Upagupta Patnaik – Business Head, Highbar Technocrat Limited, on how integrated ERP and IoT solutions will drive optimization for Infrastructure players in the Post-Pandemic world
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges across business sectors.
Companies have realized the limitations of the traditional planning and resource management processes in coping with the post-Covid challenges. Lack of timely access to the right information, which is critical for project success, could pose a huge challenge towards timely project completion mainly due to the restricted access and limited availability of resources.
Many companies during this time have started focussing on digital solutions to be future-ready to minimise the risks. Integrated ERP and IoT solutions can help customers eliminate time overruns in large construction projects by empowering all stakeholders involved in back office & execution and enabling the project design and management team to plan and take corrective actions to bring the project back on track.
Here are some of the key benefits that an integrated ERP and IoT solution enables for the construction and infrastructure development industry are-:
Garnering and processing of data into meaningful insights
There are many processes simultaneously at play for a construction project. Enabling a streamlined, centralised work platform to integrate the management of these processes allows for easier management of organisational data, enhancing overall business efficiency.
Leveraging ERP and IoT in the new normal enables dynamic analysis of financial and operational data, empowering top executives with precise and detailed information in real-time.
With an effective analysis of this data, decision-makers in infrastructure development companies can keep a track of multiple ongoing processes as well as mitigate risks and address inefficiencies swiftly and effectively.
Effective planning for the new normal
Inability of the planning and execution processes to align with the changing demands in the post-pandemic world could affect the quality of work in construction projects. This could seriously affect the credibility of the business, while also affecting profitability of the project. Construction enterprises can incur hefty losses involving labour expenditures and loss of important client’s in-case of missed deadlines
Disruptions in supply chains due to the pandemic can affect raw material procurement. A precise forecast of raw materials required, effective utilization of human resources and contract management are necessary to maintain productivity and profitability in construction projects. An effective construction ERP solution allows efficient financial budgeting of a project, helping construction players to avoid downtimes as well as complications related to client contracts throughout the project lifecycle.
Streamlining large pool of data
Modern ERP and IoT solutions are more project-oriented to handle multiple projects in the post-COVID world.
Construction firms have to often manage multiple projects for multiple clients, which causes the exchange of information becoming confusing, tedious and prone to errors.
Managing and compiling data for numerous projects via PowerPoint presentations and Excel sheets is a daunting task for executives to analyse, with scope for errors and inefficiencies.
Also with different software solutions coming into the picture for multiple project operations, a seamless exchange of information among departments of the same organisation becomes difficult. An ERP solution in this regard comes as a perfect answer to this challenge.
Enhanced system efficiency and embrace remote working
Enhancing efficiency in construction projects is of paramount importance today. A unified platform boosts efficiency by offering a unified scenario view before actual decision making. An integrated ERP and IoT solution helps employees to correlate information from different source points by applying relevant criteria for quick resolution of queries.
With the majority of enterprises adopting a remote working model for functions and operations where possible, an integrated ERP and IoT solution can make interdepartmental transfer of reports more convenient with real-time monitoring of the entire process, which otherwise would have been an exhaustive task prone to vulnerabilities.
