With any major business enhancement endeavor, honest and full commitment to the cause is critical. As such, whenever a company decides to undertake the large effort of evaluating and selecting software solutions, somebody has to be in charge of that effort, in order to effectively and successfully arrive at the best possible outcome.
There is no doubt that many construction companies have perhaps made construction software selections without going through a lot of evaluation, testing, company process improvements, business-practices modifications, and the like; but it is unlikely that such a lack of true commitment could result in the very best and most advantageous software package. Such lack of effort would result in nothing more than one might grab out on the Internet as shareware or freeware.
Of course, much depends on the size and stature of the construction company at hand. If the company is a five or ten person crew who handles residential home remodeling, perhaps an Internet software solution would suffice.
However, if the construction company is of significant size and stature; say with 100 or more employees, including Administrative, Public Relations, Legal, Accounting, Engineering, IT, and other sub-organizations typical within sizeable businesses; then the proper selection of Construction Management Software certainly becomes a much more profound and significant undertaking.
In construction companies of significant size and stature, software selection touches all of those sub-organizations in various ways:
- The Administrative department needs to have a particular set of data and reports geared for those responsible for steering the entire business.
- Public Relations needs to know up to the minute project operations and community impact or interference.
- Legal needs to be kept up to date on any potential project related issues which could lead to litigation.
- Accounting needs real-time data for ongoing actual project costs and profit/loss impacts.
- Engineering needs to be able to access project data to ensure adherence to plans and specifications.
- IT needs to tie together all the functionality and all the business processes, procedures, data equipment/technology, and the like.
- And, of course, there could be other sub-organizations, depending on the particular business structure.
So, it becomes clear why commitment is so critical for such construction companies when engaged in Construction Management Software solutions. And, it becomes clear that such construction companies must select or hire someone who can take charge of the project and carry out the necessary steps to get it done.
Such an individual should certainly have a strong understanding of general computing; the technology, the theory, the inner-workings of software, and the like. In addition, a software selection project champion should possess excellent people skills, since much interaction with a variety of levels of personnel will be required throughout the software selection process. Also, the ideal project leader will need to be able to bring together the right vendors, suppliers, third-party experts, internal resources, and the like.
Of course, such an individual must also possess the commitment and drive necessary to wrap their arms around the big picture; to know how the software selection process will impact the overall business, and to know enough about the business processes to comfortably and accurately blend the Construction Management Software with the construction company structures.
David Kraft is a freelance author that specializes in the field of construction management software. He writes articles that are aimed at helping construction professionals choose the right software for their business, which is often a difficult decision. Please check out his construction software site for more information.
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