In this 3-part series, we look at key elements that can drive profit margins in the construction industry: increasing revenue, minimizing risk, and in this last installment, reducing costs.
Our work with Yates Companies, ranked one of the country’s top construction providers by Engineering News Record (ENR), is typical of how we help clients reduce their operating costs. The integration allows Yates team members to leverage complex workflows, giving them total control over real-time data flow between the company’s ProjectSight project management and Vista accounting systems.
As David Olivet, Yates’s Manager of Software Development who managed the integration internally puts it, “We gain better cost control and financial accountability company-wide.” The key benefits that Yates, and other clients of ours have experienced because of our integrations, include:
Table of Contents
Elimination of Manual Data Entry
One of the major cost-saving aspects of integration is the seamless data flow between finance and project management systems. Eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing errors associated with duplicate entries or transcription is an ongoing challenge in the industry. Automating the process saves time and reduces labor costs by minimizing manual administrative tasks.
Streamlined Processes and Increased Efficiency
Integration allows for streamlined processes across finance and project management functions. For example, cost and budget data from project management can automatically populate financial reports and budgets in the finance system. This streamlining eliminates duplicate efforts, reduces paperwork, and enhances overall operational efficiency, resulting in cost savings.
Improved Resource Allocation
The integration provides real-time visibility into project costs, budget utilization, and financial performance. This visibility helps project managers and finance teams alike make informed decisions regarding resource allocation. They can identify underutilized resources, optimize staffing levels, and avoid unnecessary expenses. Effective resource allocation reduces costs associated with idle or excess resources.
Enhanced Cost Control and Budget Management
With tighter control and monitoring of project costs, project managers can track actual costs against budgets in real time and identify potential cost overruns or variances. Timely insights enable prompt corrective actions, such as adjusting resource allocation, renegotiating contracts, or implementing value engineering strategies. This proactive cost control reduces unnecessary expenses.
Accurate and Timely Invoicing
Integration ensures that project progress and milestones are accurately reflected in financial data. This accuracy enables timely and correct invoicing based on completed project milestones or percentage of completion. Timely invoicing and billing leads to faster payment collection, reduces payment delays, and improves cash flow. It also minimizes the risk of revenue leakage due to missed or delayed invoicing.
Financial Analysis and Decision-Making
Integration provides comprehensive and up-to-date financial data for analysis and decision-making. With integrated systems, construction companies can generate detailed financial reports, perform variance analysis, and conduct cost-benefit assessments. These insights enable informed decision-making to identify areas for cost reduction, optimize processes, negotiate favorable contracts, and improve overall financial performance.
Reduced Risk of Errors and Discrepancies
Manual processes and data entry carry a higher risk of errors and discrepancies. By integrating finance and project management systems, the risk of data inaccuracies and inconsistencies is significantly reduced. This reduction in errors helps to avoid costly mistakes, prevents financial inconsistencies, and minimizes the need for time-consuming error corrections.
Conclusion
With a growing need to keep costs under control, dedicating resources to integrating project management, ERP, CRM, and HCM software is a valuable investment rather than a discretionary expense. In today’s dynamic business environment, construction companies are best positioned for growth and profitability if they eliminate manual data entry, streamline processes and improve efficiencies, improve resource allocation, improve budget management, improve accuracy and timeliness of invoicing, improve financial analysis and decision making, and reduce the risk of errors and discrepancies.
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