Technology
The Construction Industry is one of a handful of industries that can benefit the most from technology. We believe that technology will be one of the key drivers of growth and success in the Construction Industry. Contractors that refuse to embrace technology will have lower returns on invested capital and higher failure rates than contractors who implement and effectively use technology. You will definitely need it if you want your company to be competitive, profitable, and grow.
Technology won't solve all your management problems. But if you use it for the things it can do best, accounting and bookkeeping, estimating and scheduling, project management and word processing, it will greatly reduce the time spent on these tasks. If your company is completely disorganized now, technology will only compound the disorder. First, develop sound business processes and then apply computer technology to the business processes. A computer can't organize a mess. Only humans can do that.
You can still make mistakes with computer technology. You'll just make them faster and perhaps bigger. If you put the wrong data in, you'll get the wrong data out. Computer technology doesn't do anything you can't do. It will just do it faster and more accurately. Computer technology can help you do many times the amount of work you could do without its help. But this doesn't mean you can operate with less staff. It means that your staff should be more productive and productivity is one of the keys to profitability.
It will take time, money, and patience to build a technology platform for your company. It can be a frustrating experience. Depending on how large your company is and how many business processes you want to add to your technology platform it may take some time to implement. In the beginning there will be more work – using both the old systems and the new systems until the new technology is reliable. It's unwise to abandon your old systems before the new system is perfected and your people are comfortable using it.
When you finally decide the time is right to build your technology platform, getting the information you need to decide what to buy is paramount. Computer technology changes rapidly. By the time you get your system up and running there will be new products and services to consider. The best idea is to create a system that's scalable so you won't have to start over when you want to upgrade a program. Try to buy best of breed products that are compatible with and will integrate with other best of breed products.
First, decide on the software that you eventually want to buy and then buy and configure the hardware to run it. Envision the system the way it will be when it's finished and all parts are up and running. Start with an accounting system then add estimating and then add project management and scheduling. You can add digitizers and bid packagers later. When you buy the hardware, buy the fastest CPU (Central Processing Unit) available. Purchase at least two MB (Mega Bytes) of RAM. (Random Access memory) Always consider flat screen monitors. They use less power and take up much less space than the old cathode ray tube type monitors. If you're a design builder, plan on a CAD (Computer Aided Design) program.
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