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As technology continues to disrupt business across industries, forward-thinking construction firms are already adopting the tools and data governance practices they’ll need to stay competitive. However, having the right solutions alone won’t ensure long-term business and technology performance.

People are at the center of any technology initiative. Effective construction technology management is built on your firm’s ability to understand the needs of every department and encourage collaboration across teams.

Here’s how your construction firm can connect people and systems to improve technological performance: 

The challenge in maintaining construction IT alignment

For many construction firms, the gap between back-office and field departments provides the biggest obstacle in creating a unified IT vision.

Two departments are the core of many firms’ technology management:

• Finance and accounting: Leaner firms often have the CFO play a dual role in overseeing financial performance and IT strategy
• Operations: Operations drive revenue, making their technology pain points a priority issue. However, their vision for technology may not align with the CFO’s or IT leader’s vision. Oftentimes, this disconnect leads operations to appoint independent IT leadership, such as a director of operational excellence or construction technology leader.

When operations and finance have their own IT leaders, this can lead to “shadow IT”—an entirely separate entity managing technology adoption and strategy without coordinating with other IT staff. And while shadow IT can provide operations with the technology investments they need to drive revenue, the lack of communication can hinder your firm’s overall IT strategy.

Without effective collaboration, your firm may encounter:

• Inefficiency: Siloed systems can increase errors and duplicate work for tasks such as data entry. It may also lead to the purchase of redundant or unnecessary systems.
• Limited growth: A disconnected IT vision makes it harder to identify and adopt the solutions that can scale with your firm’s growth and serve your business objectives.
• Increased cybersecurity risk: Organizations that don’t have standardized processes for data governance and cybersecurity are at greater risk of data breaches.

How you can unify your IT strategy

To help bridge the gap between departments in your firm, consider the following approaches:

Create a unified vision

When creating an IT strategy and roadmap, ensure that your firm involves all major stakeholders. Seeking input from every impacted department facilitates better alignment around critical objectives. It can also help you create a roadmap that integrates operational tech needs with your firm’s broader IT and financial vision.

Build cross-functional teams

Leveraging cross-functional teams during technology initiatives allows all departments the opportunity to voice concerns and recognize the unique value each team brings to addressing technology challenges.

For CFOs who oversee IT, they can get a better understanding of the tools operations teams need to support revenue-generating activities. It can also help operations align their tech stack with back-office systems.

Reorganize IT responsibilities

Appointing a neutral party, such as chief information officer (CIO), to oversee technology management can help centralize IT resources and leadership.

Of course, it may not be efficient for some firms to hire a full-time technology executive. Outsourced CIO services provide a more cost-effective option for firms that only need targeted IT support.  Alternatively, firms can consider making the CEO, not the CFO, responsible for overseeing technology management.

Integrating your construction technology infrastructure  

While adopting the right solutions can help you modernize, integrating them provides greater technological value.

Here are five key systems your firm can adopt and integrate for increased efficiency, insights and financial success:

1. Construction management systems

Adopting an effective construction management system (CMS) bridges the gap between field and back-office teams by providing a centralized platform for accessing real-time project data.

CMS acts as the foundation for a seamless tech ecosystem, integrating with other key systems to enable smooth project execution and minimize delays and cost overruns.

2. Enterprise resource planning

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) or cloud-based financial systems deliver a significant upgrade over legacy financial tools. With ERP, your firm can increase data accuracy, streamline workflows and pursue seamless integration with your CMS.

Integrating your ERP with other key systems translates into stronger decision-making capabilities. It provides real-time insights into material and equipment planning, job costing and financial forecasting — empowering leadership to allocate resources more effectively and drive profitability across projects.

3. Human resource information systems

A human resource information system (HRIS) streamlines essential workforce functions by automating payroll, simplifying benefits administration and supporting structured performance evaluations. It can also help you become a more competitive employer, with support for talent acquisition and retention.

When integrated with ERP and other core systems, HRIS enables real-time labor cost visibility, enhanced workforce planning and optimal resource deployment across projects.

4. Customer relationship management systems

While often associated with sales, a modern customer relationship management (CRM) system offers far more strategic value for construction firms. CRM can help firms maintain a competitive edge by enhancing bid and estimate management, strengthening trade partner relationships and improving pipeline forecasting.

Integrating CRM with systems such as CMS and ERP transforms it into a hub for real-time resource planning and comprehensive reporting. It also gives leadership deeper visibility into project pipelines so that they can make data-driven decisions about growth strategies.

5. Reporting stack

Well-built, fully integrated reporting stacks can aggregate data from each of a firm’s core tools, helping achieve greater accuracy, depth and context in raw data.

Adding dashboards also provides immediate data visualization capabilities, making it easier to turn data into actionable insights.

How Wipfli can help

Wipfli is ready to provide industry-specific solutions and strategies to help increase your firm’s tech capabilities. Whether you need a strong cybersecurity program for today or want to prepare your AI strategy for tomorrow, we can guide your next tech initiative.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can support your digital transformation. 

You can also learn more about how to build a future-ready tech stack in our e-book: “Building resilience with new construction technology.”