In 2020, the Covid-19 lockdown significantly impacted businesses operating in the construction industry, with several non-essential building projects being placed on hold. Now, as the sector begins to adapt to a new normal, Matt Newman, Account Director at IT Managed Service Provider, Timico, discusses how technology will be paramount in enabling the construction industry’s future.
Covid-19, whilst challenging, has opened the eyes of those in the construction industry to how technology can be beneficial to accelerated business growth. A recent report revealed that 66 per cent of construction companies rolled out new technology during the pandemic.
However, despite numerous construction companies investing in new technology to ensure they remain connected, productive and secure, some are being left behind. These businesses need to execute a digital transformation strategy now, in order to survive in a post-Covid world where remote working, virtual site visits and social distancing has become the norm.
Staying Connected
Most construction companies are currently facing a hybrid working model, with workers either on site, working from home or in an office. This brings its own challenges, such as communication and server accessibility or flexibility; and has seen many businesses migrate to a cloud solution.
If planned and executed successfully with the business outcomes in mind, a cloud-based digital infrastructure is an effective IT solution; whereby either some or all of a business’ applications and resources are hosted in a public, private or hybrid cloud platform. Cloud-based solutions can be managed either in-house or by an IT managed service provider like Timico, and enables each employee to operate, function and communicate with other construction sites and workers from any location and across multiple device options for mobility.
A cloud solution is an agile and valuable resource for employees, as it enables them to be more productive, freeing their time for other key projects if required. It can also prove to be cost effective, often reducing the cost of expensive servers and maintenance, and security mechanisms or other in-house data centre equipment.
Staying Productive
All construction workers were given the green light by the UK Government to return to building sites in May. However, the way of working had changed significantly, with workers deployed in smaller groups and needing to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Unless necessary, no site visits or meetings were allowed.
Therefore, virtual site visits became one way of enabling quality control and problem solving without requiring a person to be at a construction site. Contractors and managers can observe a walk-through tour, recorded via a web-based video conferencing application. The employee can provide greater input on the project and it means that developments will have a greater probability of successfully completing on time and on budget, despite the restrictions caused by Covid-19.
Face to face meetings have also become less desirable or needed with remote meetings and video conferencing available for colleagues, clients and suppliers. Online platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom saw tremendous growth when the UK first went into lockdown in March 2020, with Teams becoming the fastest growing Microsoft application in history.
With added voice functionality included in Microsoft Teams Voice, remote workers can access business telephone numbers and functionality wherever they are. Video conferencing allows them to call colleagues and associates outside their organisation and present documents. This helps increase productivity while keeping communication avenues open.
Staying Secure
With large data files, blueprints and sensitive information being continuously shared between sites and offices, protecting a construction company’s IT infrastructure has never been more important. Every business is vulnerable to cyber-attacks and it is vital to have the right security solutions in place to protect data, with ongoing threat monitoring and detection.
This has never been more important with remote working. Have you protected your employees working from home? Do you have safe data-transfer applications in place? Are devices password protected and are you providing employees with training on best cyber security practices? These are all crucial considerations for construction companies with multiple building sites, offices and employees working remotely.
Microsoft 365 is a cloud solution that allows simultaneous secure document access and editing. IT solution providers can also provide additional protection through firewalls and managed security applications, keeping companies further protected from unwanted attacks or threats.
There is no doubt that the arrival of Covid-19 has dramatically changed how the construction industry operates, rapidly accelerating the execution of new technologies in the process. With more companies looking to adopt a hybrid way of working post-Covid, the advancement of IT infrastructure as a service will only continue to grow. Now is the time to adopt and adapt to new processes.
For more information about Timico, or to book a free consultation for your multi-site organisation, please visit www.timico.com.