You’ve probably played “telephone” at some point in your life, so you know how it works. One person hears the original message, and then passes it along until it’s gone around the circle. What the last person hears is very different from what the first one was told. No one wants to cheat or distort the message on purpose, but it’s human nature to rephrase a concept into words that make sense to us.
You’ve witnessed this first hand on the job site. Details slip through the cracks. Off-the-cuff adjustments aren’t documented so future crews know about them. Pencil and graph paper drawings just plain get lost, or coffee spilled on them, or any of a number of disasters. When communication breaks down, the job suffers, and of course when that happens it tends to eat into your bottom line like a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
When your crews are out in the field, you can still pass vital information back and forth using cloud collaboration. A mobile CAD solution like ArcSite lets you save to the cloud with one click, making initial and revised projects available across the team.
Collaborating within the cloud provides several benefits:
Collaboration makes sure your team is aligned like a well-oiled machine. When your office staff has visibility into the status of the job, it gives them the power to communicate more effectively with customers and each other.
If an unforeseen adjustment to the initial site drawing occurs, your field personnel can rely on the office staff to order just the right replacement inventory. All they have to do is check the current project, assured that the schematics are correct and updated.
You use your tablet to draw, estimate, propose and create takeoffs with ArcSite, but we go a step further by making it possible to edit projects on any device, including your laptop or desktop PC or Mac.
This means you have the freedom to work when and where you want, secure in the knowledge that your projects are always up to date.
You also have an opportunity to upskill your team not just in collaboration, but also in working with a modern CAD mobile platform. It might be tempting to think that you have to hire new folks to keep up with new technology. However, you’d be overlooking the benefit of experienced employees who know your business inside and out.
Mobile CAD is extremely simple to learn and use, and you’ll find that most people can pick it up easily. Translating institutional knowledge into the digital age is the ultimate collaboration hack.
For more information on ArcSite, the number one iOS mobile CAD app (also available on Windows and Android), check out our collaboration page.
Ready to learn more about cloud collaboration for contractors? Schedule a personalized demo!