When your business grows at lightning speed and your production turnaround is measured in hours, not weeks, your email system needs to keep pace. For i-SOLIDS, a digital manufacturing company specializing in industrial 3D printing, finding the right communication tool became critical as they scaled from a two-person operation to a thriving business with 25 team members.

For Kason Knight and the team at i-SOLIDS, rapid response is literally built into their business model. Operating across diverse industries from aerospace and defense to orthotics and women's fashion, they've created a manufacturing operation where speed and precision go hand-in-hand.

"The primary difference is we're typically much quicker return, much smaller volumes but with a higher mix of parts. We deal with a lot of quick communication and being able to respond very quickly to customers."

The collaboration conundrum: When Outlook doesn't scale

As i-SOLIDS grew, their customer base doubled approximately every six months. What worked with two team members quickly became unmanageable with three, and the outlook for Outlook wasn't good.

The quest for the right tool

Knight wasn't taking the decision lightly. A self-described "highly tech-savvy computer literate person," he approached the selection process methodically: "If it takes me more than two days to figure out basic functionality and be useful, that's a red flag to me."

After testing 10-12 different software solutions, Knight shortlisted four options: Superhuman, Spark Mail, Missive, and Mailbutler. Each received a month-long trial with the team.

"About 70% of the tools we tried fell into the category where the basic functionality wasn't obvious."

Finding the right fit with Missive

What ultimately sold i-SOLIDS on Missive was a combination of collaborative features without sacrificing the email functionality they needed from Outlook.

"Nine out of ten things that we wanted Missive to do, it was doing great," says Knight. The critical criteria included:

1. Handling Outlook because that was their primary tool
2. Consolidated inboxes across multiple email addresses
3. Calendar integration
4. Chat room functionality to reduce email clutter

Most importantly, Missive solved their main problem: collaboration without duplicating emails.

Real results: From chaos to clarity

With Missive implemented, i-SOLIDS saw immediate improvements in their workflow. The ability to assign emails, have integrated communication within email chains, and maintain visibility into who's handling what has transformed their customer service.

"We have a standard sales account and that'll be existing customers, all that comes in. And basically, there's three, maybe four of us that get assigned those emails. And that was the main problem we were trying to solve."

One particularly valuable feature is the conversation functionality directly inside email chains, which eliminated the need to start new emails for internal discussions. "Having the chat room feature was also helpful because we were sending emails every time we wanted to chat," Knight mentions.

Planning for continued growth

i-SOLIDS continues to expand rapidly, with plans to double or triple their team size in the near future. Knight emphasizes that scalability was a key factor in their decision-making process.

"We're probably going to double or triple our team size within this short period of time, and I think Missive will do it."

With Missive, i-SOLIDS has found a communication platform that can keep pace with their rapid growth and commitment to responsive customer service.

Parting wisdom: Look beyond today's needs

Knight offers this advice to other growing businesses: "Don't think about just choosing a tool for today but this tool needs to work for scale too—that's a major decision factor."

For a company where efficiency is measured in minutes saved and deadlines are counted in hours, finding the right communication tool wasn't just about convenience—it was about maintaining the responsive service that built their business in the first place.