For the past three years, Software Advice has conducted an analysis of construction software buyer consultations from small and midsize businesses. This report looks at buyer trends from 2016, common pain points driving the buyers' searches as well as the functionality they want most in new solutions.
In the 2016 report, Software Advice highlighted three key findings:
- SMB construction software buyers are slow to adopt construction software.
- Most firms are looking to improve estimating and project tracking.
- Buyers want functionality that supports processes over the course of a project life cycle, from pre-sale through execution and billing.
The report showed that takeoff/estimating and project management were the top two reasons most companies were looking for construction software. One third of the report's sample said they were looking for software to reduce the time required to perform takeoff and estimating functions. An additional 15% say they’re investigating software solutions to increase the accuracy of their bidding process, according to Software Advice.
Twenty-four percent of the buyers in the sample were looking for software to provide more transparency and better project tracking, particularly when it comes to requests for information (RFIs) and change orders.An additional 20% were looking to automate and standardize their processes.
Functionality most-often requested by buyers in the sample support a firm’s needs over the duration of a project life cycle, from pre-sale through execution and billing.
Top-requested capabilities include:
- Estimating (60%)
- Takeoff (40%)
- Accounting and job costing (37%)
- Project tracking (34%)
Based on the results of the report, Software Advice recommends construction contractors consider investing in either a stand-alone project management (PM) solution or an integrated PM and accounting suite. If estimating and takeoff are also required, look for solutions that offer easy integration with the main PM system.
Secondly, consider a system with mobile apps that can boost your team’s productivity by allowing construction professionals access to the main system from any location, on any device.
(more results from Software Advice's 2016 construction software trends report...)
