Unified Comms are revolutionising the construction sector both on and off the building site.
For the majority of the construction sector working outside the office is nothing new. Whilst other sectors were thrown into disarray by 2020’s sudden home working migration, for construction the reduced office presence was more or less business as usual.
In the world of modern construction remote project management and administration has been the norm for years. In many cases companies or contractors will manage multiple sites, sometimes spread nationally (or even globally).
Unified comms have become a vital solution to the problem of managing sites when you can’t be physically present. With so many personnel needing to keep in contact wherever they may be, unified comms solutions have enabled construction management and logistics on an unprecedented scale.
What are Unified Comms?
Unified Comms (often shortened to UC) are systems that merge and manage multiple communication channels for your business.
In the construction sector, personnel will oftentimes be travelling to different locations, in noisy areas where clear voice calls aren’t possible, or need to liaise with other staff on a different site. A construction workforce has to use many different methods of communication to keep everything running smoothly.
A Unified Comms solution brings all of these comms channels (phone, SMS, email, instant messaging, video conference etc) together into one system. This greatly boosts efficiency, streamlines costs, and allows your fragmented mobile workforce to remain connected.
An accessible solution
Research has found that implementing a Unified Comms solution is actually cheaper for construction than other sectors or industries. In a recent survey, over half of respondents in construction viewed unified comms as adding ‘significant’ value to their business.
This is in part due to accessibility. A unified comms software solution can be added as an app on the mobile devices the majority of site workers already have. No only is this much cheaper than a private phone system, it also reduces the training time needed as workers will be using a device they’re already comfortable with.
A unified comms system also organises the barrage of messages and inbound communications building site workers receive on a daily basis. This makes the entire comms process much more effective, as well as much less stressful for staff.
Flexibility and rapid deployment
IS (Information Services) challenges are commonplace for the construction sector. Outdated communications infrastructures and inconsistent telephony equipment make supporting a large fragmented workforce difficult and expensive.
Adding new numbers to the system, moving equipment, keeping extensions up to date when workers regularly change site. All of these require both time and finances to maintain with traditional comms systems. They are also regularly necessary in the construction industry.
By using a unified comms solution to handle communications, these investments of time and finance aren’t necessary. Workers have the same point of contact regardless of location, and adding new users is cost free and can be achieved with almost a few mouse clicks. Plus, as the solution is software based, it is more or less self-sufficient and doesn’t require expensive engineering costs to maintain.
Immervox- bringing Unified Comms to the construction sector
We at Immervox have been advising and assisting businesses with Unified Comms solutions for several years. Many of our customers are in the construction sector.
We understand the unique needs of the construction sector and the challenges the industry faces. We offer UC solutions that enable full and streamlined connectivity for your workforce both on and off the building site.
We also offer many other solutions specifically tailored to the construction sector, such as our rapid deployment Fast Start broadband solution that removes ECCs costs. Give the team a call today to speak to one of our industry experts about the first steps towards enabling connectivity for your construction workforce.
