The following is a guest post by Matt Coffey, Marketing and Communications Manager for Wincourse Technologies Inc. Wincourse provides the construction industry with strategic technology services designed to help reduce IT management and support costs. This industry requires the latest in technology to stay competitive, reduce costs and increase efficiency. Wincourse's Cloud Solutions for construction allows your team to have access to all your information and applications in the office and on the job site. By partnering with Wincourse, you can work from Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device!
The US National Institute of Science and Technology defines cloud computing as offering 5 essential characteristics: On-Demand Self Service, Broad Network Access, Resource Pooling, Rapid Elasticity, and Measured Service.
By migrating to the cloud, a business has the opportunity to have all of the information and process availability from anywhere, at any time, on any device.
Why is this important for the construction industry? Below are just three of the reasons you should be making the move.
1. Access.
It is important to be able to have all the correct information to make quick decisions and create reports. This isn’t usually the case in the field. The cloud gives your team the opportunity to have all the required information available to everyone that needs it, when they need it.
From RFIs to updated drawings, the cloud will host all of this. Your contractors need to be able to easily collaborate with subcontractors, owners and architects. The ability to instantly get answers to questions and have all essential updates can make the difference in staying within a projects timeline and budget.
2. Flexibility.
The construction industry has a constant change of workforce and jobsites continuously across a wide area. Taking your business process to the cloud allows a seamless move from jobsite to jobsite, from employee to employee, and from the office to jobsite.
You are able to scale up or down when a project ends and begins, as well as when you bring on new team members. This flexibility saves you infrastructure costs that may rapidly increase or not even be used, depending on work load.
3. Collaboration.
Essential information has to get passed form the jobsite to the office and vice versa every day, usually to multiple locations. The cloud gives you the ability to have access to the necessary applications to keep everything updated, without having to go to the office.
In the past, simple tasks such as processing payroll, creating financial reports, invoicing and logistics had to be documented at each job site, then sent to the home office to be keyed into the system. With the cloud, your timesheet applications, Sage, Timberline, or whatever your application preference is can easily be accessed from anywhere, at any time, on any device.
More than many other industries, construction has a large amount of processes and documentation that follows from jobsite to jobsite and from the jobsite to the office. With teams working in a spread out area, with most of them using tablets and smartphones, moving to the cloud seems like a no brainer.
The key is to find a cloud service provider who has the experience and know-how to maximize your results.
As mobile apps and project management software are becoming more prominent on construction sites around the world, it’s important that those getting ready to enter the industry, whether it be through college or trade schools, get the training they need to hit the ground running with these programs. PlanGrid,a construction project management and mobile productivity software, has recently announced the release of PlanGrid Schools & Unions, which gives access to hands-on training curriculum and software licenses to industry educators.