I had a conversation recently with a $30M roofing contractor who is looking for construction software with the ability to have their technicians enter their time and materials billing information into their Android smart phones from the field. This company was also looking for service dispatch and scheduling software capabilities.
The company is currently talking to Maxwell about their Pro Contractor MX program, but the marketing literature on Maxwell’s website only talks about applications for job cost accounting, project management and estimating – and doesn’t even mention service dispatch or scheduling. Maxwell claims to have an iPhone app to capture time and materials, but not an Android version. So this software vendor’s solutions don’t seem to be matching up well to the contractor’s needs.
The issue of remote data capture is a little more complicated. Any smart phone with a Web browser can access cloud-based software that is programmed to run in a Web browser, thereby executing the same type of transactions, data entry or reporting functions that can be performed on a PC, laptop or tablet computer.
However, if the software doesn’t operate in the cloud, then a smart phone app lets you enter data, such as time and materials, offline and then send that data to the office server in batch mode over the Web. Apps are operating system specific and, therefore, smart phone specific as to how they work. So an app written for an iPhone won’t work on an Android smart phone.
The Bottom Line: I’m wondering what, exactly, Maxwell is proposing to this roofing contractor and advised them to shop around before making a final construction software purchase. More and more construction software vendors are developing innovative applications that meet the growing demand for field-based data entry and access, including the needs of this roofing contractor. In light of this, you no longer need to settle for software that’s not a good fit for your type of business.
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