The Benefits of a Data-Driven Construction Business

Did you know that over a third of all costs in construction are spent on data entry and manual admin? When it comes to productivity, Australia’s construction sector is slow to catch up to other industries, like mining and transport. The good news is that advancements in tech are helping construction businesses say goodbye to paperwork, leading to a reduction in costs and overheads.

With every vehicle, asset, piece of machinery, person and device creating more and more data daily, many construction companies are now taking on the benefits of big data analytics to uncover valuable business trends. Those that harness this data to create actionable insights will boost productivity and gain a leg up on competition.

Here’s what a data-driven strategy will do for your construction business.

Clear, Comprehensive Picture

As states around the country implement new rules and incentives to stimulate the sector, construction businesses need to effectively manage their assets and resources. Otherwise, you risk workers stretched thin across various worksites.

Our fleet management systems work in even in the most remote areas of Australia. They help businesses uncover and understand worker and asset behaviour, monitoring their location, speed, working hours, harsh usage and more.

With access to all these valuable insights at a glance, you can easily identify problem behaviours. Say one of your drivers is speeding. The in-cabin device automatically tells them to slow down and you have the data to support a conversation with them if it happens regularly.

You can also see how your assets are being used. If there’s a piece of equipment getting regular use on worksites, it might be more financially beneficial to own it outright, instead of renting it out.

Improved Decision Making

Wading through paperwork and spreadsheets of data is tedious, time-consuming and costly.

Smart fleet management systems automatically sift through big data to discover safety, cost and efficiency trends. The instant visualisation of your driver and asset data creates valuable insights, right at your fingertips so you can make more informed business decisions, more quickly.

If an urgent job has come in at the last minute, you can use the system to view where your drivers are currently working. By assigning the nearest worker to the task, you’re ensuring the job gets completed as quickly as possible and boosting customer service.

Effectively Maintain Assets

Keeping your drivers safe isn’t just about managing their work and rest hours or monitoring their mental health. The condition of machinery and vehicles plays a huge role in fleet safety, and it’s vital that asset maintenance doesn’t get forgotten. A small technical fault can be a serious safety liability.

Collecting vehicle and asset data via an electronic pre-trip checklist helps maintenance teams to be made aware of any new or potential faults. Certain assets can be taken off construction sites if necessary. Order the required parts and the issue is swiftly fixed.

Unlike paper-based maintenance logbooks, the data from electronic pre-trip checklists is instantly accessible to all so operators and managers can schedule work around asset services. Not only are you keeping your fleet safe, but you’re ensuring that you have the resources to effectively meet all your deadlines.

Equipment Utilisation

Real time GPS location tracking paired with collated asset data lets you effectively measure the use and performance of your machinery. Complete visibility over your equipment helps improve productivity and reduce costs on worksites.

Knowing when your assets are being used, instead of sitting idle on a jobsite, prevents unnecessary hire costs. No longer will you hire more equipment than necessary. You’ll be directing assets to exactly where they’re needed most.

You can monitor and analyse your machinery from virtually anywhere. Our data-driven reporting tools let manage fuel use across all your assets, improving your businesses’ day-to-day efficiency and reducing idle time.

More than 95 per cent of all businesses need to effectively manage unstructured data. Construction businesses using big data to inform their operations will see reduced admin costs, improved asset maintenance and better customer service while gaining an advantage over competitors.