Similar to most companies in a post-pandemic world, the construction industry is facing a host of complex challenges. An impending recession is creating massive budget cuts and financial issues, while a lack of skilled labour makes it harder to find the right employees. In fact, around 87% of construction employers in the UK struggle to recruit workers.
On top of this, construction brands are struggling to keep pace with emerging technology trends like AI, IoT, and extended reality, all while trying to keep geographically distributed employees connected on a global scale. For most organisations, there’s a greater demand for digital transformation than ever before, starting with an update to communication strategies.
Unified Communications provides construction businesses with an all-in-one environment for synchronising teams, boosting collaboration, and unlocking critical insights. The right solution not only improves team performance but can also reduce security risks and save money. Here’s how the state of the UC landscape in construction has evolved this year.
The Demand for UC in Construction
The UCaaS landscape is experiencing significant growth throughout virtually every industry as businesses struggle with the onset of remote and hybrid work. However, for construction companies, dealing with distributed workers is nothing new. Very little work is completed from the confines of an office in the construction space. This means business leaders need to find effective ways of keeping their mobile, field-based, and back-end staff connected.
The UC environment provides a critical tool for keeping these scattered employees aligned and working towards the same unified goals. It’s also a critical tool in eliminating some of the major productivity issues construction teams face. According to PMI, poor communication is the reason why one-third of construction projects fail. Here’s how UC can solve the problems construction teams might be facing today:
- Enhanced collaboration: Poor communication and collaboration between distributed teams in the construction industry is a frequent cause of delays, mistakes, confusion, and errors. Relying on distributed tools for communication only makes the issue worse. Fortunately, unified communication tools can bring teams together wherever they are, through a multitude of platforms, including voice, video, messaging, and email.
- Greater safety and security: The construction industry has long suffered from a poor history with health and safety. One of the key reasons accidents take place in this landscape is due to poor communication and collaboration. A UC system or UCaaS solution in the cloud, can help to eliminate errors by ensuring professionals have the guidance and support they need in the field. UC systems can even store useful health and safety guidelines.
- Reduced costs: Limited budgets are affecting virtually every industry in today’s changing landscape. While switching from a legacy communication system to unified communications might come with an initial expense, the long-term benefits are huge. A UC or UCaaS offering combines all of the tools companies need for communication into one environment, allowing for easier financial management and cash flow analysis.
- Better data insights: In order to grow effectively, construction companies need to be able to keep track of data about how their workforce is operating on a significant scale. Unified Communication tools can come with built-in solutions for tracking critical metrics and key performance indicators. They also provide companies with an end-to-end way of viewing how the workforce performs on a day-to-day basis.
- Boosted productivity: Adding UCaaS solutions into the construction industry can also lead to increases in efficiency and productivity. When teams can communicate more effectively, project delays are less common. Teams can use UC solutions to collaborate over ideas and solve problems rapidly without the need for face-to-face interaction. Plus, employees can avoid having to switch between tools to reach different team members.
The Trends Driving UC for Construction Companies
Exceptional communication is at the heart of any successful company’s operation. In the construction industry, where companies are under increased pressure to innovate and transform, while remaining compliant with health and safety requirements, communication is key.
