5 ways to make teams love construction software

No one likes change and no one likes being told they should be working differently.  

Successful adoption of construction software repeatedly hits these two obstacles and it’s not always obvious how to overcome them.

We’ve spent several years working with a broad range of teams and distilled what we believe are the 5 critical factors for not only successful adoption but also a long term love affair with digital solutions in the construction industry.

1. Simple

To put it simply, it must be simple.  As all engineers would tell you the best solutions are normally the most elegant which doesn’t mean dumbing down, it means something that is “pleasingly ingenious”.  Applications built without first hand knowledge of how they will be used, or not considering every type of person accessing the platform inevitably become cumbersome for teams to.

2. Effective

A solution must deliver on its promises.  Obvious but important, the combination of simplicity and effectiveness should overcome a huge amount of opposition to new digital solutions. Effectiveness also links to an elegance in how a problem is solved.  The elegant solution will combine effectiveness with efficiency which brings us on to the next critical success factor…

3. Saves time

Convenience is expected and demanded these days.  From the way we shop to how we consume digital media.  Expectations of technology have changed from an acceptance that new processes may take time to demonstrate value, to an immediate assumption that significant time savings will be delivered quickly and consistently.  The best digital solutions have a layered approach whereby either immediately, or very quickly, time savings can be achieved through simple functionality followed by greater productivity gains through more detailed workflows, outputs and insights.

4. Adds value

A return on investment must be tangible and demonstrable.  Without this factor a solution may be trialled but not adopted long term.  This value must flow through from every type of user bringing a benefit to their day jobs and also the wider organisation.  Direct cost savings are the obvious return on investment however longer term some of the indirect savings in time, productivity, efficiency, compliance, risk management and promoting a digital culture will surpass all these by an order of magnitude.

5. Supported

Modern web applications are simple to start using but have a depth of capability that takes time to master.  To accelerate that learning and mastery, accessible and well curated supported is essential. This needs to come in various formats as users absorb and learn in different ways.  Integrated help, support and a knowledge base provide a wealth of material and generate a community of best practice and continuous knowledge sharing, which isn’t available to those with self-built or bespoke applications.

So if you’re considering adoption of an application to solve a current pain point it may be wise to set out the options and assess them against these criteria.

At Raildiary we’ve invested all our time and effort into these critical success factors and every day we’re learning how to engage and improve in each of these areas.  We hope our relentless focus on delivering a best in class solution against these criteria make it a simple choice for our customers and users to adopt and love our platform.