IT Services Built Right
Construction companies operate just like all other companies, right? Not so much. They might use name-brand computers and tools like Microsoft Office for garden-variety office activities. But they also run CAD, project-planning, and procurement systems you won’t find in other industries. If you’re in the construction industry, you already know all that. So, why are we pointing it out? Because the hardware and software with which construction companies work; the collaborative nature of the work they do with architects, engineers, foremen, and workers; the workflows required for design, construction, and testing; and the regulatory and security mandates with which they must comply require special care and feeding.
That means you should have access to highly trained and specialized people to see to your IT and security needs. You (or those highly trained and specialized people) should be able to support the technologies that run your critical applications — estimating, accounting, project management, document management, and scale management, and others. You (or those highly trained and specialized people) should have Mobile Device Management (MDM) and remote access capabilities that allow your team members to have access to anything, at any time, from anywhere. You (or those highly trained and specialized people) should also be able to design, build, manage, and monitor the network(s) on which all of your technological tools run.
If You Build It …
Since you are, after all, in the construction industry, you know the importance of punctuality and reliability. The highly trained and specialized people who see to your IT and security needs should be equally punctual and reliable. Not everything is an emergency. But if your IT team isn’t punctual and reliable under normal operating conditions, it’s not likely they’ll come through for you at crunch time. Make sure they treat your business as if it were their own. Make sure they care for your data as if it were their own. Make sure they secure your entire IT infrastructure as if it were their own. Make sure they treat cyber threats and viruses as if they. were being attacked by them. And make sure they’re there when you need them — before you need them.
A famously misquoted line from Field of Dreams is, “If you build it, they will come.” In construction, that may or may not be true. But in the world of IT and your infrastructure network, it’s definitely true of hackers and other bad actors. So, when you look for the highly trained and specialized people to see to your IT and security needs, look carefully and choose wisely.
And in case you’re curious, yeah, we know some guys. 😉