As a construction site manager or project manager preparing to tackle a new construction project, selecting the right remote job site monitoring platform is an important first step. The US construction industry is expected to grow by 3.1% in 2022 according to a Market Trends and Opportunities Report. With many construction firms increasing their workload, finding ways to do more with much less will become more important than ever before. Choosing the right software and hardware to increase productivity, without sacrificing efficiency is a difficult task in the best of times. With that said, here are some steps you can take when deciding what job site management and monitoring platform fit your project best.
Step 1: Select Your Features
As each project is different, so too are the feature sets of both the software and hardware solutions that will eventually make up your remote job site monitoring platform. For instance, in the case of construction software, there are different levels of collaborative tools available, and deciding who you need to share progress with may be more important than other features. The same is true for the cameras you rely on to oversee the project from a distance. You might need construction site cameras for both timelapse images and environmental sensors, or you might need night vision or high definition, but not both.
The best way to evaluate the different options for both software and hardware is to demo the software and the hardware. While you might not get the company to agree to set up a demonstration on your job site, you should be able to convince them to get a user’s view of an existing deployment to get a feel for the solution. Getting a first-person view of how the software and hardware tools work with each other, and how easy it is to get the information you need, is going to require a demonstration.
Step 2: Explore the ROI
As with any new tool on a construction site, measuring return on investment is difficult to gauge in the short term because not everything pays immediate dividends. Folding in new technology or software to an existing system is rarely justified in the short term due to implementation issues such as time, training, and customizations for your specific need. The question is whether your new remote monitoring solution saves you time, money, and energy.
Finding the right solution requires thinking about how it alleviates bottlenecks in your processes or helps you do more with less. It isn’t likely a single solution solves all your problems, but it is possible to find a combination of tools that accomplish everything you require, doesn’t decrease efficiency, and can quickly pay for itself. An example is choosing a remote monitoring solution like SiteKick that can seamlessly integrate with a robust jobsite management platform like Procore. You can eliminate many of the standalone applications you rely upon daily to accomplish mission-critical tasks such as reporting, data analysis, scheduling, timelapse video, social media engagement, environmental monitoring from a single dashboard.
Step 3: Ask the Experts
Once you’ve narrowed down your choices to one or two options, it’s best to get the experts to weigh in. While a project manager might have a deep understanding of the overall operation, it’s the guys in the trenches who may shed light on what is and isn’t valuable. Will the new remote monitoring solution will solve their most common issues with your current system? Is it overly complex? Will it require extensive training? You rely on your team to get the job done right, rely on them to help you decide which remote monitoring solution fits their needs.
As a final step in choosing the right remote job site monitoring solution, once you get access to a demo, ask each team member to perform a set of common tasks. Since your team will most likely spend a great deal of time working inside the software, they have a vested interest in getting it right.
No one is saying that finding the right software and hardware solutions to solve your job site management issues including remote monitoring, site security, data collection, and analysis is easy. Far from it, but with the right advice and experts in your corner, you can certainly find a solution that fits your needs now and in the future. To find out more about SiteKick and how we bring powerful tools to your favorite site management platforms like Procore, contact us for an informative demonstration of how we’re helping build a better future for our partners.
