5 Ways Mobile Tech on the Jobsite Helps Your Whole Business
Article written by Andy Holtmann and appears on the Viewpoint blog
Mobile technology doesn’t just benefit the field. See the 5 ways it will help your entire construction organization
Mobile technology touches pretty much all parts of our lives these days, so it’s no surprise mobile has begun to play a significant role on construction jobsites. As we’ve discussed on Viewpoint Surveyor in the past, JBKnowledge’s Construction Technology Report from 2017 found that 83.1 percent of construction contractors surveyed believe mobile technology is important or very important for their business.
While many contractors recognize mobile technology’s important role, many still have a long way to go to make the most of mobile. Tablets, smartphones and other mobile technology can significantly improve the day-to-day tasks of employees in the field. What contractors may not realize is how adopting mobile can benefit an entire organization from the field all the way to the back office. Here are five ways mobile technology can improve your business:


While construction historically has lagged other sectors in terms of IT investment, such spending is now accelerating as more and more organizations wake up to the need to move beyond the industry’s traditional practices. At the same time, the speed of technology development has increased the availability of robust, customizable cloud solutions, which is lowering the barrier to adoption.
While many project managers today are still utilizing manual processes or working with significantly outdated software, it is becoming clear that this is less of a matter of choice. According to a 2015 Construction Technology Report1 by JBKnowledge in conjunction with the Construction Financial Management Association and others, 77.4 percent of respondents considered mobile computing capabilities on the project jobsite to be either “important” or “very important.”
While having the best people in place, working together well and using the latest tools is critical, the construction project can still suffer if the data being tracked and reviewed is days or even weeks old. That outdated project information can make it hard to accurately gauge current job costs or work in progress.
While the lifeblood of the construction company is the construction project, the lifeblood of the project is the people working on it. Hire bad people to manage and build the project? The results will be poor. Hire smart, talented folks with expertise and the results will be good. Hire forward-thinking, open-minded folks ready to try new things and take calculated risks? The results are likely to be even better.