Time for Tech

Technology has expanded into every aspect of our lives over the past 10 years. We can now do more in less time, with greater efficiency. We make calls from anywhere or send quick text messages. We punch addresses into our cars for directions instead of taking them down over the phone or highlighting a paper map. The construction industry—where workers are using hazardous equipment in the field away from computers and away from their bosses—has been a huge benefactor in the technology arena. GPS allows for tracking workers, crews and equipment with pinpoint accuracy. Long-lasting, high-capacity batteries power our hand tools so we can work faster and longer without the need for dangerous power cords stretching out over jobsites. Heavy equipment often features built-in computers with 3-D imaging that helps operators maneuver them through tasks safely and accurately. New software models make complex budgeting, bidding and estimating easier to complete than ever before. The thin piece of technology most of us now carry in our pocket has as much computing power as the Mars Curiosity Rover, the most complex machine NASA has ever sent to another planet. A standard smartphone can easily track a person’s or a crew’s daily work hours and job site activities. Supervisors can track multiple crews and manage their tasks at several spread-out jobsites, not to mention sending multimedia project updates or using biometrics to confirm the identity of the person clocking in to work. Your phone’s GPS can even show you workers’ exact whereabouts in relation to the coordinates and range of a specific jobsite. To stay in the game in today’s fiercely competitive construction market, every contractor simply must take advantage of tools that reduce operating costs and increase cash flow to help fuel growth. Change is tough. While embracing new technology is easy for young companies, existing companies may find it a bit more challenging. Old habits and procedures die hard. Ironically, though, existing companies often have the most to gain by incorporating new technology into their daily operations. Tracking and managing your workforce’s daily hours and activities using a smartphone or tablet saves countless processing hours, especially compared to the tried-and-failed paper time card method. It also ensures that company owners are paying for the hours and tasks that were actually worked. Even more time is saved by transferring the data from your time mobile tracking system’s number-crunching software directly into your accounting or payroll program. With a mobile time tracking system, no more time is spent driving out to jobsites to pick up time sheets that are neither accurate nor legible in a rush to make payroll deadlines. This is one of the most basic and logical ways that technology can help contractors get a leg up on competition and run their businesses more efficiently and profitability in the process.