Background 

Southbase Group is a New Zealand-based construction company delivering complex builds for public and private sector clients nationwide. With up to 20 active job sites at any given time, work rarely happens in one place—and many contracts come with strict security requirements.

For operations to run smoothly, site managers, subcontractors and project teams need a secure way to access the latest documentation, wherever they are. That responsibility falls to Lem Prestage, Group IT Manager, who makes sure information is easy to find and properly protected.

In construction, trust isn’t optional. Even small communication gaps or security lapses can escalate quickly, turning outdated plans or missing details into costly mistakes.

Challenge: high-stakes, slow systems

When Prestage joined Southbase, he inherited a system built for a different era. Files lived on an on-premise server and field teams had to connect through a VPN to access what they needed.

While Southbase has nearly 200 employees, only one person could access a single file at a time.

“Access to data was a nightmare,” Prestage says. “[And] there was no collaboration with any of our subcontractors, which is critical.”

Southbase needed a foundation that could keep pace with distributed teams, high stakes and zero margin for error. Because when information isn’t clear or current, the consequences compound quickly and can cost millions of dollars.

Solution: from simplified storage to smarter search

To meet that reality, Prestage brought in Dropbox. He had a clear goal: to build a system people would actually use in the real world, under pressure, across dozens of job sites.

As Southbase grew, so did the volume and importance of what lived inside Dropbox. “We’ve got terabytes of data in Dropbox at the moment,” Prestage says. “And we’re not even scratching the surface of what we can use.”

With so much work happening at once, it made sense to keep teams connected through the same ecosystem. Adopting tools like Dropbox Sign and Dropbox Dash was a natural next step.

For streamlining approvals and signatures, Sign was “a no-brainer,” Prestage says. “The documents don’t leave Dropbox. They stay where they are and they’re secure.”

And Dash? It made information easier to find and access. Its AI-powered universal search lets teams surface files across Dropbox and their connected apps. Instead of digging through tools and folders, they can search once and get the answers they need in seconds—from anywhere and without waiting their turn.

It didn’t take long for Dash to become part of Prestage’s daily workflow. He uses its built-in AI chat to troubleshoot issues and generate reports. What once took him days now takes a fraction of the time.

Results: hours (and headaches) saved

The impact of Dash became especially clear during a complex project at a live airport site, where construction was happening around the clock. Safety requirements were strict and information had to be precise.

To keep everyone on the same page, they used Dash to create a project-based content collection called a Stack. It gives the team one place to collaborate, find links and ask Dash for contextual insights.

Prestage explains, “We created a Stack of 150 documents, which we can then quickly compare and search through.” That Stack included inspection test plans and procedures for nearly every step of the job, so anyone could confirm requirements, spot inconsistencies and stay aligned on what had to happen next.

“That’s saving hours for the project teams,” Prestage says. “And time is money.”

Dash has also reduced day-to-day friction for IT. Instead of becoming the default escalation point whenever someone couldn’t find a file, people can now self-serve answers in the moment. Workflows are smoother—and calmer.

As Southbase continues to grow, Prestage sees Dropbox and Dash as a foundation that helps teams build with clarity, protect their work and keep critical information within reach—wherever the job takes them.