All construction and engineering projects require a hefty amount of collaboration. All too often, projects get delayed or costly mistakes are made due to failures in communications. When you’re racing to meet construction deadlines, your team needs to take advantage of technology systems with built-in collaboration tools that enable principals to connect regardless of their location. You can’t afford not to. That’s where Unified Communications (UC), or UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service), is the perfect fit.
Unified Communications provides construction businesses with an all-in-one environment for synchronizing teams, boosting collaboration, and unlocking critical insights. The right solution not only improves team performance, productivity, communication, and safety, but can also reduce security risks and save money.
Watch this video to gain insights into the importance of communication in construction and learn valuable techniques that can elevate your construction projects to new heights.
The Demand for UC in Construction
The UCaaS landscape is experiencing significant growth throughout virtually every industry as businesses struggle with the onset of remote and hybrid work. However, for construction companies, dealing with distributed workers is nothing new. Very little work is completed from the confines of an office in the construction space. This means business leaders need to find effective ways of keeping their mobile, field-based, and back-end staff connected.
The UC environment provides a critical tool for keeping these scattered employees aligned and working towards the same unified goals. It’s also a critical tool in eliminating some of the major productivity issues construction teams face. Here’s how UC can solve the problems construction teams might be facing today:
Enhanced collaboration: Poor communication and collaboration between distributed teams in the construction industry is a frequent cause of delays, mistakes, confusion, and errors. Relying on distributed tools for communication only makes the issue worse. Fortunately, unified communication tools can bring teams together wherever they are, through a multitude of platforms, including voice, video, messaging, and email.
Greater safety and security: The construction industry has long suffered from a poor history with health and safety. One of the key reasons accidents take place in this landscape is due to poor communication and collaboration. A UC system or UCaaS solution in the cloud, can help to eliminate errors by ensuring professionals have the guidance and support they need in the field. UC systems can even store useful health and safety guidelines.
Reduced costs: Limited budgets are affecting virtually every industry in today’s changing landscape. While switching from a legacy communication system to unified communications might come with an initial expense, the long-term benefits are huge. A UC or UCaaS offering combines all of the tools companies need for communication into one environment, allowing for easier financial management and cash flow analysis.
Better data insights: In order to grow effectively, construction companies need to be able to keep track of data about how their workforce is operating on a significant scale. Unified Communication tools can come with built-in solutions for tracking critical metrics and key performance indicators. They also provide companies with an end-to-end way of viewing how the workforce performs on a day-to-day basis.
Boosted productivity: Adding UCaaS solutions into the construction industry can also lead to increases in efficiency and productivity. When teams can communicate more effectively, project delays are less common. Teams can use UC solutions to collaborate over ideas and solve problems rapidly without the need for face-to-face interaction. Plus, employees can avoid having to switch between tools to reach different team members.
The nature of construction means that most employees work remotely, away from the corporate headquarters. Additionally, on individual job sites, workers are often disconnected from superintendents, supervisors and shop stewards. Safety issues can arise at the drop of a hard hat, and as a result, workers may be injured when a swiftly communicated alert might have warded off such dire consequences. Revised work orders from off-site engineers that are normally communicated at the beginning of each workday can result in hours of lost productivity, whereas timely wherever-whenever communications means that foremen and workers can adjust planned activities accordingly and immediately, with no downtime.
Usually, a construction company will have employees spread over multiple job sites. Further, no actual hands-on construction work is ever done in the home office, or the trailer or shanty on site. Historically, business leaders in construction have searched for ever more effective ways of keeping their mobile, on-site and home office staff connected. Both Unified Communications (UC) or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) provide an all-in-one environment for synchronizing teams, boosting collaboration, and unlocking critical insights in the construction industry.
A UCaaS solution can help construction business leaders keep their distributed workforce aligned with company goals, without adding additional workload to their already stressed IT team. It can also go a long way toward eliminating some of the major productivity issues challenging construction companies today.
Imagine this typical scenario:
* A design change for a building is called for after a client meeting.
The change needs to be communicated to the site supervisor quickly before additional work is conducted.
* The project manager in the office uses UCaaS messaging to alert the site supervisor of the change and attaches new blueprints to the shared project workspace.
* With the latest information, the site supervisor was able to immediately change course which resulted in more efficient work, saving time and money for the company and client.
But what features in a UCaaS solution should business leaders in construction companies look for, to reap the benefits of scenarios like this? Remember, one factor that defines construction is how collaborative it is. Key to efficient teamwork is communication between the job site and home front office, connecting project managers and supervisors wherever and whenever they need to collaborate.
Build the Foundation to Support Your Projects
Implementing a UCaaS driven blueprint for your businesses requires several key steps to ensure successful integration. Here are some important considerations when sourcing a solutions partner:
Assess Business Needs: Before integrating UCaaS into construction operations, the project team should assess field service management desired outcomes to streamline communication between project managers, site supervisors, and subcontractors spread across different locations. Review the current communication infrastructure and identify pain points such as delays in decision making. UCaaS allows your team to share blueprints, streamline project updates, and speed up document approvals.
Choose the Right UCaaS Provider: Compare providers based on their ability to support construction-specific needs such as enabling mobile access for on-site supervisors and subcontractors using tablets or smartphones, ensuring reliable job site connectivity for real-time updates and inspections with ruggedized devices, and facilitating secure data sharing between project stakeholders through encrypted channels. Consider factors such as scalability, robust security measures to protect sensitive project data like CAD files or project schedules, responsive customer support to address technical issues on-site, and integration capabilities with industry-standard construction management software such as Procore or Autodesk BIM 360.
Customize and Integrate the UCaaS Solution: Once you choose a provider, integrate UCaaS with scheduling tools like Primavera P6 to update teams on site progress in real-time or with document management systems such as Aconex, Fieldwire or PlanGrid. Establish user permissions and access controls to safeguard sensitive project information such as architectural plans, progress photos, or sensitive financial data stored in cloud repositories, all on one platform.
Train and Educate Employees: Conduct comprehensive employee training sessions for tasks such as conducting virtual site inspections. Collaborate on BIM revisions remotely using Autodesk Revit. Facilitate real-time communication through UCaaS platforms like Cisco Webex. Enforce best practices for leveraging these tools to improve client interactions by providing timely updates through platforms integrated with CRM systems like Salesforce.
Monitor and Evaluate: Post-implementation, monitor UCaaS performance closely to gauge its impact on construction operations. Track metrics for daily progress reports shared through platforms like Slack or Microsoft Teams. Adhere to project timelines by comparing planned versus actual milestones. Gauge client satisfaction based on responsiveness to queries or change requests managed through customer support portals. Gather feedback to identify areas for improvement such as enhancing integration with other project management tools like Oracle Primavera Unifier or refining user interfaces for easier navigation on mobile devices.
For FREE help developing a customized unified communications strategy for your construction or engineering company, simply tell us what you’re trying to accomplish at FreedomFire Communications and we’ll make it happen. It really is that easy.
