To Host or Not to Host: Is Cloud-Based Construction Management for You?

(Yes, it probably is)

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Of all the things you might be pondering throughout the day on a job site, from budgeting and time concerns to labor and material issues, stopping to wonder whether your construction management software will operate better on-premises or cloud-hosted isn’t likely to be one of them. More pressing, time-sensitive needs usually keep contractors up at night.

Moving to the cloud helps construction projects move faster, securely

But it’s reasonable to ask if there are tangible benefits that come with moving your construction data and processes to the cloud. 

(Spoiler alert: There are major benefits, like better security and flexibility to data accessibility anywhere in the field).

Let’s take a look at three major factors to help remove the mystery surrounding cloud based construction management, and see why migrating to cloud hosting is a smart, growth-based move for your construction organization.

Benefits of Cloud-Based Construction Management

What is the Immediate Value of Moving to Cloud-Based Construction Management?

“Some of those ‘wishlist’ items can begin to work their way into the queue."

Robert Kruse, the director of financial software for MDU, an electrical contracting firm, says that moving to the cloud allowed his team to expand their scope of new projects to further create efficiencies for his teams in the field.

“We’re able to do things that we just classically never looked at because we never had time,” says Kruse. “Some of those ‘wishlist’ items can begin to work their way into the queue because we’re no longer spending so much time testing the service backups, along with the gamut of other things that on-prem management brings.”

Even if you’re not contracting for the fed anytime soon, SOC II Type 2 is an industry-wide best practice that helps shore up cybersecurity.

How Does Cloud-Based Construction Management Reduce Hidden Costs?

There’s a lot that goes into the cost of managing on-prem software, even outside of the server. All of these costs resolve around storage, performance, availability, and redundancy. Things like:

  • Coverage in the case of a hardware failure through virtualization (This means having an exact duplicate of your system that you can access in the case of emergencies, which takes time to create and manage
  • Cloud management, which can often be pushed off to a third-party vendor to avoid risk and help keep your systems running smoothly (Construction management software providers with great service will do a lot of the work for you)
  • Storage to keep all of your data (which, while cheap, can add up quickly and is a ransomware risk)
  • Different servers to manage for larger or more sophisticated environments
  • Dedicated storage networking to connect the server to the storage

... And that’s just a few major aspects of the infrastructure that we’re looking at.

Contractor management software can vastly improve the security and lower the costs associated with on-premise management—by as much as 4x, according to our clients.

Posted By

Ron is a Content Manager & SEO Strategist for Trimble Viewpoint. A professional writer for more than 10 years, his focus is now on showcasing the benefits of the industry's top connected construction software platform: Trimble Construction One.