The Secret Sauce of Switching Construction Software Providers

As technology has changed in the construction industry, the leadership team at Great Basin Industrial (GBI) needed to modernize their operations with a cloud-based construction management solution. “We had been following the technology trends in the industry for some time, analyzing the cost of undergoing our own technology transformation,” said Craig Lundskog, the company’s finance director.

A longtime Trimble Viewpoint client, Lundskog said he and the GBI team made the decision to move after attending Viewpoint’s Collaborate user and technology conference. There he spoke to Viewpoint executives and sales leaders in depth about the process and benefits of modernizing its construction solutions.

“Once we saw the features and capabilities in place that we could have at our disposal, it just made sense,” he said. “We signed our contract right there at the conference.”

By using the Trimble Construction One suite, Lundskog said he expects GBI to double the size of its business.

As with implementing any new technology, Lundskog said there are always bugs, issues and challenges to work through. “But Viewpoint worked with us every step of the way to find the right solutions.

“Overall, this was a great experience for us, and the return on investment over time in moving to the cloud will be a good thing for us,” he said.

As someone who has now gone through the process of a construction technology overhaul, Lundskog did provide some great tips for other contractors thinking about their own cloud transformations:

1. Doing Your Homework: “Internally, look for and identify your danger spots or where your biggest vulnerabilities lie. What are the things you might not be prepared for? Look at your other technologies and solutions being used at your company and think about how those factor into your future technology decisions. How will changing solutions impact workflows throughout your organization?”
2. Planning Ahead: “If you want to move to the cloud the right way, you’ll want to get everything set up ahead of time. That means getting everything—your data, processes, etc.—ready to move to the cloud. Prepare your employees and provide a timeline. Viewpoint also provides checklists for these processes that help. Take advantage of those, or create your own.”
3. It’s Not as Painful as You Might Think: “Yes, change is hard, and there will be challenges along the way with every technology implementation. However, the more technology advances, the more streamlined implementations are becoming. If you’re worried about the time and effort involved, weigh that against the benefits that more modern solutions will provide.”
4. Communicating the Change: Communication is key to any successful implementation—both internally with your teams, but also with your vendor. Make sure you’re researching your vendor in addition to the software you’re considering, and pick a vendor that is going to work with you and has a vested interest in your long-term success.
5. Be in it for the Long Haul: Moving to the cloud has a number of obvious benefits for contractors today, but know that A) it doesn’t happen overnight and B) it won’t immediately solve all of your problems. Moving to the cloud is a long-range business decision to scale your company’s abilities for the years ahead. And some things in the cloud are different than what some users of traditional construction software are used to, so there can be some learning curves as well. But in the end, the juice of moving to the cloud is worth the squeeze.”

Following these steps, Lundskog says, should help ensure a smoother transformation for organizations seeking to improve their construction technology foundation and overall business efficiencies.