busy for months if not years. In a matter of weeks, it all dissipated.

This webinar will look at our current state of affairs and what your firm needs to do, not only to get through the crisis, but to come out of it stronger and more resilient.

We will look at best practices to deal with your clients, employees, finances and business practices and processes. We will discuss how to create the business plan of the future by examining the unique opportunities presented by COVID-19 and reflecting on your firm’s values and culture.

Finally, your firm can secure financial stability regardless of whether you return to a co-located environment, expand into a remote workforce or remodel your firm into a distributed workforce. We will examine the significance that an integrated technology system will play in your firm’s ability to ride-out any imaginable crises and ensure your firm is properly positioned to thrive into the future.

Managing Firm


Burns

Steven Burns, FAIA is a licensed architect and a member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. For more than 30 years, Steve has been involved in every aspect of the architectural profession. After seven years in the Chicago, London and Berlin offices of SOM, he founded his own firm, Burns + Beyerl Architects, in Chicago in 1993. Fourteen years later, Steve sold his 17-person architectural firm to work full time on the startup he launched to create the office and project management software solution ArchiOffice. In 2009, he merged his business with BQE Software, where he is now the chief creative officer. Steve earned his Master of Architecture (with distinction) from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University. He is a thought leader who has delivered presentations at architectural and engineering conferences around the world on topics related to business and project management, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies. Steve is passionate about ultra-endurance cycling. He is also a partner with Social Venture Partners in Los Angeles, an organization that helps innovative nonprofits change the landscape for social justice.