Let’s face it, reputation rules. We live in a world where publicly rating a business is as easy a few clicks on your smartphone. If you don’t get the service you expect from the company you’re dealing with, you can easily leave a bad review. When this word of mouth turns negative, your reputation and business will inevitably suffer.
As a construction executive, your company’s reputation is tarnished when your project teams are unable to respond to your clients in a timely and knowledgeable way. Nothing can damage a reputation like not receiving accurate answers to questions quickly, which is a byproduct of poor communication. It’s critical to have everyone on the same page.
One of the ways your organization can be more responsive and forward-looking on projects is to adopt a robust collaborative document management solution. When your project teams can easily manage, share and control project documentation through a central and reliable source, there is better communication. Documents are updated and accessible across the entire project team and available at a moment’s notice when questions arise. You need that single source of truth in which everyone is seeing the most up-to-date information on the project.
“Your company’s reputation is tarnished when your project teams are unable to respond to your clients in a timely and knowledgeable way. Nothing can damage a reputation like not receiving accurate answers to questions quickly.”
Here’s a common scenario: a client is calling with questions, and they want answers before they get off the phone. Without a single source of truth and an easy way to search project documentation, you’re left scrambling for the information they’re asking for and may provide wrong answers, or at the very least, need to defer a response. All this can be prevented when you have a document management solution that offers a modern, intuitive user experience and provides client-controlled visibility into project progress.
If you are considering a collaborative document management solution, be aware there are numerous choices. To help narrow these down, you’ll need to pinpoint the features that will potentially deliver the most value across your organization and the team, including:
AN INTUITIVE UI
Choose a solution that has an intuitive search interface that spans the entire array of project information. You’ll need the ability to easily search project documents, workflows, photos, emails and their attachments for access to what you need.
REPORTS
Capturing, compiling and distributing project reports can take hours every day. Look for a tool that has a document register, which helps maintain a record of past project reports. With form-based reports, you get insight into the current status of key workflow processes.
EMAIL INTEGRATION
An Outlook add-in can assure project teams are able to access and file project emails from within their familiar Outlook interface. It’s critical that all stakeholders in the project are getting the most complete information. That way, you don’t just see the emails sent to you, but also all relevant project emails.
PROJECT CONTEXT
You need to ensure all your project documents and items are related or connected. You should have the ability to see the email that initiated an RFI, a test request related to the inspection plan or the photo describing a defect. The best solution exposes these relationships between project items, so construction professionals can understand each item in its full project context.
With the consequences of reputational damage so far-reaching, it’s wise to get ahead of missteps and take control of your documents to gain that all-important visibility into projects. With better document management, you’ll not only be able to respond to client requests faster, you should also see a pleasant uptick in renewal projects and referrals.
Learn more on how InEight’s document management solution can help you increase efficiencies on your next project.
