2020 has been tough to survive, for both individuals and businesses alike. The construction industry is increasingly looking towards culture change to drive digital transformation and remain competitive today, says Chad Holbrook, VDC Manager at W.E. O’Neil.

This blog discusses the construction industry's pain points and how digital transformation can help overcome these challenges. Here is a comprehensive list of problems that the construction industry has been grappling with. 

Shortage of Skilled Construction Labor

Neither new nor trending, but the shortage of skilled labor and subcontractors continues to be a significant problem in the construction world. This results in delayed project timelines and affects profits for the company.

How is the construction industry handling this problem?

The construction industry is increasingly moving towards automating construction sites to increase the existing workforce's productivity by delegating highly repetitive tasks to the robots and software.

While robots handle repetitive tasks on-site, automation solutions like HR software, Construction project management software, and construction expense management software help you device data-driven strategies to manage the existing workforce efficiently and boost productivity. These help construction firms transform their construction project cost management.

Lack of Reliable Communication and Information Flow

Given that construction firms have employees, contractors, and subcontractors scattered across the country, working on different projects can be challenging to keep track of data. When data is not recorded and made available to project managers/Finance teams, it results in huge gaps between the estimated budget and actual costs.

How is the construction industry handling this problem?

The construction industry is turning to cloud-based resources to facilitate real-time communication between employees on the job site and those working from the office. Real-time data also helps identify issues and make data-driven decisions essential to the health of the project.

For instance, when Finance teams have access to real-time spends from the job site, they can:

• Identify and optimize any unnecessary spending
• Detect and prevent any risks or fraud 
• Ensure budget compliance for different projects
• Increase financial productivity with actionable data insights

A construction expense management software with easy business expense reporting features for employees and advanced configurability for Finance teams proves an asset in achieving business' financial goals.

Lack of Collaboration in Construction Project Management

It is extremely common for changes to occur in construction projects as they progress. However, when such a change occurs, all stakeholders must be instantly notified to make appropriate changes. If data gets lost in communication and all critical stakeholders are not aware of the changes, it could lead to hefty unforeseen expenses and delayed project timelines.

How is the construction industry handling this problem?

The construction industry is actively adapting to software that helps them bring all project data to a single dashboard. This data can be accessed by all stakeholders involved. This ensures that all the plans, budgets, and changes that occur through the project's lifecycle are appropriately documented and communicated.

For instance, a construction expense management software offers high customizability for Finance teams to ensure data from different projects is organized and tracked in real-time.

A construction expense management software also stores historical data, which helps Finance teams and Project Managers eliminate inaccurate budget estimates.

Stagnant Productivity Levels for Over 20 Years

The construction industry accounts for 13% of the world's GDP and employs about 7% of its working-age population. However, the construction industry has seen only a 1% growth in productivity over the 20 years.

How is the construction industry handling this problem?

In a contactless world, the construction industry seeks automation solutions that can automate repetitive and unproductive tasks. Take, for example, expense reporting. Automated expense reporting leaves your skilled workforce more time to focus on tasks that require their expertise.

With an AI-powered construction expense management software, you can set up automatic submissions, approvals, or reminders. This eliminates the need for your field staff to visit the office just to check on their expense reimbursement status, and for the Finance team to chase employees for compliance issues.

Construction companies can also streamline their process and boost productivity when it comes to accepting credit card payments through EBizCharge. The payment software integrates into 50+ ERP/Accounting systems to automatically reconcile incoming payments, allowing the workforce to focus on more important tasks

Learn how to streamline construction employee expense management →

Inefficient Data Collection and Handling

Construction firms use multiple software for various essential tasks. When data is collected on various platforms or programs, there is a high chance that data is lost or not exported correctly. This can result in hindering critical business decisions.

How is the construction industry handling this problem?

Construction firms are turning to software that integrates seamlessly with ERP, HRMS, and construction management systems. With a fully integrative software like Fyle, data flow between different essential software becomes a breeze.

Pro tip: Check for how strong the API integrations your chosen construction software vendor offers. APIs allow developers to build custom apps on top of software to integrate with the software of your choice.

Building Future-Proof Processes for the Construction Industry

Job sites connected using cloud technology can make all important data available in real-time to stakeholders, no matter where they are stationed. With data flowing in real-time, Finance teams and Project managers are reasonably aware of any unforeseen costs that might occur. This helps them plan and save costs.

Besides, technology like construction expense management software helps reduce your employees' time on unproductive tasks such as expense reporting. Fyle offers employees multiple ways to file business expenses and from any device of their choice. Here are some ways in which your field staff can report business expenses:

If your field staff does not have access to the internet, they can:

• Scan it with smart OCR in the Fyle app.
• Click a picture and send it to Fyle directly from your gallery/ WhatsApp.
• Send their receipt as a text message and see it in Fyle as an expense.
  

If your field staff has access to the internet, they can:

• Fyle expenses directly from your inbox using our Chrome extension, G-Suite add-in, or Microsoft Office 365 add-on.
• Submit recurring expenses from apps like Uber and Lyft directly using Fylemail.
• Or, simply click on "Find my receipts" and sit back while Fyle discovers and categorizes receipts from your Gmail.
  

Once an employee has filed a receipt, the construction expense management software checks all expenses for compliance and automatically forwards it for approval.

Additionally, the automatic compliance check makes it easy for the approver to verify and validate expense reports in bulk.

Fyle's comprehensive construction expense management dashboard makes it easy for Finance teams to access data from various projects in one place and in real-time. This helps them stick to allocated budgets and stay on top of the organization's financial health.

Should an auditor need to verify any expense, all activity on any expense claim is recorded in a digital audit trail. Additionally, Fyle's centralized business expense receipt management cloud makes it easy to search for any expense claim using different employee and expense parameters.

Ready to take a step into the future of automated expense reporting? Schedule a demo with us now!