Construction companies are being pushed harder than ever to deliver quality work within budget and on time in the face of incredibly daunting circumstances. Labor shortages and supply chain disruptions compound in an industry already deeply affected by process inefficiencies. In fact, according to a study from McKinsey, 77% of ‘megaprojects’ are delivered at least 40% late, and global construction waste will reach 2.2 billion tons by 2025.
While some factors remain outside of builders’ control, inefficient manual processes are addressable by project leaders and hamper construction organizations with miscommunication and a lack of visibility into key information. A recent Foundry survey in partnership with Quickbase found that 70% of construction professionals are dealing with a lack of visibility into material availability and delivery status, and 55% are facing communication gaps between project management teams and job sites.
So where can forward-thinking builders look to solve this problem? The answer seems simple: a construction management platform. However, while construction businesses have been notoriously slow to adopt new technologies, digital tools in construction aren’t exactly a novel concept for builders. In fact, the Foundry survey found that manual processes weren’t the result of a lack of construction technology, but rather tech tools were even more prevalent in organizations using them inefficiently. The more that organizations manage their workflows manually, the more applications they use. The study found, that those who manage more than half of their workflows manually use 12.4 applications on average, while those who manage half or less of their workflows manually use 8.6. Point solutions are further complicating the work of project teams.
The answer in effectively addressing current project management challenges isn’t to merely bring a new point solution into the fold, but rather to make the most of what information is already available to you, connect your data, and take control of your workflows. The data you already have just needs to be more visible.
The New Generation of Tech Tool
Today’s complex projects require input from more stakeholders and coordination of more resources than ever before. Projects that were once managed on paper, then using digital tools like Excel have outgrown those capabilities. Managing projects manually is no longer feasible. Furthermore, the combination of a shortage of technical talent and IT’s lack of familiarity with specific team needs make the creation of internal, custom solutions far too difficult.
With challenges like staffing shortages, finding more people to solve the problems is no longer sustainable – it is about getting power and information into the hands of your team to attack the issue from all possible sides. Low-code technology gives the project leaders the ability to build an overarching solution to the problems they face daily without further siloing data in point solutions or needing to wait for the work of an overextended development team. A flexible platform also allows for project leaders to iterate and adapt their applications to each unique project.
Custom, Connected Solution
Low-code technology tools, like Quickbase, integrate information from across your entire organization and serve as the single source of truth for your unique processes. With more accessible information and the ability to meet the unique needs of each project, key challenges like safety management, supplier management, and project tracking become part of a united, cohesive approach to information across the information.
“Low code provides the right multitool that construction engineers can use themselves,” said Jacob MacIntyre, Director, Customer Acceleration Group of Quickbase, in Acceleration Economy.
Quickbase’s flexible platform allows project leaders to see all crucial project data in a single source by connecting systems of record and enables them to take control of all their unique, complex projects. The no-code software platform allows business users to make data actionable by promoting visbility and using information from across the systems they already have.
For more on how flexible software keeps complex projects manageable, check out our eBook. If you’re ready to make the most of your project data today, learn more about Quickbase now.
