The construction industries often face the challenge of managing multiple siloed systems. Many companies use separate programmes for accounting, CRM, inventory management, MRP and project management. Having separate systems can lead to inefficiencies, data inconsistencies, and limited visibility across departments, often impacting productivity.

With field management software, like Re-flow, businesses can break down barriers between siloed systems and be free of the limitations posed by traditional workflows.

All your data is in one place, accessible and accurate.

One of the main disadvantages to siloed systems is work and effort being duplicated. When there’s limited visibility across an organisation, members of different teams can end up doing the same work in parallel. In these situations, access to shared data could have saved time and effort. Field management software eliminates these issues by providing a centralised system where all data is entered, stored and automatically updated. This ensures data accuracy, reduces duplication, and improves overall accuracy.

When your data is stored in several systems it can be incredibly difficult to collate it and measure success. A lack of centralised reporting often means it becomes a time-consuming task, riddled with inaccuracies and by the time it reaches an executive’s desk it is outdated and ineffective. 

Reviewing data and creating reports is important to understand the overall health of an organisation. With Re-flow businesses benefit from real-time reporting and analytic capabilities. The dashboard is where you can extract crucial insights by running reports on job progress, sales statistics, equipment, servicing and more. There is even the capability to specify exact timeframes, look at different data types, or create new, custom report types to find the exact information you need. These reports can be shared as a PDF, CSV or Excel documents.

Re-flow simplifies data extraction and sharing, improving communication and fostering collaboration across your wider business. This in turn helps decision-making as with all the data in one place – executive can make informed choices on their business’ future.

Having a centralised system will also prevent disjointed customer experiences, as information is readily available through reports they can access in real time.

Communication with siloed systems is another major pain point. With multiple teams working from different programmes, utilising various messaging tools and different processes, there is a disconnect. Jobs can be delayed, completed incorrectly and run over budget, due to simple communication errors that could be solved by having all information in one place.

Utilising Re-flow’s app, you can push messages to individual operatives or bulk send to entire teams at once, with the ability to attach all the crucial information needed to communicate sudden changes on jobs – PDFs, photos, locations and more. With your entire team on a single messaging solution, everyone’s in the know with read receipts that tell you who’s acknowledged communications, and who hasn’t.

With the new addition of in-app replies, Re-flow users benefits from two-way communication. Replies can now be enabled by dashboard users when sending a message. Once it arrives through an operative’s app, they can send a response, displaying a log of replies should they need to be referred to in the future.

Also, with Re-flow’s workflow automations you can trigger notifications based on actions such as form completion, job progress updates, asset servicing updates and more. Push communications through the internal messaging system or send out e-mails to all relevant personnel.

In addition, messaging and automation notifications now provide support for SMS notifications, adding further communication options alongside existing e-mails, messages and push notifications.

Visibility is one of the main issues with siloed systems. Especially when it comes to the planning stages of works. With Re-flow’s scheduling tool businesses can stay informed and plan ahead. The instant, detailed overview of work being carried out allows you to see employees, vehicles, plant, and equipment assigned to tasks. This visibility is beneficial in preventing conflicts with holidays and training, double bookings, assigning defective equipment, those lacking the correct qualifications and even fatigue, ensuring everything goes to plan.

Being able to access a system where you can see where resources are and in what state, as well as what your teams at different sites are up to makes planning simple, the ability to adapt effortless and getting the job done seamless.

Inventory management – keeping track of equipment, plant, vehicles – can become extremely difficult with siloed systems. Having accurate and up-to-date inventory information is crucial when assigning jobs. If a defect in a vehicle hasn’t been reported, or equipment is being used on another job and the information hasn’t been passed back to the relevant team this will cause delays.

With Re-flow, businesses can easily track equipment and report issues though digital forms which can be seen at multiple locations by all departments. Equipment and vehicles cannot be assigned to jobs if they are defective or in use, so this means more efficient resource allocation.

With siloed systems, data security and compliance can become a big issue. Siloed systems may lack proper controls and processes to ensure compliance with industry regulations and standards. This also complicates efforts to comply with data privacy and protection laws.

Re-flow can incorporate compliance features and automates regulatory processes, reducing compliance risks and facilitating audits and reporting. Photographic record keeping allows a compliance officer to have eyes on a project when they can’t physically be there on site.

If data is being submitted incorrectly, viewing it as it comes into the dashboard can flag issues which can be fixed quickly. With everything uploaded and grouped together in jobs or projects with time, date and GPS stamps for documents, images and data, you’re left with an automatic audit trail.

Implementing a digital solution, like Re-flow, offers several advantages, including data consistency, enhanced visibility and reporting, improved customer satisfaction, efficient inventory management, and reduced compliance risks. By breaking down data silos and connecting departments, businesses can make informed decisions, and gain a competitive edge in the market.

You can come and speak to the Re-flow team on stand: 98.