With software options expanding at a seemingly exponential rate, IT leaders for contractors in the heavy construction sector face exciting opportunities and tough challenges. Three of those leaders shared how they pick the best solutions for their companies, get end users to adopt them and get software systems to communicate with each other.
Prioritizing Investments
With tech expanding so rapidly, prioritizing and deciding where and how to focus is a growing challenge. “You have to make sure you’re not just buying something for the sake of buying something,” cautioned Eric Schubert, chief information officer at Vermont-based Casella Construction, a contractor that completes heavy civil work across New England and New York. Schubert says contractors should be sure the technology will solve a problem or help them take advantage of an opportunity, both of which should be well defined before buying decisions are made.
This defining stage is where IT experts can play a vital role. “We want ideas to come from the organization, but IT is there to say, ‘Let’s talk about the problem before we talk about the solution,’” said Chris Malafa, IT director for Griffith Companies, a large heavy civil contractor based in California.
Malafa and Scott Martin, the IT director for Sherwood Companies, emphasize that it shouldn’t just be up to IT to bring all technology ideas forward. They view internal employees as customers of the IT team and put a lot of effort into listening to the ideas they have, understanding what is causing frustration and then matching technology to those needs. Sherwood is based in Oklahoma and has nine entities across the midwestern U.S.
“If everyone across the company could just go out and select the software they wanted, we would end up with a lot of different silos of information,” said Martin. “Trying to bring everybody together onto common platforms that talk to each other is really critical as we move forward.”
Griffith Company has even established an innovation committee. Representatives from different departments meet to review technology needs and opportunities. Input from the cross-functional group surfaces information on how new technology in one department could potentially impact other departments and workflows.
“Often, you will have a department that says ‘We want this because it will help us,’ but they don’t necessarily understand how that may impact the other departments,” said Malafa.
Financial return is — and should be — a major factor in evaluating IT investment options. Malafa, however, pointed out that it is not the only one. “Being modern is helpful in terms of recruiting,” he said. “People — especially young people — want to see that you are a company that embraces technology, so sometimes you make a decision for that reason as well.”
Choosing Suppliers
When a contractor settles on an investment strategy or a particular technology, picking the right supplier is often the next challenge. Long-term viability, openness to integration and commitment to ongoing innovation are key criteria IT leaders like Schubert, Malafa and Martin look at.
“We need to be confident they will be around for a while and that they will continue to innovate,” said Malafa about software suppliers. “I have seen a lot of companies do a great job at what they do and then go stale, and 10 years later, the product they have is the same product they had then.”
Once Sherwood is confident a supplier meets its basic qualification standards for size, long-term viability, underlying tech and integration, a structured scoring system helps in evaluating competing options. Weights adding to 100% are assigned to each task the company wants the software to accomplish, and individual members of a committee score each option. Quantitative scoring provides an objective basis about which one to pick.
“This directs you toward what was identified up front as important to the company, so you are not distracted by all the bells and whistles ... you might not really need,” said Martin.
Getting Buy-In
“I was the last guy who wanted to switch from pen and paper, but once I found out how easy the new system was to use and how it made my life easier, I liked it,” is a common refrain among end users of new software. Proven strategies can help contractors overcome initial resistance and get to that desired conclusion.
Getting end users involved in the software selection decision is an effective way to get buy-in because it gives them a sense of ownership and makes them more invested in the initiative, according to Martin. Projects where IT or executive management independently dictate which software will be used are the ones that are more likely to fail, he added.
“You also have to look at usability,” Schubert said. “Whose hands are you going to put this digital tool in, how are they going to use it and is it going to be user-friendly for them?”
Schubert and Malafa cited unique and diverse dynamics in construction sectors in terms of the comfort level with technology. They said taking time to get people up to speed and to tune systems to the people who are going to use the technology are critical.
“We have people who are very sophisticated and some people who are really technology averse, and you have to be able to meet those people where they are,” said Malafa. Schubert encourages contractors to put particular effort into bringing along the employees who may be least comfortable with technology.
Executive support, an explanation of the big-picture benefit of new technology to the company and training are important too. Moving forward with a pilot program to work out any kinks before rolling a new system out to the entire organization is another proven strategy. This can entail a “train the trainer” approach, with product “champions” gaining expertise and helping to bring additional users onboard.
“We have always had the best success when we focused on in-person training, direct contact and making it clear to end users who they can go to for questions or support,” said Malafa. “At the same time, online training has improved significantly, and the convenience can be a benefit.”
Schubert said shorter, on-demand training content, particularly in illustrative video formats, is emerging as a very effective tool. Documentation, such as quick-reference guides, as well as follow-up training can also be effective for buy-in and ongoing success, according to Martin.
Data & Integration
It’s important not to overwhelm users and instead make it easier for them to get the information they need. That means an added emphasis on standardization of data collection and communication and data sharing across multiple systems.
“As we continue to go into the future with more and more technology, there are going to be more silos of data ... if we don’t do something about it,” said Martin.
“Integration is only becoming more and more paramount. You need your systems to integrate with each other,” Malafa added. Schubert is clear: “If there isn’t a robust API or other mechanism to get data in and out of these systems, we are already moving on and looking at something else.”
