Not all MSPs are created equal when it comes to assisting your construction company. You should rely on a managed service provider that understands industry practices to ensure that your IT strategy aligns with your business goals.
Traditional MSPs can plan and deliver services professionally, but often are unfamiliar with your company’s unique culture and business workflows, resulting in low technology adoption and poor performance. As a decision maker, you cannot accept a service provider that offers standard, out-of-the-box technology solutions. You need a provider that understands your culture, challenges, and goals in order to provide the tailored and cost-effective solutions that you need to succeed.
When you choose a construction-specific MSP over a traditional one, you will experience the following 4 benefits:
Benefit 1: Proficiency in Construction-IT Strategic Planning
A Construction-specific MSP is familiar with your company’s IT requirements and unique culture. As a result, the MSP can implement tailored strategies to meet your requirements, goals, and help you overcome your challenges. It also has industry knowledge by interacting with various decision makers and staff members, either onsite or offsite, which leads to increased technology adoption and improved performance.
Construction-specific managed service providers understand the industry’s unique culture and workflows. They have a proven track record of working with a diverse range of construction firms and serving thousands of employees, both on and offsite, resulting in increased technology adoption and performance.
These MSPs are aware that 52% of contractors continue to use pen and paper for everything from bids and estimates to project management, which is time-consuming. They are also aware that spreadsheets are used by a small percentage of businesses, approximately 32% of contractors, and specialized software applications are used by 21%.
As a result, they are familiar with the cultural resistance and integration challenges that come with technology infrastructure. Construction-specific MSPs address these issues with a progressive strategic planning approach, guiding your company toward the adoption of workflow automation and integrated software applications .
“ I’m probably putting in three to four 10-hour days to do estimates for a small batch of projects”, A project manager for a construction renovation company.
Furthermore, a construction-specific MSP recognizes the significance of aligning IT strategies with your business objectives and financial constraints. As a result of these financial constraints, some traditional MSPs may be put under pressure and recommend costly solutions without considering other cost-effective industry-specific alternatives. A construction-specific MSP, on the other hand, understands that your construction company may allocate a small budget for IT because you, as a decision maker, are unsure of how a new system may impact your company’s performance. As a result, it brings a wealth of experience to the table by eliminating uncertainty and demonstrating the ROI of their solutions based on their industry experience.
“The hesitation in making an adequate investment in a new software is due to the monetary cost, uncertainty of success once it’s implemented, the time commitment in implementing it and the training required for your staff.” Project engineer at construction company.
Benefit 2: Competency to Align Software Applications to Your Company’s Needs
A Construction specific MSP has a wealth of knowledge as it relates to industry trends in software applications and IT infrastructure. They collect and analyze massive amounts of data and reports from various organizations and agencies in order to be well-informed about the shortcomings of current solutions and processes.
Accordingly, a C-MSP is aware that 39% of buyers of construction-specific software are dissatisfied because their applications lack critical features. As a result, these construction companies must use a variety of additional methods to complete daily tasks, necessitating the development of new processes to improve the organization .
Construction-specific MSP stays current on the most recent developments in construction-related software applications and IT infrastructure. They collect and analyze massive amounts of data and reports to be well-informed about the shortcomings of current solutions and processes and to know how to overcome them proactively.
As a solution to these issues, C-MSP provides data migration and integration services for various construction-specific applications to avoid data loss and reduce manual work, resulting in a more seamless data handling experience. It will also help you determine which processes can be automated to streamline your business operations.
Benefit 3: Understanding of Construction IT Support Services and Business Continuity Plans
A construction-specific MSP understands that your construction company cannot afford IT downtime because it costs approximately CAD 3600 per hour, which equates to approximately $25,000 for a 7-hour downtime. It is also aware that your construction staff, whether on-site or off-site, requires reliable and secure access to their applications and files, as 92% of them access work-related files via mobile phones. Your employees may also request that their software applications be integrated, as 62% of construction workers experience data loss and double work due to a lack of data migration and integration .
A construction-specific MSP understands that your construction company cannot afford IT downtime and that your construction staff requires reliable and secure access to their applications and files.
A knowledgeable construction-specific MSP will provide your staff with comprehensive IT solutions ranging from remote access solutions and mobile device management systems to data migration projects. The MSP will protect your communication channels from cyberattacks that could jeopardize your intellectual property, such as designs, proprietary materials, and so on. They will also enforce security policies and make recommendations on various insurance policies to protect your company from liabilities in the event of a data breach involving sensitive financial data or client data. This is because the absence of these safeguards exposed the employers of more than 80% of construction workers to various risks .
Furthermore, in the event of a disaster, a construction-specific MSP ensures the efficient recovery of your critical business processes and IT systems in accordance with your predefined recovery objectives, strategies, and scenarios.
A construction-specific MSP will safeguard your communication channels against cyberattacks that could jeopardize your intellectual property, such as designs and proprietary materials. It will also enforce security policies and advise you on various insurance policies to protect your company from liabilities in the event of a data breach involving sensitive financial data or client data.
Benefit 4: Provide Training to Accelerate Technology Adoption & Usage
Many employees, especially those who are less tech-savvy, may struggle to learn how to use specialized construction software. This is often due to the fact that new users are being challenged to fundamentally change their day-to-day processes. The construction companies, on the other hand, must recognize that specialized construction software is rapidly becoming a requirement rather than a choice . Furthermore, 51% of construction workers were dissatisfied with the training provided on new technologies, which affected their performance and adoption rate .
51% of construction workers were dissatisfied with the training they received on new technologies, which affected their performance.
A construction-specific MSP understands the nature of your staff and will ensure their participation during the software application selection process. Following software selection, the construction-specific MSP will conduct small and frequent training sessions for your staff to demonstrate how these applications can benefit them and how they can integrate the new application functions into their daily activities. An analysis will be conducted to identify technology adoption and understanding, helping to provide insights into areas of improvement. In addition, training to ensure procedures are being followed correctly will be part of the collaborative training process.
A construction-specific MSP understands the nature of your employees and will gain their support by involving them in the software application selection process. A training program will be established to ensure technology understanding and adoption.
Construction companies frequently rely on limited internal resources to manage their IT infrastructure, which may overwhelm them and result in inefficiency and scalability issues. If your construction company does not have a strong and safe IT strategy in place, it will be difficult to mitigate common challenges and increase technology adoption across the organization. You don’t have to rely solely on in-house IT personnel to implement strategic IT solutions; instead, consider partnering with a construction-specific MSP like ActiveCo to support your industry specific IT needs.
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Contact us to learn how we can support your construction firm’s IT strategy by offering industry specific comprehensive IT services. Construction Software Buyer Report – 2015, Software Advice, 2015.
2020 Construction Technology Report, JBKnowledge, 2020.
Is 99.99 an industry myth? Uptime Institute study shows outages are common and costly, Uptime Institute, 2018
