B2W Flipbooks

12 MULTI-DEPART. TEAM • Accounting & Payroll • IT • Field Ops • Estimating PHASED ROLL-OUT • Start with 1 foreman and crew on 1 project • Expand to entire project • Add multiple projects ESTABLISH SUPER USER • Champion of the pilot project BEST PRACTICES FOR ROLL-OUT & PROJECT PILOTS • IT deployment challenges. Setting up backend software solutions, moving legacy data, connecting to legacy systems, acquiring mobile devices and training field staff are barriers that may seem impossible to overcome. However, the best mobile solutions will mitigate these obstacles by providing implementation and training services, out of the box back-end system integrations, intuitive user interfaces and options for low deployment SaaS/Cloud based solutions. • Connectivity at the jobsite. This issue often arises at heavy civil projects that are either remote or underground. Strong mobile solutions will have the ability to work offline, in addition to when connected. • Lack of strategy. It is critical to have full support from the management team to overcome all aforementioned adoption obstacles. There have been instances when progressive project leaders have deployed technology to the field with great results and the rest of the organization followed suit, but that ground up approach is not strategic and accompanied by many risks. The best approaches to overcoming these obstacles include… • Team approach. Ensure that the field staff understands that they are part of the process improvements and that their feedback will be leveraged. A successful adoption may require you to set up pilot projects with a manageable scope that will illuminate early success, identify unforeseen issues and demonstrate best practices before rolling out a solution more broadly to the organization. It may also be useful to generate some friendly competition between teams (especially among the superintendents). Construction is a competitive industry, so leverage that! • Grow IT to support new solutions. To address IT deployment concerns, ensure that the best solutions are selected and current resources are supplemented with dedicated IT champions and trainers who will have a significant impact on success. • Get support from management. Dedication and commitment to the technology strategy from the management team is critical. One approach is to select an executive sponsor for a project to ensure this commitment and support. • Vision, strategic plan and budget. Communicate a clear strategy and budget that is aligned to management's support. • Measure and report on compliance. Many technology deployments have been well conceived and rolled out to the field only to lose momentum. Mobile devices and software and distributed and trained on, only to be abandoned a month later. Leverage reporting and data analysis capabilities of new tools in order to monitor progress and keep this from happening.

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