Why Contractors Need Integrated Construction Technology

Technology is a big investment, and contractors routinely invest in multiple systems to help run their businesses. If these systems are not integrated, however, getting the right information to the right people at the right time is a struggle and inefficient.

Data from FMI and PlanGrid shows that 22% of contractors saw failure in implementing a construction technology because it did not integrate well with their existing technology and software. Not integrating is among the top three reasons tech fails, proving that integrated construction software is becoming a requirement.

This article covers the benefits of integrating your equipment management system with other systems and some of the basic software integrations available for construction.

What Is an Integration?

An integration is simply a connection between two technology systems, such as an equipment management system to an accounting or project management system.

By connecting key data across systems–such as hours and locations–you’re sharing the same data in more than one system. Depending on how the integration is set up, information may flow in one direction from one system to another, or bi-directionally back and forth between each.

Why Contractors Need Integrated Systems

Key reasons why contractors need system integrations include:

1. Eliminating inaccurate and incomplete data. A critical problem is that the executive team is using old, inaccurate data from the field to determine their plans and projections. Conflicting data and contradicting plans ultimately affect your bid rates and ability to stay competitive.
2. Reducing wasted time. When your systems are not integrated, time is spent on maintaining multiple systems and inefficient administrative tasks like duplicate data entry. Time spent on repetitive data entry takes away from time that should be spent on mission critical responsibilities and valuable productivity elsewhere.
3. Lowering risk for error. Manual data entry is a time drain and opens opportunities for human error. Keying in a “5” vs. “50” or missing a decimal place can throw your numbers off significantly.
4. Better serving everyone’s needs. Not all systems can serve the needs of your entire team. Your project, equipment and financial management systems won’t function at 100% on their own in support of all these business focuses, so the best solution for a contractor is to use the best systems for each specialty and make sure those systems tie into each other.

A non-integrated platform means workarounds and double entry. From an operational standpoint, this results in lost productivity, inaccuracies, confusion, lack of technology adoption and overall sunken costs.

Benefits of Integrated Construction Software

Benefits of construction technology integrations include:

• Automation of data flow to connect systems.
  With integrated systems, you get accurate data in whichever system you use, as opposed to translating information between the two system or referring to stale and inaccurate information that was never updated manually.
• Maximize and maintain your investment.
  Integrating your systems helps maximize productivity and extend the use of the systems you’ve already invested time and money into deploying. Integrating allows you to utilize your systems and team members to their full potentia l
• Maximize efficiencies and simplify processes
  When your systems are integrated, you spend less time in each of them because they are talking to each other and get to spend more time doing other activities that help drive revenue.

The benefits of integrated software have a powerful impact on the way you operate as an organization and your ability to gain competitive advantages over the competition. In a low margin industry, finding ways to stay ahead is do or die.

Equipment Management Integrations

Your equipment management system, specifically, has many integration opportunities. Equipment fleet information is valuable for your ERP and accounting systems as well as your project management and operations systems. If you are already getting AEMP data from your OEMs, it’s wise to leverage AEMP integrations to see and manage your telematics data on one platform.

In most cases, exact integration points are unique to each system, but the different types of equipment management system integrations generally work like this:

1. Accounting System / ERP Integrations: Information can flow bi-directionally between the equipment management system and the ERP, such as location, engine utilization data (hours/miles), billing information, fuel cost information, parts/labor/repair cost data and more.
2. Project Operations Integrations: Information can flow bi-directionally between the equipment management and project operations system, such as location, engine utilization data (hours/miles), maintenance information and more.
3. OEM/ AEMP Integrations: AEMP telematics data that you get from OEM integrations with manufacturers such as Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Volvo, etc., feeds one way from the OEM to the equipment management system.

What Existing Integration Opportunities Do You Have?

Having integrated, construction-focused systems in place that deliver complete and reliable information is a true operational need that can help contractors build, run and maintain more effective and profitable businesses.

Integrations across existing business systems can ultimately take your business from chaos to calm, has opportunities to provide significant future insights, and keeps you in the game and winning with new work with larger profit margins. When considering the purchase of a new construction technology system, be sure to research options that integrate with the systems your business is already using.

If you want to learn more about how to run your business more smoothly, contact Tenna to see how your equipment management information can integrate with your other business systems.Click here to learn more about Tenna’s integration functionality.

Learn more about Tenna’s integration functionality