The best contractors and field crews cannot operate without having a strong back-office set-up. Amidst a major recession and with the threat of lockdowns, having the best tools available for all the back-office departments (sales, marketing, operations, logistics, human resources) will be essential in determining your future success.
Here are the tools that will help your company maintain momentum, and improve back-office efficiency, this year.
Finances
Chances are that your finances are tighter than ever. The impacts of the recession are being felt across every industry, anywhere in the world. Using the right tools to maintain your finances will be essential moving forward. If you aren’t already, consider adopting some of these tools into your back-office operations.
Accounting Software
Modern accounting software offerings can integrate with almost every process within your company. The more data you track throughout the year, the easier it will be to balance your books and project future revenue numbers. The best accounting software will be able to seamlessly work with the other business tools your company already uses. As you look for an accounting software offering for your business, be sure to do some research into pricing plans, third-party integrations, and if there is a learning curve to using the software.
Estimating Software
Estimating software cuts down the time spent manually inputting financial information into tedious spreadsheets by automating the process. Construction estimating software will provide your business with more accurate job estimates, more accurate revenue projections, and a faster-estimating process.
Business Financing Solutions
Right now, most businesses are too cash-strapped to worry about investing in new tools and software. Resting idly may be one of the worst things you can do right now. There are other companies taking advantage of the less crowded market, and your company should be as well.
Do not let your current lack of financial security deter you from going on the offensive this year. Applying for a low-interest small business loan could provide you with the funds needed to invest in these new initiatives, without having to dip too far into your savings. A business loan can be used on anything from overhead costs (rent, payroll, insurance) to individual pieces of equipment.
Alternative financing solutions exist as well. If you only need materials to finish a project, companies such as Billd can help. Billd will pay the suppliers for materials, while you agree to a 120-day term payback option with Billd.
The financial situation of your business is likely going to undergo even more changes as the new year approaches, investing in the right tools now, will help you be better prepared for anything that comes your way in 2021.
Human Resources
The human resources industry is one of the industries that has benefited the most from the evolution of business technology. New HR platforms, tools, and software offerings are constantly being developed. Here are some of the tools that your HR team should be utilizing daily.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Training has long been a headache for HR professionals across almost any industry. Having an effective training plan in place will help guarantee that each and every employee within your organization has the knowledge to be a productive employee.
Within construction, and construction-adjacent industries, training, and safety should be of the utmost importance to any HR team. In today’s world, managing training has never been easier, thanks to the assistance of online learning management systems (LMS). LMS will give your HR team the tools needed to efficiently assign, track, and monitor each employee’s training regime.
As you look for an LMS to utilize this year, make sure that the platform is made specifically for contractors and that it is scalable to fit an organization of any size. If you aren’t sure where to look, check out this guide for a starting point.
Internal Workspace Software
As your company grows, there will be more HR documents, company announcements, and general information for your employees to keep up with. There should be one place that your employees can go to access any workplace information. Luckily, workplace Wiki tools exist for this very purpose.
A workplace collaboration tool allows you to create a Wikipedia-type site for your company. In your workplace Wiki, you can house anything from onboarding documents to time-off information, and anything in between. Users can post messages and collaborate with each other in real-time.
Your HR team will benefit greatly if you decide to invest in some modern tools for the department.
Operations
Within the construction sphere, the operations team is possibly the most important back-office department, when it comes to determining a company’s success.
Construction Operations Software
For operations, you should only need one tool: the Assignar Construction Operations Platform. Our construction operations platform allows your operations team to handle almost any task they need to, in one place. Some of the top features include:
Being able to automate these tasks and more tasks like these, all from one platform, will greatly improve the productivity and efficiency of your organizational operations.
With the new fiscal year in full swing, make sure that investing in some new tools to improve your back-office operations is part of the plan.
