DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT AND JOBSITE MANAGERS

Although construction is an increasingly hi-tech industry, the way many firms manage projects is far behind the times.

It’s because construction is the second least digitised sector after agriculture. Instead of making use of integrated, digital systems to manage their assets, many firms expect managers to use a patchwork of paper-based systems and simple software like Excel spreadsheets. 

It’s a wasteful way of working and it puts needless pressure on you. Why should the average construction firm spend 90 hours each month searching for assets across sites? And why do they rent unnecessary equipment when existing items would be available – if only they were properly tracked. Adding up all these process and administration costs can needlessly cost a company up to $200,000 per year.

If costs and delays like these affect you, you can also end up shouldering the blame – when it’s really your asset management system that’s at fault.

The same thing can happen if you manage administrative assets. If you need to make sure that Health & Safety certificates and clearances are current, that workers have up-to-date training and certification, or have to get equipment tested and inspected at the correct intervals, then you need a system that works with you – not against you.

Trying to do this with a largely paper-based system means essential tasks can easily slip through the net. When this occurs, it can lead to wasted time, unsafe working practices and fines for non-compliance with Health & Safety regulations.

So how can using a digitised asset management system help you avoid these pain points and make the way you work faster, more efficient and safer?

In terms of cost, time savings and increased efficiency, a switch to digital asset management is a no-brainer for any construction company.

Digital asset management software is increasingly easy to use and relatively cheap to implement. Importantly, cloud based platforms now keep your data more securely than ever. With the right choice of software and intelligent implementation it will quickly cut expenditure on physical assets, free up staff time for more productive purposes, eliminate delays on site and reduce the likelihood of fines by accidentally failing to comply with regulations.

In short, as a project or jobsite manager, your job becomes simpler, more efficient, more cost effective and – above all – more enjoyable.

After switching from paper-based administration, you and your colleagues gain access to a digital asset management system via a handset, smartphone or a cloud app within your web browser.

All tools and equipment are being tracked with robust tags, allowing you to see where any item is at any given time, and who is responsible for it. Each item is also assigned to a cost centre, allowing you to identify which parts of your business are most affected by lost or missing items.

As shown in the examples above, a construction company with 30 employees can save between $100,000 and $250,000 per year if it switches to a suitable asset management solution.

Digital asset management doesn’t only make it easier to assign items to sites and workers, but it also saves you huge amounts of time as you can manage administrative assets much more easily.

Let’s see how.

Ideally, you would work with an asset management software vendor to load your administrative assets onto the system. They might include:

• Health & Safety certification
  
• Employee certifications and training schedules
  
• Vehicle tax due dates
  
• Professional body membership details
  
• Rental equipment return dates
  
• Site cost allocations
  

You assign to each of these items dates when you need to take action, such as renewing certification or arranging fresh training. The employees responsible for action are sent automated reminders before the due dates, ensuring no business critical administration slips through the net.

As a result, you no longer have to spend large amounts of time monitoring administrative renewals. Automated reminders ensure that each task is assigned to the responsible individual in time. It is now simple to remain compliant with important issues like Health & Safety inspections and certification, meaning that you avoid the possibility of your cost centres being hit by major fines.

Again, Hilti has seen what savings can be made in the real world by digitising administrative assets. 

• A company spending 20 hours per month administrating training certificates, work permits and safety data sheets can use digital asset management to slash this time by 33%.
• A firm spending four hours a month monitoring due dates can cut this time by 90% thanks to automated renewals offered by its digital asset management software.

Digital asset management software is increasingly easy to use and relatively cheap to implement. Importantly, cloud based platforms now keep your data more securely than ever. With the right choice of software and intelligent implementation, it will more than pay for itself very quickly – by cutting expenditure on physical assets, by freeing up staff time for more productive purposes, by eliminating delays on site and by reducing the likelihood of fines by accidentally failing to comply with regulations.

To learn more about how digital asset management can transform your construction business, please get in touch today.