Tag: constructionbytes

Sage is a world-leader of accounting software. They offer different financial management packages designed to support the unique needs of specific industries. Many contractors in the Dallas/Fort Worth area use either Sage 300 Construction, Sage 100 Contractor or Sage Estimator. We highlight their benefits here.

Sage 300 Construction

Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate is an online construction and property management suite for providing complete construction management for accounting, ERP, HR, payroll, payments, assets, construction, and real estate. It’s the most widely-used construction management software in the industry.

Sage 300 Construction will integrate with your business at all levels. It’s an all-encompassing construction solution in the Cloud and helps you complete projects with efficiency.

You Can Customize Sage 300 To Your Requirements

Sage 300 Construction is highly customizable and helps you manage your entire construction project lifecycle with solutions like:

• Web access to all your financial data.
• Project reporting on the go.
• Field-based project management.
• Customized reporting tools.
• Cloud-based project and service management.

With built-in inquiries, customizable reports and powerful add-ons, you can take control by defining the information your organization needs, how to access it and when, and make timely business decisions to maximize profitability.

Document Control Is Easy

With Sage Paperless Construction you’ll have greater control of your documents along with an audit trail. You can organize, store and route all versions of drawings, RFIs, invoices, lease agreements, contracts and more.

Sage 300 Construction Provides The Mobility You Need

With mobile construction solutions you can simplify capturing and reporting on job site details. This helps you streamline your office and field communications and run your contracting business with greater operational efficiency on any mobile device.

With Sage Mobile Projects your office and field staff can collaborate easily with mobile access to field reports and requests for information (RFIs). This helps to keep projects on time and on budget.

Your Team Can Collaborate In Real Time

With its project management module, you can reduce your company’s risk by quickly identifying potential issues before they become serious problems. And with Sage’s Construction Project Center everyone on your project can collaborate in real time throughout all phases of a project.

Sage Service Operations provides your field management with the critical information they need while office staff receive real-time updates from the field. This results in higher quality work, improved efficiency, and maximum profitability.

Provide Insights To Help Make Better Decisions

Sage 300 Construction has built-in inquiries for easily customizable reports. Add-ons like My Assistant, My Communicator and Office Connector help you define the information you need, in ways you need to access it to help you with decision making to maximize productivity.

Impress Your Clients

Sage 300 Construction lets you improve communication with clients and streamline your service operations. The Service Management module simplifies dispatching, field management, and billing. You can see the status of any service call including the time it’s scheduled, the service to be performed, and the technician assigned to the service.

Others Rave About Sage 300

They like its accurate, timely control over project matters, including accounting and financial processes, and in the way that they need to see the information. And they say that it provides greater control of documents and a clean audit trail, therefore reducing the risk usually involved in construction work.

Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate include these dispatching features and efficiencies:

• Display as many as 450 service calls and 48 technicians at one time on the easy-to-use dispatch board.
• Monitor technician availability, workload, and scheduling conflicts through the dispatch board’s enhanced visual controls.
• Retrieve a customer’s service history, geographic location, and accounts receivable information.
• Sort assignments by date and time and prioritize service calls by estimated start and finish times.
• Look up parts by item code, category, or description.
• Track material runners and materials on order.
• Enter a purchase order while working inside the dispatch board.
• Drill down for access to additional information about specific service calls.
• Attach technician, customer, and equipment notes to work orders.
• Pull up a list of installed equipment including detail such as model number, service history, or warranty length.
• Check details of warranty types and service agreement coverage.
• Perform searches for existing work orders.
• Automatically carry over unfinished work orders to the next day.
• Let customers know exactly when technicians were dispatched using time stamps.
• Map out each technician’s schedule for up to five weeks.
• Call up technician records, status, pager numbers, and more.
• Use time stamps to create an audit trail of actual hours worked and cross-check them against technician time cards.
• Track non-work-order time such as training, shop time, or vacation.
• From the dispatch board, perform skill checks by technician.
• Track what inventory was used on each work order.

It includes these billing features and efficiencies:

• Automate pricing with small job fixed-rate pricing, flat-rate pricing, or markup/discount.
• Bill multiple work orders based on one invoice.
• Bill customer accounts or individual service locations.
• Implement a work order approval process prior to billing.
• Create a variety of invoice formats to suit your purposes.
• Invoice work orders on the fly.
• Set up unlimited rate tables for labor, materials, equipment, and other costs per customer.
• Establish special discounts by customer.
• Customize call types with their own labor rates.
• Price travel by trip charge or miles.
• Automatically price parts based on item or mark-up file.
• Add miscellaneous charges.

Sage 100 Contractor and Sage Estimating May Be All That You Need

Sage 100 Contractor is designed for growing, mid-sized companies using Excel or other generic software packages. It provides easy access to job cost and project management information.

Sage 100 Contractor provides easy access to complete critical business and project information for small and mid-sized contractors. It includes

• Automated bank feeds.
• Electronic document management routing.
• Integrated payroll and timecard management.
• Mobile service operation.

Sage Estimating is designed with a familiar spreadsheet look and feel. It integrates with eTakeoff Bridge, Dimension, and AutoDesk Navisworks to speed the take-off process and simplify building bids with 2D and 3D content.

Sage Estimating is the most advanced pre-construction bidding solution on the market today.

• Build estimates from both 2D and 3D content.
• Use superior digital takeoff tools.
• It fully integrates with industry-leading BIM solutions.
• It provides a robust collection of pre-populated cost databases.

How Much Does Sage Cost?

Sage offers a range of solutions to fit diverse business sizes and budgets. Actual costs are determined by the number of users, specific modules purchased, implementation, customization, and training needs. The figures below will give you a general estimate for what your software-only investment might be.

• Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate start around $10,000+.
• Sage 100 Contractor starts at $5,000+ Subscription pricing that’s also available.
• Sage Estimating starts around $3,500+.

These are just three IT solutions that can help you improve the way your construction company operates. Contact Data Magic Computer Services and we’ll tell you about others.

If you liked this article check out others in our Blog. Here are a few to get you started:

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Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction Can Help You Get More Done Each Day

There’s so much competition in the construction industry in Texas. How can you compete with large construction companies that have virtually unlimited budgets? – By using the right accounting software so your staff can work smarter, not harder. Let Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction help you tackle your finances.

With so many software programs available, you can spend lots of time checking out the features in each one. That’s why we’re providing information on Peachtree – to do the homework for you. We’ve listed some of the ways using Peachtree can benefit your construction company.

What Is Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction?

If you run a small construction company, Sage’s Peachtree Premium Accounting is an excellent product to consider. It’s affordable, functional and incorporates an industry-backed feature for contractors.

It brings all the elements in Peachtree Premium Accounting, plus robust job-costing, progress-billing, and industry-specific reports. It’s designed to save time, increase accuracy and help you determine a job’s profitability.

With Peachtree Premium Accounting, you can track revenue and costs down to the most minute detail. Your staff will spend less time on their accounting tasks and more time growing your business.

How Will Peachtree Premium Accounting Benefit Our Construction Business?

It’s easy to use. You’ll have a sample company pre-built for construction to get going. It comes with a toolbar with a chart of accounts that’s construction-specific, and easily customizable. Its uncluttered data entry screens provide lookup options throughout the program to help you along the way.

Peachtree uses centers for easy system navigation. Its setup wizards will help you get it running quickly. The centers are arranged according to their functions. Illustrations are designed to match the way you work. Navigation Aids help you understand how transactions are processed. This makes it easy to find all the features you need.

You’ll Benefit From:

• An affordable and scalable solution with robust job-costing capability, construction-specific features and analysis tools. You’ll benefit from a powerful core accounting solution with retainage tracking. It has capabilities to apply labor burden, and progress billing makes your accounting tasks much more manageable. You can utilize a default chart of accounts that can be easily customized. Peachtree’s GL functionality includes an excellent banking function, making it easy to reconcile all of your accounts. You can also integrate it with other Sage and CRM products.
• The ability to track subcontractor insurance expiration and job-in-progress analysis to reduce your liability risk. There’s also a Subcontractor Insurance Report where you can view insurance expiration dates, company name, policy limit and number. You can keep insurance expiration dates within the software, so it warns you when you try to pay or enter a transaction for a subcontractor whose insurance has expired.
• Payroll features with helpful customer and vendor-management reports. Whether you outsource your payroll or manage it in-house, you’ll have access to cost-effective, time-saving options such as:
  • Full-Service Payroll with Peachtree Payroll Service where professionals at Sage Software do the work for you.
  • In-House Payroll with Peachtree Payroll Tax Update Service.
  • Peachtree Direct Deposit where you can make payday easier for everyone in your company.
• Data Security where you can choose who has access to your accounting and at what level. Plus, it will record and report on any changes made to your transactions. When used along with Peachtree software’s password security, you can monitor each employee’s activity on the platform and know who made changes and where.
• The Business Status page that displays eight distinct views of company data, including Aged AP, Aged AR and Account Balances. The Accounts Payable (AP) functions help you process standard vendor payments, along with a Vendor Management Center, where you can manage all levels of vendor information. It provides electronic payment options and a series of analysis tools that provide access to current company status. Peachtree’s Accounts Receivable (AR) functionality includes processes for handling customer quotes along with standard posting payments received. It automatically calculates retainage on any invoices or credit memos. And, you’ll like the Management Center where you can manage all levels of vendor information.
• The MyDashboard feature that comes with Inventory Adjustments, Purchases Received and Item Purchase History. The Business Status Page and the My Dashboard are both customizable.
• The Inventory function that uses LIFO, FIFO and Special Unit Valuation for any inventory products. You can also track your inventory with user-defined codes. An inventory adjustment feature allows you to make adjustments to inventory levels. You can also use serialized inventory if you wish.
• Sage Peachtree Business Intelligence, an add-on application that helps you create custom reports in Excel that contain superior drill-down capabilities, and the ability to combine several reports into one.
• An Estimates History that provides detailed information on all previous estimates entered since the original estimate was processed. You can estimate costs for each job or job phase as needed.
• A Help & Support function that’s accessible from anywhere in the platform. Support documents like the Getting Started Guide help new users as will numerous tutorials. There are also links to a customer support center, as well as email and telephone support.

The list of positives and great reviews for Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction goes on and on. As a trusted IT consultant for construction companies in Dallas/Ft. Worth, we can help you find the IT solutions that work best for you. Check back for more information about Peachtree and other software. Data Magic Computer Services is here to answer any questions you may have.

Whether building a big shopping center or a new home, construction work isn’t just about having the right physical tools anymore. By using the best accounting software for your company, your staff can work smarter, not harder. Let QuickBooks Contractor Edition help you tackle your finances.

QuickBooks Contractor Edition helps you juggle bids, estimates, customers, vendors, and employees for seamless construction accounting. It has all the functionality of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions with construction-industry-specific reports and features.

What Are The Benefits Of Using QuickBooks?

It’s an end-to-end construction accounting software that can grow with your company. You’ll have all the accounting tools to organize your finances, manage inventory, track sales, and execute payroll functions. QuickBooks Contractor helps you manage costs throughout each project and track your bottom line.

Customizable Reports Stay apprised of job costs and your cash flow to ensure you stay profitable throughout a project. Advanced Reporting lets you locate the right report fast. Reports are bundled for the construction industry, so you can save time by using templates to auto-fill with your company’s information. QuickBooks Contractor also has a robust Help Portal when you have questions.

Job Costing Reports

As you pay bills, your employees and subs, you can see how your company is doing along the way with special construction reports, such as:

• Job Costs by Job
• Job Status
• Cost-to-Complete
• Unpaid Bills for each Job
• Expenses Not Assigned to Jobs
• Billed/Unbilled Hours by Person and Job
• Open Purchase Orders by Vendor

Benefit from accurate job costing estimates. Unless you can accurately record job costs, you can end up quoting the wrong price. Use QuickBooks from the initial estimate on a job to the final quote.

Need To Manage Large Amounts of Data? Contractor can handle large data files, so you can work with two company files at the same time.

User Capacity You can have between 1 and 30 users working on QuickBooks Contractor at the same time. If you use their hosting service, users can access files from anywhere at any time. This makes working in the field with QuickBooks easy, and your employees can stay connected wherever they are.

What Other Features Are Included In QuickBooks For Contractors?

Data Conversion: You can convert your data from most any other accounting solution such as Sage/Peachtree, Timberlane, Oracle, Master Builder, Xero, NetSuite, Intacct, AccPac and more.

Job Costing For Contractors: From one view you can get all the information you need on a job such as your profitability, percentage complete, unpaid invoices and realized costs.

Cost To Complete: You can quickly view the cost to complete a job which is essential for any contractor. And you can see unpaid bills by job to get a handle on your finances. With QuickBooks Contractor Edition you can send out invoice reminders to get paid fast.

Estimating: You can view estimates versus actuals, and you convert your estimates into billing-by-service items, percent complete or dollars.

Change Orders: These are easy to make, and you can track and highlight changes to estimates and view all change orders by each job.

Specific Features For The Construction Industry Include:

• E-Invoicing
• Industry-Specific Report Bundles
• Payments Search Screen
• Disallow Negative Inventory Quantities
• Total Columns on Purchases and Sales
• A Job Costing Center and Advanced Job Costing Tools
• Change Order Features
• Flexible Billing Rates
• Customize Your Chart of Accounts
• Scheduling
• Work Orders
• Estimating

How Do We Get Started With QuickBooks Contractor Edition?

QuickBooks experts agree that it’s easy to use, but not so easy to set up properly. Setting up QuickBooks correctly, in the beginning, will save you a lot of problems later. If it’s not set up and used properly, your accounting won’t be accurate.

Most contractors don’t realize this. Keep in mind that QuickBooks Contractor is designed to meet the needs of every type of contractor – from a handyman to the bridge builder. So, you must customize it to your unique requirements.

These are some common mistakes that contractors make when setting up QuickBooks. Make sure you do these things:

• Input payments correctly
• Don’t make a new file for each project.
• Apply Vendor Credits to Bills correctly.
• Don’t outsource payroll.
• Set up a unique Chart of Accounts and Items List according to your needs.
• Don’t enter job costs using the Expenses and/or Accounts Tab.
• Set up Items to track both Income and Expenses.
• Use the built-in Estimate function or use an estimating program that integrates with QuickBooks Contractor Edition.
• Reconcile your Bank and Credit Card accounts.
• Use the “Ask My Accountant Chart of Accounts” feature for expenses that are difficult to categorize.

The first thing to do is to ask your IT service provider to help you set up QuickBooks. They know your business and can help with the setup. Once this is done, you will be able to take over from there.

As a trusted IT consultant for construction companies in Dallas/Ft. Worth, we can help you set up QuickBooks Contractor Edition. The team at Data Magic Computer Services is here to answer any questions you may have.

Reviews, testimonials and referrals are important to growing a contracting business. In fact, reviews are the backbone upon which a business can establish a working relationship with their local community. In today’s world, people can come to know you, like you and trust you (or not) via the reviews they read about your business. This makes reviews a tremendous tool to use in expanding your contracting business.

The Internet has added a new dimension to the importance of business reviews and testimonials. The more people use the Internet as their main source of reference for selecting a particular business or service provider, the more impact online reviews will have on your firm. In fact, recent studies show that most homeowners today use online reviews and recommendations as their main criteria for evaluating a contractor before they hire him.

Importance of Google Reviews

Google reviews play a key role in how your company website is ranked in search engines online. A high ranking will attract more visitors to your site. The more traffic your site receives, the greater your chances of getting new customers and increasing sales. Good reviews will prompt consumers to research your business online. A professional website that clearly explains your portfolio, is responsive to mobile devices and has excellent reviews is sure to attract new clients.

By soliciting Google reviews from customers, colleagues and clients, you can boost your online presence and optimize your marketing strategy. Ongoing positive reviews will give your contracting business greater visibility and credibility with consumers in your area. Online reviews can build trust between you and consumers; people are more likely to hire a contractor they feel they can trust.

The Effect of Positive Reviews on a Contracting Business

As consumers place so much weight on reviews and testimonials, online reviews have the potential to make or break a contracting business. Here are some recent statistics to back this claim. Studies show that:

• Approximately 90% of consumers looking for a contractor check online reviews before giving them a call. Of these, 92% will contact you if you have a 4-star rating or above.
• Consumers will spend up to 30% more for contracting work if your company has excellent reviews.
• Good reviews can generate up to 18% more sales for your business and increase your conversions by as much as 11%.

Even negative reviews can have a positive impact on your business if handled right. Studies reveal that approximately 86% of consumers will bypass your contracting firm if it has received negative reviews. By responding positively to these reviews, however, you could turn these stats around. Rather than criticize individuals for giving bad reviews, offer solutions to the problem. Consumers respect contractors who try to make things right.

In addition to reviewing the quality of your services, reviews and testimonials, provide a forum to add valued content to your website. The more reviews you get, the more content you generate for your site. This can help boost your site’s SEO. Local reviews are particularly important for your contracting business as they reveal the opinions of customers in your local community.

The Benefits of Soliciting Google Reviews

There are various ways Google reviews can benefit a contracting business. Positive reviews and testimonials can be used as a marketing tool to promote your business. At the same time, reviews can reveal areas in your business structure that need to be improved. Reviews can also increase your company’s online presence to attract more traffic to your site.

Having said this, however, it’s imperative you use Google reviews correctly to benefit from what they have to offer. Genuine reviews from customers who have used your services is what you’re after – not fabricated reviews or reviews that were “bought” by offering a reward in exchange for people’s opinions and thoughts. It never pays to offer an incentive such as a free product or service in exchange for a review. This practice goes against the terms Google has laid out for this service and will hurt your rating. It can also undermine customer trust.

Importance of Testimonials and Reviews to SEO Strategy

In addition to what your company does, Google uses how others perceive your business to deliver relevant search results to people looking for information in your line of work. This is where testimonials and reviews come in. Google uses the number of reviews and testimonials you have on your site along with customer rating to determine how you rank in local searches. Reviews and testimonials also add valued content to your site which will contribute to a higher rating.

If you have a fair number of positive reviews and a high customer rating, you’re more likely to show up on top of local Google searches for your line of work. A high rating will give your business greater credibility to consumers in your community.

As a contractor, you have much to gain by soliciting Google reviews for your website. At the same time, Google reviews aren’t the end-all in getting the recognition you desire. Business reviews can be found on such sites as YouTube, Trip Advisor, Yelp, Facebook and numerous others. When you solicit Google reviews for your website, however, you have greater control over the reviews you post. This allows you to maximize the effect these reviews have on your target audience.

How Do You Solicit Google Reviews for Your Site?

The best way to encourage your customers to write a testimonial or review is to provide them with excellent service. Satisfied customers will be more than happy to provide you with a positive review.

Additionally, you can incorporate a way to solicit reviews in your marketing strategy. You can start by asking family, friends and colleagues to write a review of services your company rendered. Then create ways to make it easy for customers to post reviews on your site, such as putting a link where they can easily see it. Encourage your customers to use this link to post a review of completed contracting services or projects. This keeps your reviews fresh and current.

It takes time and effort to obtain positive Google business reviews. Your first step is doing great work so customers will be motivated to write up a positive review of your business. Positive reviews are worth their weight in gold. They improve your standing in Google, generate customer trust and help you build a loyal customer base. In short, Google reviews are a foundational building block that can help your business succeed both now and in the future.

6 Ways Mobile Computing Help You Gain A Competitive Edge

The construction industry is very competitive in Texas, and it’s continually evolving. To succeed requires a serious degree of coordination of people, resources and equipment in the field. Your employees must work on laptops, smartphones, and tablet computers to accomplish their tasks and stay connected. The right mobile solutions can save your construction company money, time, and your good reputation.

Mobile devices are increasingly being used in construction site work. Project managers must keep track of their teams, subcontractors, vendors, schedules, equipment, building codes and more. In days past, this was all done by shuffling papers back and forth from the site to the office. With mobile computing, this paperwork nightmare is over.

Now with mobile devices, applications and cloud services, projects can be completed on time, productivity is increased, and collaboration enhanced. Plus, when you’re in the field, you can now access the same cloud solutions you use in the office.

Here are 6 ways mobile computing can give you the competitive edge you need:

1. Increase Your Teams’ Productivity & Reduce Costs

Using mobile apps helps project managers increase their teams’ efficiency. From accountability and scheduling to authorizations in real-time, project deadlines can now be completed on time, and even earlier than required due to increased productivity and efficient coordination.

Project teams’ travel times, GPS locations and time spent on job sites can all be consistently monitored with mobile applications. Mobile timesheets that record clock-in/clock-out times to the minute improve accountability and can reduce your labor costs. Costs can also be cut when construction teams document their work progress with smartphone photos for better transparency to management.

2. Prevent Project Delays

Real-time tracking and data collection help reduce delays and provide greater awareness of project goals. With mobile computing project managers can sync their operations, so materials are delivered on time, and contractors show up when they should.

Mobile applications replace manual, time-consuming and cumbersome paper-based data entries. Managers can file electronic versions of work orders, clarify building plans, ensure building code compliance, and more. This reduces the need for re-work that can create project delays.

3. Efficient Equipment Scheduling

Equipment scheduling can directly affect the success or failure of a project. With mobile solutions, it’s easier to track and manage equipment use. Managers can log equipment hours and keep track of where it is to improve planning and usage.

If a manager is overseeing two job sites, he can readily move equipment from one site to the other, receive an electronic proof of delivery, and monitor both jobs at once. He’ll know what equipment is present on a job, where it needs to go next, and work together with the main office to stay on track with equipment scheduling.

4. Ensure Regulatory Compliance For Safety

The injury rate for the construction industry is higher than others. With mobile platforms, project managers can ensure their workers have completed required job-training sessions to improve safety and ensure regulatory compliance. Mobile solutions also facilitate the immediate reporting of safety hazards or injuries, further supporting regulatory compliance.

5. Improve Communications

You can tighten all communication gaps with mobile solutions. Teams can complete their daily reports, send and receive emails and alerts, and access the same information to collaborate in real time. Even off-site employees can stay apprised of decisions, activities and progress.

No more waiting to get back to the office for updates. Your workers will benefit from immediate answers to difficult questions and get rapid access to the information they need to make accurate on-the-job decisions.

When all parties involved in a project have immediate and ready access to the same information, everyone stays on the same page, errors are reduced, and issues can be addressed much faster.

6. Mobile Accounting

With mobile solutions managers can handle some of the day-to-day accounting tasks that could once only be accomplished in the office. Integrated GPS-tracking enables accountants as well as supervisors the ability to identify employees by location and job site activities.

Mobile timecards provide better visibility, reliable recording, and confirmed auditing of job costs and related work hours. It reduces errors and eliminates miscommunications.

Email purchase orders and invoices right from the field office. Collect timesheets, track payments and even accept online payments directly into your company’s bank account.

Integrating mobile apps into every step of a project improves accuracy, enhances workforce accountability and provides hard metrics upon completion of each job.

Want To Keep Up With What’s Coming Next In Mobile Technology For The Construction Industry?

Here are 2 new “futuristic” mobile applications to check out Trimble SiteVision and Microsoft HoloLens.

• Trimble SiteVision delivers augmented reality in the field. It provides a highly accurate overlay of digital data on outdoor scenes that can be used in construction, visualizing subsurface utilities, earth-moving work, and architectural visualization.
• Microsoft HoloLens is an augmented-reality headset with “hard-hat” safety features. It allows hands-free access to blueprints, remote support in the field, 3-D modeling superimposed on a site, measurements and 3-D scanning, employee training, inspections, and post-maintenance activities.

“This isn’t your father’s construction company.” Mobile computing in construction is setting new standards and creating efficiencies your father never dreamed of. For construction and project managers, using mobile delivery apps makes their lives easier from the beginning of a project to job completion, and it will give your construction company an edge over the competition.

Want to learn more about mobile computing and how it will benefit your business? Just contact the team at Data Magic in Coppell, Texas, and we’ll be happy to tell you more.

It is not an overstatement to note that today’s successful construction companies depend on their IT systems as much as they do any hammers and nails. Successful contractors find integrating the role of a quality IT partner critical to meeting budgets and deadlines while maintaining profitability.

It’s All About the Right Information at the Right Time

Information Technology is a catchall term for a combination of powerful and complex computer-based resources. However, just like an important tool, you don’t want to worry about how IT works or even why. You just want to be confident that your IT partner is managing and providing you with the information you need in the most efficient, timely, and cost-effective manner possible.

Rather than creating management challenges, the quality IT partner will help you prevent problems and assist in solving those that do arise. This is critical to you as the one that is responsible for getting the job done, especially in today’s demanding environment.

There is hardly any aspect of the construction process that well-deployed and effectively managed IT cannot enhance. This includes such disparate areas as:

• Bidding and proposals
• Project scheduling and process management
• Compliance and regulatory requirements
• Inventory management
• Communications among all participants

Each of these areas of the construction continuum require the proper IT approach. Moreover, these individual components must integrate into a useful whole that provides needed information and controls from the conception of the project to its conclusion.

No Longer an Optional Tool

The right IT partner will help design, install, maintain and manage the proper information technology infrastructure. While these capabilities can provide competitive advantages when properly utilized, they are also essential basics in the hyper-competitive construction industry. Just as your competitors can buy the same tools you can access, it is how they are put to work that makes the difference.

As the use of the Internet and computing migrates into all aspects of the construction industry, you find everyone from customers to vendors to regulators expecting companies to utilize efficient IT methods and resources. It is increasingly impossible to meet those expectations without the right IT partner to handle the many intricacies involved.

Managing the Ongoing Evolution

You know the construction industry is constantly changing and introducing new materials, methods, and processes. There is a similar reality in the IT world, and the changes often come even faster. Whether it is tracking the latest software updates or moving information between local computing devices and the cloud, IT is managed in an ever-changing environment.

Achieving the right partnership will allow the right division of tasks and responsibilities so the IT process facilitates every component of the job to be accomplished. When properly implemented this infrastructure will be largely transparent other than the results it provides. The characteristics of any solution offered by a competent IT partner will include:

• Detailed and customizable real-time reports and information flow
• Full access to systems onsite and remotely on multiple devices
• Integration of data between different applications
• Flexibility to modify requirements to reflect changed orders and schedule modifications
• Comprehensive analysis, estimates and updates to facilitate management decision-making.

Managing a Dynamic Process

There is no one-time solution to the properly designed and functioning IT equation. Managing and monitoring the flow of data and inputs across multiple applications requires a robust and dynamic approach to the challenge. Your IT partner must provide a scalable solution that works in the pre-construction process as well as in the midst of the most intense construction phases.

Achieving this result requires the melding of trained and experienced personnel with the right hardware, software and networking resources. It is that competence you find in your best subcontractors. Even more, this partner is not just handling the one component a subcontractor might be tasked to accomplish. Rather, they are in the seat with you coordinating both the overview and the infinite details involved in the entire project.

There was a time just a few years past when the IT component of the construction industry could end up being somewhat of a hindrance. It often seemed that the computer made your job tougher rather than being a productive assistant.

With a qualified IT partner, that is certainly a reality that is in the past. If you understand the importance of the right partner, you won’t settle for one that can’t deliver the total solution. Once that carefully selected partner is on board and working alongside you, you’ll never tackle another project without them.

Construction companies have specific IT requirements. Time is money in any business, but that’s especially true in the construction industry. You need excellent communication and coordination between management and workers and the ability to oversee contractors and order materials quickly. For that, you need top construction planning software and your company needs a comprehensive IT strategy. Just as you subcontract out certain work in your construction projects because it’s more efficient, your IT needs are usually better served by those who can deliver at less cost and more efficacy.

State-of-the-Art Technology

A managed service provider (MSP) offers clients access to state-of-the-art technology. There is no need for constant tech upgrading and the additional cost on the part of your company when you use managed IT. When your company goes the managed IT route, you also won’t experience any unpleasant surprises when it comes to charges. You pay a fixed fee every month, according to your contract. You can also design the right type of IT management for your construction company, as the MSP does not deal with companies on a one-size-fits-all basis when it comes to IT.

State-of-the-Art Skills

When hiring an MSP, you are hiring expertise. You know that, but you may not realize that circumstances may arise in which your business requires an IT specialist in a particular field. If you rely on an in-house team in which no one has this specific skill, you must either pay for training or hire an expert for this certain task. That’s not an issue with managed IT, as you are dealing with a team with state-of-the-art skills that can deal with your company’s problems as needed. Managed IT offers advantages not only over the costs of an in-house team but means you don’t have to outsource to another entity when problems arise.

Security Issues

Your construction company needs top IT support for security. It’s likely that you have an in-house team – especially one consisting of just a few employees – that does not have the expertise to deal with the latest threats. That means your company’s computer systems are far more vulnerable than you might think. Just as your construction business involves core competencies, security is a core competency of any managed IT company.

How an Outside IT Firm Saves Money

It makes no sense for a smaller construction company to hire an in-house IT expert, but it really does not make sense for most larger construction companies, either. When you have in-house IT professionals, you must pay salaries and benefits. When you hire an outside IT firm to provide services, those items are not your concern. A third party IT provider is probably more aware of the latest viruses, malware, cyber threats and other factors that can harm your system than an in-house team. For those providers, staying abreast of current threats is a vital part of their business. If your system is hacked or otherwise compromised, the outside firm is available 24/7. That means reduced downtime when a problem arises.

Even if you do have an in-house IT tech team, a third-party IT provider is not working on the same projects, and this frees up your employees to focus on your business needs and your bottom line rather than dealing with typical IT administrative tasks or outages. A third-party IT provider deals with troubleshooting, upgrades and new tech implementation, allowing your IT employees to concentrate on your construction projects.

With the money saved by outsourcing your IT requirements, you can direct those funds toward areas most needed by your company.

Company Expansion

Managed IT allows for easier company expansion, especially across state lines or nationally. Managed IT with a cloud strategy avoids many of the difficulties construction companies face if relying on their own technology when expanding. You no longer have to worry about primary office connectivity and loss of productivity due to a local power outage.

Peace of Mind

All sorts of factors affect your construction business and your bottom line. Whether it is a common situation such as materials delivery, the weather, permit delays or equipment failure, or the more exotic, such as discovering human remains or artifacts during digging, you know that complications occur on projects. With all that you must deal with on a daily basis, using a managed IT service for your construction company gives you peace of mind for that crucial aspect of your business.