Flexibility is a very, underrated quality – in just about every facet of life.
Being physically flexible allows us to continue to do our everyday activities. In sports, the better your flexibility, the more control you have over your body and the less susceptible you are to injury. As we age, we generally lose flexibility, which in turn, means we lose the ability to do some of the things we could do when we were younger. That’s why it is so important to retain as much flexibility as possible. Staying flexible significantly reduces the chance of experiencing occasional and chronic back pain and other injuries. Increased flexibility generally reduces stress and releases tension.
Flexibility is also very important for mobile time tracking software.
Most commercial software is written for the “average” customer, and not any one particular client. There is much generic functionality in most business software, but very few specific processes -and there’s the catch! Most construction contractors do the same thing – they build, renovate, or remodel things.
How they go about doing it is an entirely different matter!
Construction companies have very different processes. How did they get there? Again, there is probably a different and unique story for each company.
The owner/founder of a company may have started small with simple processes. As the company grew, the processes became increasingly more complex and sophisticated. The processes evolved with the company.
Other businesses may have been started when the owner/founder left another firm to start his own business, bringing with him many of the processes from his former employer.
Whatever the situation, no two businesses operate in the same manner. Generally, the size of the entity will dictate which type of system is in place. The smaller the company, the more in-tune management is with each job. The bigger the company, the more sophisticated the processes. With large companies, top management is much more removed from the everyday operations, and as a result, is much more dependent on the accounting and job costing systems in place.
The trick for vendors offering mobile time clock software is to be able to effectively integrate with companies and accounting systems of all sizes. Accurately collecting time from the field and importing it to the accounting system is just as important to a QuickBooks user as it is to someone using SAP. It may look totally different, and there may be different information tracked, but both need reliable data in a timely fashion.
Companies also have their preferred technologies. Some may issue smartphones to all of their foremen. Some may use tablets or, in a decreasing trend, laptops. Still others may use time clocks or biometric devices. And finally, there are companies who will use a mix of some or all of these time tracking devices. A construction time clock application needs to be able to work with all of these tools.
Obviously, it is quite a challenge to develop a portable time clock application that will be easy enough for the small company user, yet contain enough functionality to meet the rigorous demands of the enterprise user. Built-in flexibility allows you to do this. In our next post, we will explore the types of flexibility that can be advantageous to your business.
Are we flexible enough for your business? We will be happy to review your situation and assist you in finding the right solution. Our sales professionals are experienced, highly trained, and are interested in helping you succeed. Give them a call at 866-922-TIME (8463), email them at [email protected]
For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?
James Allen
