Enhancing Team Communication with Software
It’s not exactly news. Better communication before, during, and after construction projects yields better results at every level.
However, one significant change has crept into construction communications over the past decade. We’ve all got much better construction software, making communication and collaboration effortless. Here’s what you need to know.
Faxes Are Dead, and Email Is Misused
You’d be hard-pressed to find any business established in the past ten years that has invested in a fax machine. Some might have digital fax programs that allow them to send or receive faxes on a computer, or they might have multi-function machines that incorporate printing and faxing, but the days of the standalone fax machine are over.
Many people don’t realize that email is not far behind, at least if you’re talking about reliable methods of communication. Let us explain.
The problem is that email inboxes are cluttered places. It’s incredibly hard to find specific emails, and organizing them properly is pretty much a full-time job. Even if you say you have a great system with labels and folders, try to find a particular email from six months ago. Imagine if you had to find one from a year ago where someone authorized a specific action on a project, and now you need to find that piece of evidence. Good luck.
Then there’s the problem of accidental deletion or archiving and the ever-present (and growing) threat of cyber attacks. This is not to say you shouldn’t use email, but instead of just leaving it in your inbox folder, you need to get that email thread into your software platform with all its attachments. FYI, we do this with our clients.
Construction Software for Collaboration and Communication
Most construction software platforms weren’t designed with communication in mind. But most good ones incorporate good communication tools that you can use to stay on top of every project.
Modern construction software platforms offer unparalleled collaboration potential because they usually have granular security permission settings, which means you can control precisely what every person at every level of your organization and specific projects can see, edit, respond to, delete, etc.
With email communication being as popular as it is, it’s highly likely that you are using email to communicate with your project team members regarding the details of a project. While this may be effective at the moment, emails are too easily lost, deleted, forwarded, printed and more. This can lead to potential breaches in data or even a complete loss all together.
The communication tools that are built into construction software platforms are designed to stay on the platform which in turn means they’re always easy to find. They’re automatically cataloged in your project by date, time, user and more. This means you will have filters, search tools and whatever else the software may provide to help you find the exact communication you need, when you need it. Construction software communication tools not only solve the problems other methods of communication struggle with, but they offer additional benefits such as push notifications and integration with a variety of other business tools.
Choose the Right Construction Software
Getting the right construction software for your organization is a huge factor in how well tools like on-platform communication work for you and how much benefit you get.
When you’re looking for construction software to change the way you manage projects before, during, and after construction, there are a few must-haves that should be at the top of your shortlist:
- A user-friendly interface – the best construction software makes complex tasks seem effortless, and it’s intuitive, so even when you’re brand new to using it, you can figure out where things are.
- Quality onboarding and support – even intuitive platforms can take time to master, so look for software providers that help you get things set up and figured out.
- Reliable, secure servers – if you’re using cloud-based software, you need to be able to access it at any time of the day or night, so always ask about server uptime.
- Detailed user management – you need to be able to control precisely who can access and use which aspects of the platform at all times.
- Backup and security – find out if the construction software you’re considering maintains backups, and if so, how often they’re taken and how many are stored.
- Relevance – there are a considerable amount of construction software options out there today, but they’re not universally relevant – you want to be sure that you’re not trying to use software designed for residential or general contractors if you’re a property owner or developer, for instance.
Other Important Things to Make the Most of Construction Software Communication and Collaboration
Modern construction software has changed the way we do everything in the construction sphere, from concept to completion and beyond, but there are a few things that can help you get better results from whatever software you choose.
The first is consensus. Your project management team must understand the official communication platform for the record, which should be in writing.
Next is buy-in. Once you’ve chosen the construction software platform you plan to use, everyone in your organization must embrace it enthusiastically. When team members are not on board, they could accidentally or deliberately sabotage the rollout’s success. So make sure that everyone understands that this change is for everyone’s benefit and that you expect them to help make the transition as smooth and successful as possible.
Finally, it’s a good idea to think about how you will transfer files and data from past projects onto your new construction software. While you can manage projects before and after your new software with different processes and systems, it only adds extra work and complications. If you can create an archive of completed projects alongside current ones, you will save time and effort.
Built for Collaboration and Communication
At Owner Insite, we’ve all spent many years directly involved in construction, and we know that projects often succeed or fail based on the quality of collaboration and communication.
That’s why, when we designed and built our platform, we built communication and collaboration into every layer and tool.
We wanted to be sure that everyone involved in every project could log in and understand the status of that project at a glance in real time.
We know that software will never completely replace face-to-face conversations and meetings. But we’d like to ensure that everyone arrives to them better prepared than ever before.
For these reasons, we provide unlimited users, unlimited document storage, unlimited training, and unlimited support to your entire construction project team. On Every Project you onboard with us! All-inclusive of in the project license.
Contact us to learn more.
