Construction documentation is the fulcrum on which the entire success of your project execution depends upon. This is critical to clean execution, controlling costs and establishing clarity amongst your stakeholders.
Often, construction companies are caught in the backfoot and do not evolve with technology. They realize way too late the transformational benefits that technology can drive for them. One of the key areas is the usage of forms.
Construction documentation often requires input data from disparate sources. This can range from vendor data, field data, purchase order data, invoices and a whole lot of things. The sheer number of documents involved in a large-scale project is mind-boggling. This needs a methodic and clean approach.
One of the simplest ways to transform how documents are managed is through digital data collection. This can be a big change initially. Nevertheless, the long-term benefits make it totally a worthy change to put your organization through.
Here is a look at 7 of the most important benefits that switching to digital forms:
Mistakes can be very expensive for construction projects. A lot of them stem from incorrect input data due to paper forms. It can be hard to read and understand hand-written forms leading to errors which have a massive impact on subsequent processes to follow.
With digital forms, this can be greatly minimized. There are ways to set up checks and validations before the data is submitted, which further increases the degree of accuracy and correctness. Some of the other ways digital forms improve accuracy are:
These are sure shot ways of getting logical and right information in place in systems. Error-free information in the system solves half the battle by reducing the number of reconciliations that may be needed in the future, the cost of rework that would otherwise be required amongst many more things.
With digital forms, businesses can automate data collection. There is no wait time for manually receiving forms and passing them around. In real-time, any volume of data can be collected and shared with teams. With manual forms, there is a limit on how many concurrent users can access it. With digital forms, businesses can enable concurrent access to a lot of stakeholders. This makes processes a lot more efficient and faster.
This also paves way for improved collaboration amongst stakeholders. By this, they can get real-time access to blueprints, contracts and safety protocols, amongst others, and make real-time updates and changes to them. It instantly reflects for all users, aligns them on the same page leaving no room for outdated information to exist in the system.
As compared to manual forms, digital forms are much easier to organize. Features such as searching, sorting, annotation and storage of documents enrich the entire information management practice.
This is hugely helpful when someone needs specific information, access historical data or reconcile some information, or any such use-cases.
This totally eliminates clutter that arises from paper-based forms/documents.
It is also much better to version digital forms and retrieve older versions or in some cases rollback to an older version.
From time-to-time, if the nature of information that needs to be collected changes, digital forms can be quickly tweaked/customized instantly. Whereas, in the case of paper forms, it demands additional costs in terms of printing and logistics to move the paper forms to the locations where data needs to be collected.
Switching over to digital forms offers the huge benefit of freeing up physical space that would be needed to store paper forms and documents. It also needs some resources for record keeping. The labeling, storage and maintenance of the storage space is a cumbersome process. In addition, disposal after the relevance of the documents ends, is another challenge.
Modern-day forms are cloud-based tools where storage is taken care of by the vendor. It is far more secure, seamless and easy to manage. It also is quickly scalable - up or down - depending on the requirement.
It also mitigates the need to physically move around documents when a need arises. All it takes is a click of a button to share it in real-time with as many stakeholders.
The associated cost savings as compared to paper forms is much higher when using digital forms.
Physical forms are not tamper-proof. They also have the risk of getting damaged due to natural causes. A lot of time and effort needs to be put in to secure them and despite that, the safety of the documents are not guaranteed.
In the case of digital forms, they are 100% tamper-proof. They can be managed with much more ease. Access controls and restricted sharing ensures a high degree of security.
When someone makes changes to the forms, it can be easily traced. It is much more seamless to track changes, add or remove people who can access these forms and centrally manage access to the forms.
This also is greatly helpful during audit and compliances. In an era where competition can be really cut throat, protecting sensitive information is of utmost importance. Digital forms are a sure way to ensure high security, data integrity and sensitivity.
Digital forms enable access to documents at any time from anywhere using mobile devices. It is also possible to set controls in place to curate these access levels so the freedom that BYOD offers does not compromise security or integrity of data in any form or shape.
To a certain degree, it also allows managers to perform some basic functions using mobile apps or interfaces. This is essential in today’s always-on, connected world.
According to a study, a large-scale construction company spends about $32 on stationery per month on each employee. Consider a 5,000 member organization for 12 months that balloons up to $1.9M.
With digital forms, this number could be significantly reduced and the cost of deploying tools to run digital forms is a fraction of this cost.
The environmental impact of this switch is the major highlight apart from cost. With the Federal Government tightening the regulations around the push for sustainability, reducing carbon footprint is a top priority for companies and this is a significant step in that direction.
In addition to the above benefits, there are some more benefits:
Digital forms are not just cost-effective and efficient, but the most natural transformation that any business needs to meet the demands of the modern day. Construction projects, where the stakes are high, cannot risk critical transactional, day-to-day data with manual forms considering the many disadvantages it has.
The transition to digital can take its time and a lot of training may be needed to educate the many layers within an organization. However, it is a worthwhile exercise to do to unlock the many benefits that it offers and the pain points it solves for businesses.
If you intend to switch over to digital forms and unlock the unending benefits it has to offer, contact us.
About Kyro
KYRO's cloud-based document management system helps construction companies easily access, store, categorize, and share crucial documents. Real-time updates also ensure that everyone on the team has access to up-to-date information anytime, anywhere. Powered by AI, Kyro is here to future-proof construction companies, streamline operations, and propel their sustainability initiatives. Adopting digital solutions such as document management and digital forms demonstrates an alignment with the company’s corporate sustainability goals.
KYRO integrates smoothly with your existing tools, breaking down data silos, elevating document management, improving operational efficiency, reducing costs, and ensuring better project outcomes. Reach out to us to schedule a demo.
