Why Hire an Independent Consultant for Your Construction Software Selection and Implementation Project

By Sheldon Needle

Benefits of Hiring a Consultant
In most cases, contractors think that they know their business processes but there are many things that they don’t really understand. A business consultant has the time and vision to force contractors to think through their business processes. When companies are busy running their day to day operation, documenting business processes is usually pretty low on the list. There is tremendous value in having an outside person understand and document current processes, weaknesses and areas where software support is needed. As a result of this analysis, the company might decide to re-engineer the business processes in order to get the most from the new construction job accounting and/or construction management software system. Another benefit to this exercise is forcing staff to justify each work activity performed as necessary to meet the information needs of the company.
 
Many small companies simply don’t have someone that knows how to put an effective project plan together. With a new construction software implementation this resource is critical! Such a person provides company management with an understanding and vision of a full Job Accounting and Construction Management implementation. The success of the project will be highly dependent on company leadership.  The sooner all managers have a common understanding and vision of the project the greater the likelihood of success. A business consultant can help create an effective project plan.
 
Let’s look at understanding and managing data conversion. It takes someone with an IT system background who has "on the job" operations experience ( estimating, bidding, job management, cost tracking, etc.) to think through data conversion issues. Data cleanup and process discipline need to be in place BEFORE the software implementers come on site. Again, here is a role for your business consultant!
 
When it’s time for construction software implementation, the vendor will provide staff to assist you, but the expertise provided could be limited when it comes time to marrying the contractor’s environment with the new construction software. A business consultant can be a good resource to connect company information requirements and software set up. At this stage there will be many opportunities to make constructive improvements in the design of the information system, i.e. job accounting and links to project management and other applications. Software implementers may not fully understand and lead these changes. A qualified business process consultant will.
 
Summary
Using an independent outside construction software/business expert can often spell the difference between software success and failure. The key is to find someone who has the relevant experience, is competent and independent. By independent I mean the person has no financial relationships with software vendors and is able to objectively evaluate alternatives without bringing strong biases to his/her recommendations.

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