Business leaders can choose between two approaches to designing and employing a technology stack: a best-of-breed approach that combines different applications that are the best in their respective fields, or a single-vendor approach, which simplifies the process for businesses who simply do not want the hassle of putting together a bespoke set of solutions for themselves. Here are three reasons your construction business should adopt a best-of-breed approach instead of a single-vendor solution.

Why best-of-breed technology outperforms single-vendor solutions every time

Competitive marketplaces inspire innovative solutions for specific customer pain points

In any industry, the consolidation of products and services under a small group of vendors can unintentionally create an oligopoly. As a result, companies who operate in that economy tend to be under less pressure to innovate and find new ways to provide value for their customers. When niche products begin to emerge in these marketplaces, they have to compete on sheer quality and provide a level of support or usage that existing players cannot.

The nature of best-of-breed products is that they are constantly improving their application or service to protect their advantage. They are also more likely to be able to solve extremely specific operational challenges that construction businesses might have.

Companies can design the best technology stack for their unique requirements

Gartner revealed that more businesses are moving away from an integrated suite approach in favor of custom best-of-breed technology stacks, with only approximately a quarter of business leaders choosing the former. The main reason companies avoid integrated solutions is that they force their clients into a locked ecosystem of products or services. This can be extremely inefficient for businesses who want to digitize processes that are not serviced by their provider of choice. In the construction industry, where businesses tend to have extremely specific requirements that change from project to project, taking a modular approach to digital transformation is more in line with the nature of the operation.

Best-of-breed stacks can be scaled for a rapidly changing business environment

Like every other industry, the construction industry learned the importance of being able to rapidly scale up or down during the pandemic. The major upside to developing and employing a stack of best-of-breed products in an integrated technology stack is that the solutions that exist within the stack are infinitely customizable between projects. For example, businesses that had to pause operations during the pandemic could adjust the stack to focus heavily on office-related tasks and administrative efficiency. The adjustable nature of best-of-breed stacks is also a perfect match for construction companies who work on projects of different sizes and so need to scale their operations regularly to maintain high levels of operational efficiency.

Why integration is crucial to get the most out of a best-of-breed technology stack

Disparate applications and uses can entrench existing silos

Construction businesses are notoriously siloed in their operations. This siloed mentality has found its way into the digital transformation plans of these companies. As a result, construction businesses have found themselves using more and more applications for their individual use cases without integrating them with the rest of the operation. Only 6% of construction companies said that all their applications were integrated. The promise of digital tools was that they would enable collaboration and data sharing across information silos—but this can be extremely challenging without integration, even if each application falls in the best-of-breed category.

Equal data access increases the likelihood of spotting operational inefficiencies

Information access is a crucial enabler of coordination and communication across business divisions and silos. This can be challenging if applications are not integrated. When applications are kept separate, information has to be transferred from application to application manually via spreadsheets or multiple email chains. This can make it difficult to use your employees as various points of quality control. When software integration is completed successfully, business leaders can expect greater collaboration, reduced risk of safety gaps going unreported, and increased operational efficiency.

Increase productivity by automating low-value tasks

Construction companies have faced a productivity crisis for years and business leaders have attempted to use technology to close the productivity gap and improve efficiency in the office and on-site. However, many companies use a variety of technologies that are not integrated and as a result, lose approximately a third of operational data by the end of the project. The manual transfer of data and inconsistent storage of information means that employees on the ground spend a significant amount of time doing low-value tasks. When best-of-breed construction technology workflow engines are fully integrated, business leaders can rest assured that the software is taking care of repetitive tasks such as data management while employees are freed to do high-value work such as customer engagement.

Best-of-breed technologies combined with the right iPaaS provider can help construction companies build a cohesive and interoperable stack that can find the balance between choosing the right technologies for their unique set of requirements and the convenience of having these technologies work together natively. For businesses to make the most out of their investment in digital tools, managers must be deliberate in the way they choose, design, and deploy their preferred suite of digital solutions.

Author Bio

Tom Stemm is the CEO/Founder of Ryvit. Tom leads a team of integration developers, application enthusiasts, customer heroes, and sales superstars on a mission to eliminate duplicate data entry and rampant data errors from the construction technology world.

There have been recent studies comparing technology use in construction vs other industries with the conclusions that the construction industry is just not adopting technology that is currently available.

Whaaattttt?…No, I got lots of construction apps, that can’t be right!

Tell me a viable construction business that does not use technology and I will show you one that will not be here next year (or its employees will quit by then)! Heck, there are gazillions of applications on the market that solve just about anything that creates or manages construction data.

Then what is the reason for a lack of adoption?

Lack of Adoption – Conspiracies …

One possible issue is due to … (yes, lets blame the vendors) … “There are gazillions of applications that solve just about anything …” and THAT’S what wrong! It is a mess of disparate silos of applications that lack interoperability or common navigation (the software version of Venus and Mars language). Technologists, by the observable evidence, are myopic in their problem solving. They are either ignorant of construction data relationships and dependencies or don’t understand the big picture of what project management really encompasses, or don’t understand the construction operations management side of the business, or they are just a marketing entity and creating lousy technology (or all the above). This is also true of many construction end users unfortunately!

How many applications do you use every day to manage construction projects? How many of them are integrated or interoperable (seamlessly)? How many have a common menu/navigation or seamlessly share content? What is that costing in actual productivity and more importantly in the emotional quotient of user’s confidence in getting their job done? Just look at the list below …yuk!

99% of users will say very few apps integrate or have interoperability, much less a similar look or navigation. That same group will most likely admit they learn only enough to get by in using the software as they are all so very different or complex. Which brings me to the second premise of why the industry underutilizes technology (owners and end-users) … skills and training.

Is It Skills or Is It Training?

In all my years in construction management and then in construction technology consulting I NEVER had anyone tell me, “that’s just way too much training for me, I’d rather know less about using software productively”.

I did have owners and managers that consistently wanted to negotiate the price down for the technology acquisition by first cutting the consulting/training budget and minimizing it as much as possible (or having their own staff take the burden of figuring out the system). This is a loss of properly training (investing in) the human assets of the company.

There is also a huge marketing emphasis today on how easy the cloud based applications are to use and have reduced the upfront costs of consulting, configuration, setup, and training… because it is the Cloud. The internet says so, so it must be true, right? Fake news? (:-

That theory would result in the opposite of what research is showing… that there is a lack of adoption. Is it a missed expectation caused by marketing – download it and it should be simple to use? Is that just being naïve? Some things require more skills training and regular ongoing refresher training to keep up.

It could also be a failure of ownership/management in the construction companies not setting appropriate expectations for expertise and skills by the end users. This could be a problem of training unskilled users above their skill sets. It might be the end users are behind the technology curve in understanding how data should be managed or how to understand what the data represents (analysis). I have been in numerous meetings where end users were shown some projection reports and I asked them what does the data show?… and they looked at me like deer in the headlights.

Training is more than using the software, it is about HOW to use WHAT the software does and apply it to decisions! You will not learn that in a video tutorial… only from experienced consultants.

So, what works and what doesn’t? I looked a long time before finding something that would come close.

Look at Microsoft’s Dynamics group (the application software side of Microsoft). Seamless interoperability is the driving force behind Microsoft’s strategic application development and their inferred quest of world domination! They are well on their way to leading the industry in seamless integration and holist solutions. The Dynamics CRM application platform is a great model example.

How to use that platform and strategy? Look, for example, at IPM Global Project Management, a Dynamics CRM application solution, and learn what integration can mean.

• Running project management through Outlook as a front end (a common user interface), or a browser (another common interface), or a table app (familiar UI again).
• Seamless integration with MS Office and Office 365 (merge contracts from within IPM, then track them)
• Email auto tagging and filing in project management, against projects, documents, and the life cycle of those docs!
• A layer of business logic designed specifically to interface bi-directionally with most major construction accounting systems (keep your existing accounting!). See real-time costing from within IPM
• Scheduling – see the schedule inside of IPM and make changes, have it sync to your scheduling software
• Import estimate details from excel formats and use not only for budget cost code summaries but for detailed RFP’s and change request line items (no more retyping).
• Mail Manager – tool that scrapes the responses to RFI’s, RFP’s, etc. and populates from the email back into the project document for distribution.
• Automated business workflows to allow consistent and productive business processes… an issue becomes an RFI that becomes a change request, that becomes a change order, that goes into billing … full life cycle tracking and management.
• Document Controls (track the entire life cycle of document distribution including revisions)
• Portal – simple easy to use for outside parties.

Don’t let current islands of information management hinder your operations, make it difficult for your suppliers/subs, and unhinge your clients.

Find out how to integrate your existing mission critical applications with a “single source of all project truth” solution. It can be done. Then train the dickens out of your end-users!

During my construction career where I learned out of desperation how to apply technology I found a trail of those feathered beaky hardhats’ workmanship in many places. Hell, I created some myself (having to learn the hard way how to manage them).

To understand this issue (code for knowing what you don’t know) you have to understand the true definition of “Project Management” from an information management definition which means everything project related… all document management, all budgeting, all contractual management, change management, communications, scheduling, costing … it is all related to managing the risk of any project and should be housed OR accessed through a central library. NOT some of it… ALL of it! Without all of it in one central source… woodpeckers show up.

The History of the Construction Woodpecker Species:

“Giantopolis Woodpeckermost” – …From the days of Moses and the time of the estimating on a Big Chief pad of rock or new-fangled text spreadsheet islands. It was nirvana… sort of, well, no it sucked. That woodpecker was so heavy and slow the job was done before anyone saw the data… but we could manage the holes! Oh, then you gotta redo the data after someone points out your lousy typing skills (Before Google Talk – BGT). The ship had holes and was taking on water! What’s one or two holes?

Now your project mobilization and execution. We had MORE spreadsheets to track Requests for Information (RFIs), Requests for Quotes (RFQs), Submittal Items, on and on, all while attempting to keep up to date who had what where and when. The winged varmints were teaming up at the vendor level AND the owner level on that one, and getting more agile at holes!

Email has become such an important tool for doing business that many keep it open all day and check it frequently. Not only that, email is a tool that even “non-techie” workers have embraced. For that reason, IPM’s Project Management tool is housed within Microsoft Outlook so that when you check your email you are automatically logging in to your project management software as well. It resides handily at the side of your Outlook screen, without having to continually open and close the two applications. All your jobs, RFIs, RFQs, contracts and other project information are in folders that are right there, visible.

The benefit of this should be apparent: when you log in to your email (as 93 percent of you do first thing every work day) you will also see any project updates and newly added, amended or updated documents. Certainly, providing the Project Management application within Microsoft Outlook will ensure a higher level of user adoption of the solution and a gentler learning curve as it works along with your familiar processes.

IPM Project Management is a scalable and fully integrated Project Management software tool built for businesses within the construction, engineering and project based industries.

For more information about how IPM project management fits within Microsoft Outlook, please feel free to contact IPM Global.

1. Powered by Microsoft Dynamics

Likely your team is already using Microsoft products like Outlook, Word, Office 365 and perhaps Dynamics CRM and ERP. IPM Global Project Management integrates directly with these systems. Because IPM operates right within the already familiar Microsoft Outlook, your team will find it intuitive and it will require less time and money spent on training. Plus, you don’t have to log into a separate system.

2. Customizable to your needs

Of course your business has unique requirements and your own way of operating. Because IPM Global Project Management Software is based on a Microsoft platform, it can easily be customized to suit your needs. You may desire customized screens, dashboards, field labels, reports and workflows. You can achieve all of these without the need to hire outside consultants.

3. Extensive reporting and Dashboards

In order to manage a project properly it is crucial to have up to date information at your fingertips. In addition to the more than 100 reports and dashboards that are delivered out of the box, users can easily create their own Dashboards and queries.

4. Optionally integrates with a variety ERP systems

Engineering and construction industries often have accounting requirements that are not met by standard ERP solutions. IPM Global project management software integrates with a variety of ERP systems to provide functions that you need without making changes to your accounting system.

5. Access your information from anywhere

Particularly in the area of project management, your team needs access to information whether in the office, on the road or on the jobsite. IPM Global project management software allows you to access your information on a variety of devices for use online or offline. It is truly mobile.

To learn more about IPM Global Project Management Software and how it can benefit your project based business, contact IPM Global and ask for a free demo.

Flexibility

Why is flexibility in your project management software so important? Think about all the projects you have managed and remember how many were one hundred percent scheduled and budgeted right from the start. Not many, right? Things happen, scenarios change; it doesn’t take much to alter a prospective budget or schedule, especially on a large scale project. You need to be flexible and your project management solution needs to be flexible enough to keep up with the changes.

Think about the projects you are managing at present. It is not unheard of for project managers to have several projects in the works, maybe some large and some small. Multiple projects of various size and parameter also call for flexibility in your project management software.

You should be able to use the same project management software for all of your projects rather than using spreadsheets for smaller projects and the project management software only for large projects. By using the same software for all your projects, you maintain a professional consistency across projects and provide accessibility and visibility into your business as a whole. You also insure against the errors that are so common when using spreadsheets.

Design

Your project management software should be user friendly. The software should be built for the project manager, not the accountant. Those job descriptions are very different and although both are necessary, you will get the most value from your software if you choose the right software for the job. Rather than trying to add makeshift features to an accounting software system, a project management system should be based on the project manager’s job: what he does, what he needs to know. A properly set up dashboard can give a project manager the critical data he needs at a glance.

Customization

When evaluating project management solutions, ask these questions: Can this project management software be easily customized to fit my unique business needs? Will we have the ability to access it through other software that we use every day, like Microsoft Outlook? Can we create custom menus, dashboards, workflows and screens to reflect the way we prefer to do business?

On the go access

Your project team does not necessarily work in the office, at least not all of the time. Your project management solution should ensure that they have access to all project information at all times. Whether via smart phone, tablet, laptop or home pc, your team will perform better with more likelihood of staying on budget and on schedule if they have the data they require, anytime, anyplace that they may be working. Think how much more efficient it is to be able to answer a question when on a job site, rather than having to drive (or fly!) back to the office to get the information.

Multiple Industry Flexibility

Even if you operate in just one industry sector, project management software that is flexible enough to work across industries will offer the most versatility and allow you to manage projects that don’t fit the cookie cutter mould. Your projects are not all identical and your project management software must have the flexibility to cope with the differences.

In today’s world of tight deadlines and streamlined budgets, your project management software must be practical, intuitive, versatile, and yes, flexible. IPM Global Project Management software has these qualities built into its design. It is project management software for project managers.

To learn more about IPM Global Project Management software and to discuss how it can benefit your business, contact IPM Global

The best project management software allows you to manage your projects efficiently while inadequate software can delay rather than accelerate completion of the project. In addition, project management software is dependent on its users. So how do you know which project management solution is the best fit for your projects and for your team?

Before discussing what makes a project management solution effective, you need to back up a step and make sure you have already done a needs analysis. Brainstorm with your team; ask for input. Take into consideration the goals of individual members or departments as well as your overall business goals. When your goals are identified, you are ready to choose your project management software.

Here are some factors to consider when choosing a solution:

1. Collaboration

Project management software should be designed to promote collaboration. Evaluate a project management solution for robust tools facilitating communication and organization. Your choice should be a solution that allows seamless information sharing; detailed reports and status updates.

2. Cloud Technology

Cloud technology has made its mark and for good reason. The convenience of having your project management accessible to team members whether they are in the office, on a project site or collaborating from half-way around the world is invaluable. Your choice should be a solution that gives you the option of web based or cloud technology.

3. User interface familiarity

To reiterate, Project management software is dependent on its users. If the interface is user friendly, intuitive and familiar to team members there will be less of a learning curve and less resistance to using the tool. Project management tools that work from inside Microsoft Outlook have the advantage of familiarity and ease of use.

4. Scheduling

Successful project management should have the goals of staying on schedule and delivering the project on time. Project management software that has the capability of alerting team members about impending deadlines and other actionable issues will help you meet those goals. Your ideal project management solution will also enable project managers and team members to see what tasks have been completed and by whom and what tasks are yet to be completed.

If you are looking for a project management solution that meets all of the criteria, contact IPM Global and ask about our Project Management Software

IPM Project Management is a scalable and fully integrated project management software tool that was built for businesses within the construction, engineering and project based industries.

Until recently there have been fewer choices for project management software. Because they came on a “take what you can get” basis and were not easily customizable, they required you to work their way instead of them working your way.

Compare old project management software to a new, untrained employee. Its intentions may be good, but it’s slow, not up to speed or up to date. It can probably figure out a solution, but at what cost to your company. Will it be the best solution accomplished on time and on budget? Tasks may end up taking longer. Your new employee will improve; the trouble is, your outdated project management solutions will not; it will just fall further and further behind and will end up costing your company money and perhaps even worse, lost business.

Your old project management software could even become a tyrant, demanding that you work around it rather than it working for you. Ultimately your software needs to be working for you, not the other way around. It needs to be sufficiently malleable to adjust to the needs of your business which may be different from other businesses. Not just from other industries, but from others in your industry.

There is a solution to the problem:

An effective project management solution should be:

When it comes to choosing the right tool though, it is flexibility that will really put you ahead of the game. Why? Because it turns out that the easiest way to manage a project is to have tools that perfectly match your needs. You need a system that’s going to do what you want, when you want it to. Today with software like IPM, that’s built to be easily customizable, there are no excuses. Software like this, which is accessible from any device, browser or operating system, and allows you to capture new data easily, is a solution to your problems.

The solution that has it all is IPM Global Project Management.

You no doubt want to be a leader in your industry; why not adopt software that is also a leader and that allows you to run your business your way and see the rewarding results of a job well done, on time and on budget?

Contact IPM Global to learn more about IPM Global’s Project Management Solution and what it can do for your business.

So, what are the drawbacks to a messy desk?

Have you ever spent time searching among lists, and sticky notes and scraps of paper for an important document or phone number that you just know is “somewhere” on your desk? Maybe it only took a moment, but maybe it took a precious moment when your employer or a client or a collaborator was anxiously waiting for a vital piece of information. And perhaps it took longer or was not found at all. Frustrating, right?

Maybe you have relegated much of your information to your computer or tablet, but you might still have a messy desktop screen. Is your screen cluttered with files within files slowing down your computer and causing networking issues?

What if you are not the only one working on a project and what if your colleagues or collaborators have the same messy desk syndrome? What if the project involves multiple locations and even languages? Can you see how the chaos multiplies? There is more than just frustration involved. Environments like that can lead to confusion, missed deadlines, employer rage and lost revenue. When a project runs behind because of issues that could have been prevented, someone is bound to be called on the carpet.

The solution? What you need is a system that will organize, manage and delegate tasks and facilitate collaboration. It should be available anywhere, anytime from any device. The system should be backed up routinely, safely and off-site. It should be intuitive, user focused and versatile.

So where do you get a system like that? Glad you asked. IPM Global is a world leader in project management software for professionals in the construction and engineering industry. We operate worldwide to provide project management systems to meet the specialized needs of your company.

Visit www.ipmglobal.net for additional information or to schedule a demo.

Let us help you clean up that messy desk.

Governmental legislation is enacted in an attempt to protect business and individuals from unforeseen occurrences and accidents on construction sites. In the U.S., construction cannot proceed until a certified professional inspects and gives the go ahead. Any failure of this inspection can result in serious delay of the project or cancel it completely. Failure at that stage can be financially catastrophic for all parties involved.

A full project management system can help mitigate the risks involved with meeting governmental regulations. Here is an example of what could happen if an organization or company fails to have a full project management system in place:

Let’s say your town needs a new school. Plans are drawn up, building permits are acquired and the pre-construction phases begin in earnest. The school will be designed to hold over 2,000 students, so it will be a fairly large project.

Just as the structure begins to go up, there is a big change in building codes and construction laws for that community. These laws will necessarily affect the specifications of the job.

Because the construction company does not have a formal project management plan, no one person is responsible for overseeing such areas as a change in local regulations. Important legislation might be missed and the company could find itself noncompliant at some point during the completion of the project.

Inspectors arrive armed with the new legislation and, finding the areas of noncompliance, immediately shut down the entire project.

For the crews, this means time without work, either paid or unpaid; for the local community, it means a longer wait for the much needed school building; and for the construction company, it means a massive headache because in order to meet the new law requirements, they have to halt forward progress and redo a large percentage of the work that no longer meets the new regulations. Everybody is in a bind. Financially everyone is going to suffer as costs continue to accrue.

Thus begins the snowball effect that will eventually cost twice as much, take twice as long and become the blight on the face of the company that will go out of business because of a small, single oversight.

A properly administered project management system could have prevented this unfortunate scenario. A system like IPM Global’s project management system could have enabled overseers to stay on top of changing legislation and make adjustments in the project before time, labor and money were wasted. This whole situation could easily have been avoided if the construction company had implemented a formal project management system at the beginning of the construction phase.

This may seem extreme, but since laws can change during construction phases, it is vital to have a full project management system in place in the beginning to protect everyone involved. Visit www.ipmglobal.net to see how a formal project management system can help mitigate potentially costly risks.