Calance makes the systems talk.

At Bulley & Andrews, the project managers wanted to work in Procore. The accounting data lived in CMiC. That sounds like a small administrative detail, until someone has to move the numbers between them. The Chicago construction firm had already outgrown its previous project-management system. Buying its replacement left another job to do: make the new system fit the rest of the business.

• The work: connect enterprise applications, build software and keep IT operations running.
• The customers: project teams, finance departments and organizations needing technical capacity.
• The useful lesson: include the connection, and its upkeep, in the software decision.

The gap between two good tools

Calance entered through a referral from Procore. Its team connected CMiC and other data sources to the project platform, then added automations around project creation and expenses. The customer case describes a system handling 1,500 active projects and $1.7 billion in contracts. Those figures describe the builder’s workload. They help explain why a recurring clerical task can become a management problem.

Then CMiC moved from version 10 to version 12. Calance rewrote substantial portions of its integration code. Here is a detail worth remembering during the next software demonstration: a working connection has a future maintenance bill. Someone must understand both ends when either end changes.

“They always understood our timelines and prioritized the most important projects.”

Dana Erdman, Bulley & Andrews

Follow the second entry

Another customer, Harkins Builders, illustrates how the trouble begins. Procore’s budget tool replaced PeopleSoft financial reporting, but information still needed manual transfer. Calance’s account describes eight employees doing duplicate entry. The attractive new interface had acquired an unadvertised accessory: people acting as the connection.

Calance configured its cloud-based Dimension platform around vendors, projects, budgets, commitments, invoices and other financial flows. The resulting integration synchronized more than 150 projects with PeopleSoft. Its ongoing service included maintaining the flows as the underlying interfaces evolved. The practical improvement was less waiting for someone to export, import and reconcile information.

A consulting business with a long memory

Calance traces its beginnings to 2003 and Amit Govil, whose earlier experience included Accenture and Sapient. Its name compresses “Customer Alliance.” The company’s account of its founding describes an ambition to offer consulting and systems integration alongside offshore delivery, moving beyond a conversation dominated by labor cost.

That history helps explain the breadth of today’s menu. Calance combines North American client relationships with delivery capabilities in India. A customer can hire it to build an application, operate infrastructure, supply technical staff or connect systems. Each engagement starts with a different immediate problem; the relationship can continue as the customer’s technology changes.

The ownership story has another useful timestamp. DTS announced a deal for 51% of Calance’s US operating entity in August 2022. Calance says it joined the group that October. DTS America had already worked with it since 2017 on systems, ERP and SAP projects. The acquisition followed an existing working relationship.

The service is bigger than the connector

Construction integration provides a concrete entry point into a broader enterprise services business. Calance’s data practice builds warehouses, data pipelines and dashboards using tools including Power BI and Tableau. Its stated process begins with desired business outcomes and source data, then moves through modeling, validation and user enablement. A dashboard is only as useful as the information arriving underneath it.

Its DevOps work addresses another kind of handoff: development to operations. The offering includes automated delivery pipelines, infrastructure practices and security checks. Managed IT and cybersecurity services cover support, monitoring and response. These are ongoing operating responsibilities, which makes service scope and accountability central purchasing questions.

Staffing offers a different way to buy capacity. Calance markets contract, contract-to-hire, direct placement and project teams. This places it across several purchasing categories: consultancy, managed service provider, integration specialist and recruiter. A buyer comparing suppliers needs to compare the actual assignment. A native connector, an internal engineer and a managed integration service carry different obligations.

WM Blanchard had a more specific obstacle. Senior executives approving contracts and change orders had to navigate multiple Procore screens to gather the information they needed. Calance used Quickbase and Dimension to build a mobile application with a consolidated view and approve-or-reject controls. Decisions updated the workflow in Procore. The problem was the distance between a request and a confident decision.

Microsoft consulting adds another route into the customer relationship, spanning SharePoint collaboration, Microsoft 365, Azure infrastructure and Dynamics 365. These offerings sit alongside the implementation and support work. For the buyer, the commercial distinction matters: project delivery gets something running, while a continuing service assigns people to look after it. The agreement needs to make clear which responsibility is being purchased.

AI with a place for human judgment

For FINCA, Calance built the Automated Research Assistant, AuRA, to help investigate poverty interventions. It retrieves literature, organizes documents and generates topic structures. Researchers can change the topic model, add or remove documents and request further retrieval. The interesting design choice is the room it leaves for curation. The researcher remains responsible for shaping the investigation.

A separate clinical-trial project processes study documents to assess operational complexity. Users provide study information, review scores and generate reports covering patient, site and study factors. The workflow allows experts to adjust selected measures and recalculate results. It is a useful example of where software can organize evidence while leaving a domain specialist with a visible review step.

Calance also offers AskMe Assistant, an integration between Microsoft Teams and Genesys Cloud CX. Employees can initiate support requests inside Teams while Genesys handles routing and service operations. Its product description specifies both platforms as prerequisites. For organizations already using that combination, the product provides a familiar doorway to an existing service desk.

Start where the work gets repeated

There is a useful buying discipline here. Before discussing an automation project, follow one transaction through the organization. Record who enters it, who checks it and who enters it again. Choose a limited set of flows, agree what correct results look like and assign responsibility for exceptions. Treat upgrades as part of the operating plan.

That approach depends on access to the relevant systems, agreed data definitions and people authorized to settle conflicting requirements. Without those conditions, a connection can move confusion faster. Calance’s work is most intelligible when viewed at this level: the practical effort of getting existing tools to cooperate, then keeping that cooperation alive.