Succeeding in construction industry is all about maintaining good quality while being able to meet strict project deadlines. Construction project is about developers, manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and field workers working together towards a common goal. Therefore, the bigger the project is the more problems are likely to occur. Like any other industry, construction industry looking for solutions to increase efficiency, reduce costs and maintain high quality. However, construction industry hasn’t really been a trend setter when it comes to adopting new technologies, such as the use of mobile devices for better communication, efficiency and building a paperless environment.
Many companies in construction industry are hesitating whether mobile software is a solution or a problem itself. According to JBKnowledge 2015 Construction Technology Report 45.9% of the respondents find mobile capabilities important. Surprisingly, the importance of mobile capabilities has decreased from 2014 to 2015. Moreover, only 11,1% of respondents claim to be open to try any new solutions with no limitation of technology adaptation. Another survey by KPMG shows that 29% of respondents use these solutions routinely on all their projects, while another 36% don’t use mobile platforms at all.
Mobile software solutions are profitable and changing the whole industry – so why are companies hesitating to adopt it as a part of their strategy?
Digitalizing your projects can make them more efficient and successful but that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Naturally, the process from paper and post-its to mobile is going to be challenging. It’s evident to understand how to adopt and maintain the new technology. Mobile software solutions are new in the construction industry, therefore poorly performing applications and websites, high expectations and unfamiliarity with technology are common cornerstones that complicate the shift from paper to mobile. In an ideal situation everyone in the organization would embrace mobile as a part of their everyday work, but in reality it isn’t simple to sell the idea of mobile to everyone in the company.
Is going mobile worth the effort? Here are some examples of how mobile is changing the industry:
IMPROVED WORKFLOWS
With mobile solutions comes efficiency. Due to the ability to monitor the performance at every stage of the project moves more smoothly towards the goal. This leads to increased productivity among projects. The organization can benefit from gathering important data and making more informed decisions thanks to that.
BETTER COMMUNICATION AND LESS ERRORS
With mobile apps employees can easily share information and address issues directly from the field. Push notifications enable seamless and prompt communication among workers. Gathering information directly on your smartphone reduces the risk of errors and duplicate data.
ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION
As mentioned above, bringing mobile to construction industry enables data access and tracking on a real-time basis. All the work required can be done on site and retrieved offline due to data synchronization. Information is at your reach at any time.
Sounds good, right? And that it is, but there’s a couple of important things to take into account before going mobile:
DATA AND SECURITY
Many companies don’t know how much their information could be worth so bringing all the valuable information available in mobile can be risky. As the number of people who own smartphones is growing, companies should be careful when having field workers using their own phones to gather data on the site. Employers should provide workers with devices only to be used on site with proper virus and malware protection.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT SOFTWARE
In order to make the most of mobile, you should choose the software carefully. Different software providers offer different kind of features: some might be available only on selected platforms with limited content. For example, BulldozAIR is a good choice if you wish to assign visual tasks to your colleagues in seconds while giving them access to geolocations, priorities & deadlines. BulldozAIR allows you to work and communicate with your team while keeping everyone on the same page. You can easily share tasks, photos, plans & reports wherever you are even offline. On top of that, you can create an email summary report delivered to your team’s inbox every morning with individual & customized to do lists anywhere, anytime.
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