How to justify construction management software?

But that’s not the case anymore.

Today's cloud solutions and mobile applications offer great opportunities to gain real-time insights into project health and support through data and analytics. This is great news! Key stakeholders now have the ability to make informed decisions in the field, which means they can take immediate measures to resolve issues ahead of they even start. With the help of forecasting, they can be even more proactive in preventing issues. Global projects are getting bigger, bolder, and more complex, which increases risk. Innovations like remote monitoring, automation, and visualization have great potential to enhance project progress, accuracy, and safety.

When it comes to technological innovation, however, just 8% of companies have been described as cutting-edge visionaries, while 69% are deemed followers or behind the curve, as per global construction survey.

The question then is why the industry has not completely embraced technology?

For the majority of people, integrated project reporting that is updated in real time is still more of a fantasy than a reality. This is mostly due to the fact that businesses have a tendency to employ several software platforms that are manually monitored and unconnected, which greatly impairs the efficacy of those platforms. The majority of people believe that the costs and risks associated with adopting new technology are not worth the claimed advantages, or that there is no ROI that can be guaranteed.

We'll implement it if we can see an immediate cost benefit to our customers, but if we can't, we'll put it on the shelf for someone else to try out. We are all about proven solutions and, to be quite honest, don't have the profit margins to experiment or be on the leading edge.

We value technology and innovation and seek stringent ROI for any connected investment. But like, hardly any of them actually make money or solve a client's problem right away, so they don't get the green light.

The Most people feel like, “I don't know what I'm paying for. I can't really figure out how much IT stuff is going to cost me. How can I be sure I'll see results?”

Expense vs Benefit Analysis of Construction Management Software

So, basically, if you treat your construction software as just another IT expense instead of a way to improve your business, you might not see the return on investment you were hoping for.

If you're going to invest in construction software, you must see it as a tool that helps your construction process run smoother and smarter, not just another tech thing like phones and laptops. The thing is, calculating ROI can be tough because you have to figure out and measure all the sneaky, not-so-obvious perks that come from apps that really help out with business stuff.

We've progressed beyond isolated point solutions with full cloud-based solutions , making collaboration and information sharing across divisions of a construction firm effortless. When you use a platform that can handle all parts of a project, you get way more than just saving money on printing by going digital. You also get transparency, responsibility, efficiency, teamwork, better vibes, and more productivity thanks to the software.

It's not just about buying fancy tech stuff; it helps the business run better and smoother, which is super important for the company's overall goals.

The greatest mistake is placing too much emphasis on technology instead of using it to achieve more important strategic goals. The majority of businesses fail because they try to adopt new technology without altering their internal processes and attitudes to accommodate them.

For comparison, you need a baseline.

Establishing a baseline for existing processes (identifying inefficiencies and potential improvement areas) is essential for generating measurable return on investment.

Most businesses, however, use a combination of email chains, Excel spreadsheets, and ad hoc methods to manage their projects, making it hard to establish a baseline. Because your data doesn't share with one another, you have to collect it from multiple locations throughout your organization, so by the time you're done, the information is likely outdated. The amount of effort needed for reporting effectively is considerable in and of itself. But, if you've got a collaborative software solution, it does all the hard work for you. It gathers and combines data from every part of your business and shows it to you in simple dashboards and reports.

That's why it's super important to keep all your project stuff in one software or a group of connected solutions. This way, you won't have to deal with separate data and doing things twice. The data will begin to accumulate with normal operations, and you'll see an instant return on investment from the digital efficiency gains. Now that you're keeping tabs on your daily routine, you can easily figure out what's going well and what needs improvement. This way, you'll know where to put your energy.

You can't Enhance what you can't Measure.

Calculating the benefits of the construction software

Software returns on investment (ROI) are often misunderstood since they are often thought to solely come in the form of qualitative advantages rather than actual statistics. Basically, these good things actually show up in the numbers, but you must have a starting point to compare it to and keep track of it over time.

But what a project may cost you in terms of rework, project delay, lawsuit, etc., and how the software is avoiding those costs by reducing your risk are equally crucial. It may seem that the advantages are immeasurable intangibles, but this is not the case.

So, like, the National Institute for Standards in Technology says that when it comes to construction work, like 10 to 30% of the cost is wasted on things like schedule overruns, wasted time and materials, and unnecessary lawsuits.

When you're figuring out how awesome construction software is, you need to make sure you consider all the benefits that are somewhat tricky to measure. So, if you want to figure out how much happier employees and a better work-life balance will save you, think about how much it costs to replace employees and assume you'll keep X more people each year. Hey, if your salaried employees start working smarter, you might want to think about hiring less people as your company expands in the future. Also, keep in mind that their expenses can be considered as actual savings.

If you're a head contractor hiring subcontractors and want to figure out how much better collaboration in the field is worth, try to estimate how much you usually spend on contingency plans to fix mistakes caused by incorrect information. Then, imagine you can reduce that cost by a lot with better teamwork.

It can be tough to figure out stuff like this, but you can totally make a ROI plan that looks at everything affected by using construction management software.

Let's get started!

There are like a ton of other risks that can be avoided and benefits that can be gained, some of which I didn't even mention in this post. If you use and handle construction software well, it can really boost your ROI throughout your whole company.

Hey, if you're thinking about investing in construction management software, the first thing you need to do is start checking out some vendors. Hey, check out this awesome guide for buying construction software! It'll help you pick the perfect solution for your needs.

If you aren’t currently using construction management application, we recommend to start with Livefield. Livefield is a construction management software that help people to manage construction process more effectively and complete the project on time and in budget.