The construction industry has been at the forefront of innovation in recent years. From 3D printing concrete to drone-based surveyors, many new technologies can improve a building project’s efficiency and profitability. There is one area, however, where traditional construction leaders have been slower to adopt new technology – on-site teams management.
Construction managers face many challenges today when it comes to managing their teams and projects. They need a way to keep everyone on track without having them waste time by going through manual processes or sitting idle waiting for instructions from their supervisor. Effective construction project management requires ways to allow you to manage tasks effectively and efficiently while still allowing contractors and sub-contractors autonomy over how they complete those tasks. This is not just because it’s efficient to do so, but also because anyone who works on a job site knows how important it is to give workers flexibility.
Construction management software is a type of construction tech that companies can use to help manage their projects. The best construction project management software allows you to create projects, share project plans and design documents, collate construction field reports, manage and track assets, assign tasks, and track your team’s progress all in one place.
There are four key ways construction tech can enable you and your teams to become smarter, agile, and efficient:
1. Process
Construction tech is not just hardware and software. It’s about people, processes, and data.
The construction industry has traditionally been driven by labor-intensive methods that can be slow and inefficient at times. For example, many construction firms may rely on manual pen-and-paper processes to manage projects by hand—which can result in increased costs, due to errors or mistakes made by human workers.
Construction management software is helping companies overcome this issue by digitizing the way they manage projects so that they can operate more efficiently with less risk of error at every level.
Industry leaders use construction management software to create agile, efficient, and profitable business processes. The software helps improve their:
- End-to-end project management processes
- Team collaboration and communication
- Project completion turnaround time
- Safety and compliance reporting
- On-site job documentation
- Project data security
- Financial health and profitability
2. Collaboration
There are several benefits to adopting construction tech for real estate managers, beyond cost savings. These include increased efficiency, productivity, safety, quality, and collaboration.
In addition to financial benefits like cost savings that come from automating processes across your organization via construction tech platforms, you’ll also see other advantages such as improved employee satisfaction and morale. By allowing workers to work more collaboratively with each other in real-time across various locations using these technologies—and allowing them to make their own decisions based on what they know best—you’re empowering them by trusting their knowledge base while still maintaining ultimate control over things like safety limits or property damage thresholds (for example).
Other collaboration benefits that come from investing in construction management software are
- Better management of projects through automation
- Efficient use of resources
- Reduced downtime for maintenance tasks
- Streamlined collaboration between teams
- Reduced rework due to incorrect specifications being entered into systems
3. Task management
If you’re working on a construction project, there’s no escaping the need for task management. Task management is the key to a successful construction project, but it’s not always easy for everyone on the team to get their head around how to manage tasks in a way that works well for everyone—especially when many teams are spread across multiple locations.
Construction management software can help your team by providing a single platform where all information related to the project is stored. The software will also make it easier for each person involved in managing projects and tasks within your organization (both internal and external) so they know what needs doing and when it needs doing.
4. Connected technology
Connected technology or the Internet of Things (IoT) refers to any machine or device that has been fitted with an internet-enabled chip or sensor—anywhere from sensors in a sprinkler system to cameras on cranes. This allows them to communicate with each other so that sensors can identify when something needs fixing or one machine can tell another what it’s doing now. Connected technology is the future of construction tech and is already being used to enhance safety and efficiency, reduce waste and improve ROI.
But how can connected technology enable teams? Construction management software platforms like PlanRadar allow you to integrate sensor data with your building project management software, enabling you to identify inefficiencies and spot opportunities for growth. To learn more about how PlanRadar helps you to integrate and manage your real estate and construction projects, you can try the app for free or contact us here.
By connecting different systems in this way, you can get real-time data about your workplace that will help you make better decisions about how best to run your business for maximum productivity and profitability. For example, you might see which areas are busiest at certain times of day by tracking on-site activity. This could help inform scheduling decisions around shifts or overtime pay. Or maybe you’ll notice that certain machines break down more often than others; this may mean they need replacing earlier than expected—or perhaps they require planned maintenance periods, so they don’t break down as frequently.
The possibilities are endless. The key is to collect data from different sources and make sense of it all by using your building management software’s analytics and reporting.
Conclusion
Building project management teams often find themselves under pressure to cut costs, while improving efficiency and profitability. These two goals aren’t mutually exclusive—a good digital tool can help you achieve both. The right digital tools in combination with a solid process set-up and operations can help.
As construction professionals learn more about how technology can improve communication, collaboration, and efficiency on their job sites (or even at home), they’ll be able to find the right software solutions in combination with a solid process for ensuring projects are completed on time, on budget and with a streamlined process from start to finish.
Looking to get started with construction management software to make your teams agile, efficient, and smarter? Start your 30-day free PlanRadar trial here.
