Tech Stack Consolidation in Construction – a Step-by-Step Guide to making Construction Technology Work for your Business
In the era of digital transformation in construction, many construction companies have adopted a wide range of technologies and software solutions to help address industry challenges, from digitising billing and invoicing to improving sustainability.
While cloud software and mobile apps have helped construction businesses streamline processes across the project lifecycle, they have also introduced a new set of problems for construction operations.
An overloaded tech stack, handling different sets of data that struggle to integrate, can lead to miscommunication, incorrect data, and project delays.
In this article, we review the issues an overloaded tech stack can bring to construction, how tech stack consolidation can help, what solutions are available, and provide a step-by-step guide to consolidating your construction ‘frankenstack’.
Contents
- What is a Tech Stack in Construction?
- Issues Created by the ‘Frankenstack’ in Construction
- What is Tech Stack Consolidation?
- What are the Benefits of Consolidating your Construction Tech Stack?
- What to Consider when Consolidating your Construction Tech Stack
- How to Consolidate your Tech Stack – Step-by-Step
What is a Tech Stack in Construction?
A tech stack in construction refers to a company’s collection of digital apps, SaaS tools, and other technologies that employees across departments use in their roles.
This covers everything from construction accounting software to communication platforms to equipment trackers.
A 2021 survey of IT managers found that companies use an average of over 200 software solutions—a number that continues to grow. The project-based nature of construction can lead to a larger stack than in other industries.
Software is often quickly deployed to resolve project-specific issues, only to be abandoned later or inconsistently used across teams.
Construction businesses, especially contractors, often have multiple facets to their operations. Accounting, payroll, equipment management, project tracking, and maintenance may all be running on disconnected solutions that fail to communicate with one another.
These fragmented solutions can create silos between field and office teams, leading to inefficiencies, miscommunications, and frustration.
Issues Created by the ‘Frankenstack’ in Construction
The act of continuously adding new software to address emerging issues is known as ‘Frankensteining’, which results in a ‘Frankenstack’—a collection of disconnected systems used to manage project delivery.
While digital transformation aims to improve efficiency, an excess of software solutions can create a domino effect where tools intended to solve problems end up generating new ones.
Increased Time and Money Spent Managing Multiple IT Solutions
Each additional software solution requires time for implementation, training, maintenance, vendor management, and support. The more solutions added, the more IT resources are required, increasing costs and complexity.
Integration Issues
Ideally, all software solutions would integrate seamlessly, but this is rarely the case. For example, your financial management solution may integrate with your HR system but fail to connect with the payroll software or field service apps.
This lack of a single source of truth makes managing operations increasingly difficult.
Decreased Productivity
An overloaded tech stack often means employees spend more time switching between systems, manually transferring data, or searching for information scattered across multiple platforms, leading to inefficiencies.
Security Risks
Sensitive data is handled across every step of the construction lifecycle. Multiple solutions involve multiple sets of data, stored in different clouds (or even stored on-premises), often with few or no access controls applied.
The more data is shared between applications and stored in different places, the more vulnerable the data is to cyberattacks or data loss. This applies to internal, external and, most importantly, client data.
Decreased Employee Engagement
Office-based employees can easily grow frustrated and bored with ever-changing and increasing solutions. That frustration can lead to an increase in employee resistance to technology, leading to a refusal to use the solutions that have become mission-critical and even a risk of losing employees who have grown tired of managing their own ‘Frankenstack’.
Employees can also feel overwhelmed not just with the amount of applications, but the amount of information they receive hour-to-hour. This can lead to workers missing vital information and updates across the constantly updating feeds they have across multiple applications.
This situation can get even worse with those working on job sites. Those in the field have a limited amount of time available to engage with technology and can get understandably frustrated with the growing demands on them to input data and manage multiple field apps.
With the construction labour shortage growing ever-larger, construction companies cannot afford to lose skilled field workers and technicians due to a poorly-managed technology stack.
Access Coins is a Centralised Solution Built for Construction
Access Coins ERP covers countless business functions under one system – all built for the specifics of the construction industry.
What is Tech Stack Consolidation?
Tech stack consolidation is the process of auditing and streamlining the software used within a business.
This involves identifying redundant or overlapping tools, ensuring essential software integrates properly, and moving towards a unified system that works for all employees.
What are the Benefits of Consolidating your Construction Tech Stack?
Consolidating and simplifying your tech stack can be a time-consuming process in itself, but the rewards are multiple. A well-managed tech stack consolidation process should lead to:
- Reduced costs
- Increased efficiency through using a standardised tool set
- Decreased data silos and the security vulnerabilities and errors that come with them
- A much more rewarding connected experience for employees in the office and on the field
- Better quality data and true visibility of data, leading to better insights and decision-making across the business
Reduced Costs
This may seem like an obvious benefit, but it will be the one your stakeholders are most interested in! Consolidating your tech stack should reduce the number of licenses and subscriptions needed, alongside reducing costs and time linked to maintenance.
Increased Efficiencies
Fewer, connected systems should lead to a more collaborative, efficient and productive workplace.
Improved Data Management
One of the biggest benefits of consolidating your tech stack is working towards every team member working from the same, connected set of data. This will greatly improve your insights, budgeting and forecasting at every level of your construction business.
Improved Data Security
Reducing the amount of systems on which you host sensitive data will reduce the points of vulnerability for potential cyberattacks, data breaches or lost data.
Better User Experience
Employees working on a connected and centralised tech stack will have a better experience and higher job satisfaction.
What to Consider when Consolidating your Construction Tech Stack
Construction companies face unique vulnerabilities that come with tech overload and consolidation. To effectively consolidate construction technology, it's crucial to understand these challenges.
These considerations will help guide the development of a streamlined digital workplace that addresses specific needs and solves critical problems.
Compliance
Australian construction businesses must comply with industry regulations, including building codes and sustainability requirements that differ between jurisdictions.
Construction companies must ensure their chosen technology is compliant to any regulations, or includes functionality which takes these regulations into consideration.
Employee and Department Needs
Construction technology must meet a huge range of needs across the different teams who work across a project. The most obvious divide is between those who work on and off-site. Those in the field will appreciate technology which is remote, easy-to-use and saves them time to focus on physical work or supervision. Employees who work off-site will be more used to using technology day-to-day, but will appreciate visibility of data and ease of finding information above all.
Those who divide their time between the field and the office, such as project managers and architects, will be looking for technology which is connected and integrated, so they can work easily in both environments and don’t face technology blocks when working across departments.
Risk Management
The construction industry is no stranger to risk, and just like every project needs thorough risk management, so does your tech stack consolidation.
While better risk management in construction is one of the many benefits of consolidating your tech stack, potential risks also need to be considered when planning your new technology workflows. This includes planning for data migrations and integrations, ensuring there is some overlap during a ‘handover’ from one piece of technology to another and planning for data breaches.
Multi-Functional Tools
A popular tech stack consolidation strategy is to implement tools and technologies that cover multiple functions. The fewer tools and systems your team and employees have to handle, the better your technology workflow will function.
While there is a risk in relying on a single tool to perform many business-critical functions, an ‘all-in-one’ approach will achieve better results in terms of productivity, cost and scalability.
A ‘Single Source of Truth’ for your Data
Replacing multiple solutions with a single platform will also help your team achieve a ‘Single Source of Truth’ for your data. This is when siloed data is minimised and every team across the project lifecycle – from initial tender to project maintenance – are working from a single, accurate set of data.
For example, a service management solution that creates invoices and tracks hours may be disconnected from your PO and payroll solutions which can show different numbers and logged hours.
Having a single source of truth for your construction data helps with visibility, project efficiency and, crucially, project certainty.
Access Coins Provides a Single Source of Truth
Access Coins ERP covers countless business functions under one system – all built for the specifics of the construction industry.
How to Consolidate your Tech Stack – Step-by-Step
While your exact process will depend on the size, complexity and needs of your company, these are the steps you will need to take to consolidate your current ‘frankenstack’ and build a construction tech stack that works for every member of your team.
Outline and Communicate your Tech Stack Consolidation Process
First of all, make sure your team knows about the project. Outline your top-line plan, the reasons why you are consolidating your tech and the outcomes you want to achieve.
Ensure that all major stakeholders within your company are aware of the project and communicate how tech stack consolidation will help with business goals and improve technology ROI.
Audit your Current Construction Tech Stack
Start building a comprehensive list and review of every piece of technology which is currently used within your company. Identify –
- Cost
- ROI
- Core functionalities
- Users
- How often the technology is used
- Integration capabilities
- User satisfaction (this may be easier to identify after the next step)
You should then be able to categorise your tech stack, mapping out which technologies are used by which teams.
Once you have built this audit, it will be easier to identify obsolete tools, overlapping functionalities and your first opportunities for consolidation.
Survey Stakeholders and Employees to Identify Needs and Challenges
The most important data you need to successfully consolidate your tech stack is the views of those who are actually using the technology.
Once you have completed your audit, put together surveys for both stakeholders and employees who use your technology. There are endless approaches to this, but the aim is to get an idea of how your current stack is working, what the core frustrations are around your current technology, what works and what doesn’t.
You may want to ask users to score the systems they use on a scale of 1-10 to get a good gauge of overall user satisfaction.
This will also help you identify both ‘mission critical’ technology which is used every day across departments and the tools which are gathering virtual dust.
Identify Redundant and Disconnected Tools
Now you have your audit and survey data, it’s time to identify those tools which can easily be removed without causing operational issues. This is an opportunity to clear out any obsolete tools which are still being paid for to immediately cut the cost of your tech stack.
Identify Possible Integrations
At this point, it will be useful to turn your audit/checklist into a map and look at the technology workflows and processes within and between each department within your company.
Understanding which tools ‘speak’ to each other through integrations and which tools are disconnected is the basis from which you can build a more connected tech stack which uses the same data.
It is particularly important to identify which integrations are mission-critical, for example financial management and payroll.
It may be the case that there are integrations available which you weren’t aware of – review disconnects between your tools and see which integrations are available. It is best to check independent reviews to see how well these integrations work.
Research and Build a Business Case for Centralized Tools
While the aim of your tech stack consolidation process is to reduce the amount of tools you use, it will be useful to research investing in new tools which can replace multiple systems in one go. Centralised and cross-functional tools such as construction ERP not only cover multiple functions, but also provide that all-important ‘single source of truth’ for your data.
Review what is on offer and build a business case for key stakeholders to review for your chosen solutions.
Read more on how to Build a Business Case for Construction ERP.
Map Your Tech Stack Consolidation Plan and Timeline
Now it’s time to truly get stuck in and map out your new, connected tech stack and set out your deadlines for how to get there.
At this point you should have a clear view on what to keep, what to phase out, what needs to be connected and which, if any, new technology needs to be implemented and onboarded.
Set out a clear timeline for your consolidation plan, including clear dates for tools going offline, online, integrations going live, data migrations and training periods for any new systems. Assign responsibilities across your wider team.
Gain Stakeholder and Employee Feedback on your Tech Stack Consolidation Plan
Now it’s time to once again survey your stakeholders and users around your tech stack consolidation plan before starting the work. It is essential to gain buy-in from both key figures in the business and those who will be using the technology every day.
While it is likely not everyone will be completely happy, it is important to collect this feedback to see if your plan may cause any major disruptions or knock out any tools which are deemed business-critical to stakeholders.
Once you have collected feedback, be open to making adjustments to your plan to ensure company-wide buy-in and a smooth transition to your new tech stack.
Action Your Tech Stack Consolidation Plan
Finally, you can put your plan into action!
Most will begin with phasing out redundant tools and beginning plans around integrations, which may take some time.
Keep a record of every action you make and ensure you are communicating your actions regularly to both stakeholders and the wider team to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
Tech consolidation plans are often phased to ensure that no workers are left facing frustrations around their technology being lost or not transitioned correctly. Communication is essential during this phase to help minimise disruption.
Plan for Further Reviews of your New Tech Stack’s Performance
Your work isn’t over yet! Tech stack consolidation is an ongoing process, and your tech stack will need to be maintained and regularly reviewed and optimised.
Create and implement a review process across your company to ensure your new integrated tech stack is working to make everyone’s lives easier and, essentially, still contributing towards your businesses’ overall goals.
How Access Coins ERP can Help you Defeat the ‘Frankenstack’
Access Coins is a leading ERP platform that is built specifically for the construction industry. Built around a powerful financial management and construction accounting module, Access Coins is designed to provide a single source of truth for your data, across every step of the construction lifecycle.
Access Coins ERP provides leading construction businesses and MEP contractors with:
- Powerful data analytics and real-time dashboards
- A huge range of functionalities from construction payroll to equipment management
- Seamless integrations across modules for total data visibility and control
- Remote apps built for MEP contractors to link the field to the office
