According to Randstad, the construction workforce in Canada has had a 50% increase in jobs compared to the previous decade and the forecasting shows the sector is rapidly expanding. The technological advancements will be critical for continued success for both on-site and in-office teams. Construction firms must utilize integrated, automated, and inventive systems that connect office workers with on-site crews, to continue profitable growth.
Construction professionals of all generations can benefit from a cloud-based solution that allows them to seamlessly integrate their front-office, back-office, and site operations. With a cloud-connected enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution the entire organization may operate using a single source of truth in real-time. This means teams can access mobile-enabled applications for job costing, project management, contracts, budgets, commitments, subcontracts, workflows, compliance, invoicing, and payroll.
Here are five reasons why your construction firm can benefit from a cloud ERP.
Project Controls
Imagine software that combines project management, accounting, payroll, and inventory management. Project managers may quickly track costs and revenue against budgets, examine and save key documentation (such as RFIs, daily construction field reports, and change orders), and interact with staff and clients using a single unified software solution
When your office staff, management, and on-site teams are linked together on a single platform, they can keep track of all the parts of a construction project. Everyone can see ongoing and finished work in real-time, as well as time spent by employees and project profitability. You can view budget vs. reality, change orders, subcontractor obligations, compliance concerns, payroll data, and more by using active dashboards with drill-down capability.
Improved Communication – Collaboration
One common hurdle to effortless communication between project teams is the complex, manual workflow among all involved.
Workflows in cloud construction management software improve communication throughout the whole organization. By automating operations and processes, you can:
- Replace several steps and eliminate redundant data entry by automating regular tasks and processes.
- By using dashboards and notifications you will have peace of mind knowing that action items are addressed, and project data is up to date.
- Using strong business intelligence tools, perform accurate, real-time analysis of current projects and intelligent forecasting of future ones.
Resource Management
Individual team members are the most important resource in a construction organization. Equipment, facilities, and materials are additional resources to manage. Managing the entire organizations’ resources in terms of skills, assignment, capacity, and availability go hand in hand with extensive project controls.
Quickly assigning additional resources or shifting them between projects can make the difference between meeting a timeline or falling behind. Expensive equipment need not sit idle on one job site when needed at another. An ERP solution provides a 360 view of all resources available for the project at hand.
Increase Efficiency
Most legacy ERP systems lack the connected processes to allow for synergy. With cloud-connected construction ERP systems, you can have an accurate analysis of your materials, business process, workforce, scheduling, finance, project management, and more. With this accurate data in one place, you can make decisions easier, reduce unnecessary downtime, design financial budgeting for the project, and avoid contractual complications with the client.
Digital Documents
With many working from home, gaining access to paper documents stored in the office is harder than before. Cloud ERP solutions will help you store and sort your documents digitally. A common example of the power of digital documents, when arriving at the job site your construction operations team can have access to all the necessary documents digitally with a few clicks instead of having a file folder with copies of contracts, work orders, and other paperwork.
With the ability to digitize documents and connect them to clients and projects you will have access to all important files as needed. With the power of this feature, you can update data from any device that can access the internet. No more carrying files to the project site.
In Closing
Having a fully integrated solution from the office to the site, your business will benefit from increased efficiency and productivity. With a solution like Acumatica Cloud ERP, you can keep up with changes and know how to plan for the future. Call us to schedule a no-cost consultation meeting to discuss how your business will benefit