Rapidly-growing Midwest AEC leader selects purpose-built solution for its advanced business development tools
DULLES, Va., July 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Unanet, the leading provider of project-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, today announced that Emergent Architecture (Emergent) selected Unanet CRM by Cosential to streamline its new business process and attain growth goals.
Emergent Architecture recently doubled its headcount of employees, tripled its revenue, and expanded to open offices in Cedar Rapids, Omaha, and Denver. “Our success has led to a larger staff, more offices, and an innovative business development team that is focused on driving us to our next level of growth,” said Justin Hoff, chief operating officer at Emergent. “Our previous system of tracking leads in different spreadsheets wasn’t working. We needed a more automated way to go after prospects so that we don’t miss opportunities. Unanet’s AEC-specific solution will help us track our pipeline and turn those leads into real money.”
Specializing in architectural design, master planning, and interior design for education and healthcare clients since 2017, Emergent has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing firms by the Corridor Business Journal and was recognized in Professional Services Management Journal’s (PSMJ) Circle of Excellence this year for its proven success and management. Emergent is working on projects with leading school districts in Iowa, such as Decorah and Williamsburg. The firm’s rapid growth highlighted the need to modernize the company’s business development process with more efficient pipeline tracking across multiple offices and improved collaboration between business development teams.
After reviewing several CRM solutions, Emergent chose Unanet for its industry-specific understanding of its sales cycle and several features that will support the company’s continued goals. In particular, the company is excited to employ Unanet to help make more informed decisions about new business prospects and use several of the solution’s features like the KPI tracker, customizable dashboards for different leadership levels, forecasting tools, and mobile app capabilities.
“It is a huge benefit to have an updated, single source of truth where we can pull information for proposals,” said Tara Ludwig, director of marketing at Emergent. “Unanet’s proposal automation and advanced resource management tools will be incredible time savers for us.”
While strong data management is critical to forecasting and firm decision-making, a third of firms surveyed in the 2025 AEC Inspire Report described issues with deal flow and pipeline performance due to a lack of easy, centralized access to business development data, which makes informed pursuit decisions more difficult and leads to an inconsistent pipeline.
More than 1,850 architecture, engineering, and construction companies select Unanet ERP and CRM because they have the right mix of functionality and accessibility while also offering the ability to scale and grow seamlessly. To learn more about Unanet ERP and CRM, please visit https://unanet.com/crm-aec and https://unanet.com/erp-for-a-e/erp-for-a-e-overview/.
About Unanet
Unanet is a leading provider of project-based ERP and CRM solutions purpose-built for government contractors, architecture, engineering, construction, and professional services. More than 4,000 project-driven organizations depend on Unanet to turn their information into actionable insights, drive better decision-making, maintain regulatory compliance, and accelerate business growth. All backed by a people-centered team invested in the success of your projects, people, and financials. For more information, visit www.unanet.com.
About Emergent Architecture
Emergent Architecture is an Iowa-based firm specializing in architectural design, master planning, and interior design, with offices in Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Omaha, and Denver. The company serves a diverse range of sectors, including K-12 education, higher education, healthcare, residential, and commercial projects. Learn more at www.emergentarch.com
SOURCE Unanet