Software applications are commonplace in just about any industry, and are used by small and large businesses alike. Okta's 2019 Business @ Work research report found that larger companies deploy an average of 163 apps (up from 129 in 2018) while smaller ones deploy an average of 99 (up from 73 in 2018).
Construction companies are regularly adding more apps to their tech stacks, and this trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon. The rise of remote work this year has bolstered digital transformation across multiple industries, and businesses are using even more software.
These tools need to be integrated with each other or they will inevitably lead to risk, rework, and error. Standalone software applications create data silos and disconnected workflows. Integrations make data and notifications available across tools, guaranteeing people are working off the latest and greatest information.
To showcase the benefits of our software integrations in construction, we’ve pulled together a new infographic. Check it out below, and scroll down to read more:
While software adoption in itself has boosted construction productivity by leaps and bounds, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Apps are great for digitizing specific tasks, but problems arise when teams that use multiple apps don’t integrate their tools properly.
According to the 2021 Construction Technology Report by JBKnowledge, 37% of companies use four or more applications on their projects. However, a little over half (51%) are manually transferring data between apps that don’t integrate.
Manual tasks like data entry are an inefficient use of time and resources. Doing double data entry across multiple tools is wasteful when there is another way. These tedious jobs can be automated.
Teams must integrate their software. Connecting various apps enables you and your teams to reap several benefits, including:
Time savings. Research by Smartsheet found that 40% of workers spend at least a quarter of their workweek doing tedious and repetitive tasks such as email, data collection, and data entry.
With integrations, data flows smoothly between applications, so you can reduce or eliminate the time spent on data collection and entry, allowing team members to devote more resources to higher-level jobs.
Reduced data loss. When manually transferring information from one application to another, data gets lost. Typos can occur, details get missed, and teams end up with incomplete or inaccurate data, which inevitably leads to errors and rework on a jobsite.
All that can be avoided by connecting your tech stack. Keeping your solutions tightly integrated keeps your data intact.
Secure data in the cloud. Directly integrating cloud-based software solutions means you do not need to download and store your data locally. Data stored in the cloud makes physical attacks, such as hacking on-premise servers or laptop theft less likely and less damaging if it happens.
In fact, Gartner finds that the security of major cloud providers is just as effective — or better — than enterprise data centers. According to Gartner’s Cloud Strategy Leadership report:
“Through 2020, public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) workloads will suffer at least 60% fewer security incidents than those in traditional data centers.”
Better collaboration. When your software is connected, so are your teams. Integrated construction systems enable effective collaboration between project stakeholders. When data flows between the different applications your team uses, team members can leverage the most recent data in the tool and the format most useful to them, and everyone can review and update files in real time. Say goodbye to lengthy email chains passing back and forth multiple versions of the same file.
What’s more, even as different teams use different tools, project stakeholders can stay connected and get the info they need whether they’re sitting at their desk, working at the job site, or on-the-go.
Organizations that integrate their solutions have a major leg up over those that work in silos. The good news is that construction firms are increasingly recognizing the value of software integrations. JBKnowldege’s Constitution Technology Report found that 48% of construction professionals view integration capabilities as very important when making software purchasing decisions.
We encourage you to adopt a similar mindset when purchasing construction tech. If you’re looking to try new solutions or deciding on technology vendors, you need to ensure that the applications you choose can integrate seamlessly with your other tools.
Autodesk Constitution Cloud offers a robust ecosystem for teams to integrate their software and streamline their workflows. Autodesk Construction Cloud has over 200 partners to other innovative construction applications, enabled by our Partners Cards and APIs, including Autodesk Forge. What’s more, the platform gives you access to hundreds more custom workflows through Autodesk Construction Cloud Connect.
With Connect, you build workflows between Autodesk and other SaaS applications, to automate continuous or scheduled data flows between your apps. You can also build custom integrations around files and forms to streamline data and specific workflows.
Autodesk’s construction integrations are easy to use and deploy; no-coding is required for you to hook into office solutions like file sharing, cloud storage, expense management, spreadsheets, databases, dashboards, time tracking, and more. Stakeholders and project managers can get more done thanks to Autodesk’s ecosystem of apps that covers just about any construction need.
Autodesk Construction Cloud partners offer integrations for various types of construction tools and products including:
The bottom line: using construction software integrations isn’t just “nice to do.” It’s increasingly becoming a “must” among professionals, particularly as the industry continues to adopt new tools applications.
Don’t get left behind. Discover how Autodesk Construction Cloud’s integration offerings enable teams to be more efficient in all areas of construction.
