Increase productivity and enhance safety on construction sites with Unified Communications

There’s a great deal of opportunity in construction today. According to Dodge Construction Network, “In total, U.S. commercial and multifamily building starts rose 25% from 2021 to $308.4 billion in 2022. Commercial starts climbed 25% to $159 billion, and multifamily starts gained 25% to $149.4 billion.”  That’s good news, but construction presents some unique challenges to overcome before companies can fully capitalize on prospects in that industry.

The nature of construction means that most employees work remotely, away from the corporate headquarters. Additionally, on individual job sites, workers are often disconnected from superintendents, supervisors and shop stewards. Safety issues can arise at the drop of a hard hat, and as a result, workers may be injured when a swiftly communicated alert might have warded off such dire consequences. Revised work orders from off-site engineers that are normally communicated at the beginning of each workday can result in hours of lost productivity, whereas timely wherever-whenever communications mean that foremen and workers can adjust planned activities accordingly and immediately, with no downtime.

Usually, a construction company will have employees spread over multiple job sites. Further, no actual hands-on construction work is ever done in the home office, or the trailer or shanty on site. Historically, business leaders in construction have searched for ever more effective ways of keeping their mobile, on-site and home office staff connected. According to UC Today, there is an effective way of doing that today, as both Unified Communications (UC) or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) provide an all-in-one environment for synchronizing teams, boosting collaboration, and unlocking critical insights in the construction industry.

As noted in Desk Alerts, “Construction workers aren’t like office employees — they don’t have computers in front of them all day long where they can access the corporate intranet or receive emails. Workers on-site may have little to no contact at all with anyone from head office and rely on their immediate supervisors for information.” 

A UCaaS solution can help construction business leaders keep their distributed workforce aligned with company goals, without adding additional workload to their already stressed IT team. It can also go a long way toward eliminating some of the major productivity issues challenging construction companies more important than ever in this time of continued labor shortages in construction.

Imagine this typical scenario: 

• A design change for a building is called for after a client meeting.
• The change needs to be communicated to the site supervisor quickly before additional work is conducted.
• The project manager in the office uses UCaaS messaging to alert the site supervisor of the change and attaches new blueprints to the shared project workspace.
• With the latest information, the site supervisor was able to immediately change course which resulted in more efficient work, saving time and money for the company and client.

But what features in a UCaaS solution should business leaders in construction companies look for, to reap the benefits of scenarios like this? Remember, one factor that defines construction is how collaborative it is. Key to efficient teamwork is communication between the job site and home front office, connecting project managers and supervisors wherever and whenever they need to collaborate. 

Top four benefits of UCaaS for the construction industry

Enhanced Safety: Construction sites are fraught with danger for workers. Conditions change daily, or even hourly, on most job sites. In addition to the ability to communicate safety concerns immediately to foremen and front-line workers, a UC system can store evergreen safety and health guidelines that can be reinforced in the safety meetings OSHA recommends for all job sites. 

Increased efficiency: A UC or UCaaS offering combines all the tools companies need for communication into one environment. The proper solution delivers one platform for text, voice, and video communications, accessible anywhere via any device. This can allow construction business leaders to eliminate redundant apps and outdated solutions, increase efficiency and control costs in the home office, as well as on job sites. A UCaaS solution can make some costs predictable with no upfront capital expense and simple subscription pricing. Further, with UCaaS, new capabilities are updated and maintained automatically.

Sharpened insights: There are UCaaS solutions available today with a wide range of features and options that can be customized for each end user, including integration with many of the most common business applications. With solutions like this, construction industry business leaders can more easily access the data they need to make decisions that directly impact a company’s bottom line.

Boosted productivity: It’s true across any industry: when management and workers communicate more effectively, project delays are considerably less common. In construction, when teams use UCaaS solutions to collaborate and solve problems virtually, the traditional need for in-person interactions — and the accompanying delay — is reduced. 

How Spectrum Enterprise can help

Construction companies can now enjoy the benefits of UCaaS with no upfront costs, and no additional stress on their already over-burdened IT staffers. Solutions exist that can be implemented with license fees, equipment and maintenance for one monthly price. 

For construction companies looking for a more comprehensive solution, Managed Workplace Package brings together UCaaS, connectivity, networking, security, equipment and more into a single solution with an intuitive, cloud-based portal that makes operating a network easy. This managed network solution can help answer the challenges of today’s evolving work site, complete with intelligent indoor, outdoor and infrared cameras that cover all your monitoring needs. 

Spectrum Enterprise provides technology solutions to 83% of Fortune 500 companies. Learn how our UCaaS solutions can be tailored to your unique construction industry needs.