Three reasons why your construction firm should move to the cloud
Britain’s construction industry is large – and with demand coming from all sorts of sources such as house builders, infrastructure projects and more, it’s unlikely to shrink in the long term. With bricks and mortar the key commodity in construction, the thought of all these many firms moving their finance functions into a virtualised, in-the-cloud computer may seem a little counter-intuitive, but that’s far from the case – and moving to the cloud is actually a very smart decision.
1) Ease of access
As a result of the nature of the work, construction firms tend to be quite distributed in nature. It’s not uncommon, for example, for some staff members to work at the site office, while others are based in the head office, which could be miles away. However, all of these workers are likely to need access to the same documents from time to time. Builders on site may need to refer to them when laying foundations, for example, while client liaison teams in the office may want to double-check them to remind themselves of project scope during a phone call about costs. By investing in a cloud document storage solution, everyone can access documents via smartphones and laptops – meaning that there’s no more expensive courier bills or lost time as a result of information flow problems.
2) Monitoring workflows
Construction is the sort of industry in which efficient workflows are highly important. Time is of the essence for many construction firms, as a client’s budget is likely to only cover staff salaries and resources for a set period of time. Monitoring workflows in person, though, is another time drag – so a cloud-based solution that allows remote project status updates, holistic job site monitoring, and more are all handy. This, in turn, can reduce the risk of over-budget projects slipping under the radar.
It’s clear that this sort of benefit is already being experienced by lots of construction professionals. One study conducted by Unearth Labs found that a huge 85% of construction contractors had either previously used some form of cloud computing solution or were planning to do so in the future. There is a distinct risk of losing competitive advantages if you don’t adopt such a solution too.
3) Storing your data
Construction firms often have specific data storage requirements. Detailed photographs are often needed in order to meet client reporting requirements, while technology such as laser floorplan tools and drone-based whole-site aerial cameras can produce files that are simply too big for standard technology. Cloud-based storage with elastic, demand-based pricing offers a chance to store this sort of content with ease.
The construction industry is a profit-making sector like any other. This means that cloud-based software solutions ought to be high on the agenda here, as they’re an excellent way to both cut costs and achieve better operational outcomes for your finance team.
Find out more about the benefits of the cloud on this page.
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