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spend late nights entering and re-entering
data between systems.
The challenges faced by
disconnected processes
In today’s market, construction companies
should be able to connect the jobsite
with the office, but if they are unable to do
so, processes become more complex than
necessary. Visibility suffers, errors happen
and business slows to a grinding halt. This
disconnect leaves a construction business
with the challenge of keeping up with payments,
projects and competition.
When employees must scramble to
piece together data from a variety of applications
while managing multiple jobsites,
mistakes are bound to happen, as well as
the following challenges.
Inadequate information flow
People need to know what’s going on and
when it’s happening. Time can’t be wasted
typing emails or digging through spreadsheets.
Like cash and materials, information
needs to flow through an organization.
Knowing this, the process of sending
data from the field to the home office may
not sound like a huge challenge – simply
enter the data into an email or spreadsheet
and hit send. However, it is not that simple.
That data likely needs to be hand-keyed
into another system after hitting save and
send. Each time this information is manually
entered, the risk for error increases.
Not only does it take time to fix errors,
but several other dangers exist if an order
is entered incorrectly, leaving field workers
with the wrong product and causing
unnecessary delays at the jobsite.
Disgruntled subcontractors
Lack of functionality and integration in
legacy software can lead to inefficient
processes and hold back an entire organization.
For example, review and approvals of
subcontractor invoices between the office
and the field can be slow. This is frustrating
for the subcontractor and could reflect
poorly on a business, especially in times
when it’s hard to find great subcontractors.
Damaged reputation
Delays and rework in commercial construction
projects happen. Whether from
unpredictable weather or dealing with
permitting and licensing red tape, a project
may stall. This can result in millions of
dollars of lost revenue and potential harm
to a company’s reputation.
In an environment where a market
correction always presents a threat,
a reputation for being easy to work
with and delivering timely project
execution is critical.
The way forward
The construction industry is evolving and
technology innovation will play a key role
in its future. Next-level success means
using integrated, automated and innovative
software that meets the needs of the back
office, the job site and field service personnel,
which is quickly becoming populated
by members of the Gen X, Millennial, and
Gen Z. The construction industry must
embrace modern, cloud-based construction
and accounting software.
According to the JBKnowledge 2019
Construction Technology Report, many of
the respondents were comfortable implementing
new technology. However, IT
spending is not happening as quickly as
Gartner had predicted. The result is that
construction companies are not realizing
the profits they could be if the productivity
measures enabled by technology were
in place.
Perhaps one reason for stagnant IT
spending has been the lack of comprehensive
construction and accounting software
options available to the industry. That has
changed with the introduction of innovative
construction ERP tools like Acumatica
Construction Edition.
Construction professionals of all generations
now have access to modern solutions
that were born in the cloud, allowing for
seamless integration of their front-office,
back-office, field needs and specialty
applications. The entire organization
can operate from a single source in realtime.
Job costing, project management,
contracts, budgets, commitments, subcontracts,
workflows, compliance, billing,
payroll and a construction mobile app – all
from one cloud-based software solution.
Forward-thinking small- and midsized
construction companies are rapidly
embracing cloud-technology, which is
leapfrogging them in front of their peers in
every metric including overall profitability
and customer/employee experience.
Anderson Pinto, owner and CEO of
Hartzell Construction said, “I needed a
system that my accounting department,
which is the heart of the company, could
utilize. I also needed a system that could
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