Platform on civil engineering, underground infrastructure, energy, construction equipment & construction machinery
Revolutionary change is often accompanied by a difficult departure from what was once the norm. This digital revolution in construction is different. No one in the ground, civil and hydraulic engineering industry is likely to shed a tear over the demise of paper and visionless, outdated software. The arrival of an entirely new generation of construction software is already leading to cheers and a warm reception in a short time; a welcome relief in these times when businesses are being asked to do more and more. What is going on here?
Margins are under pressure. Companies act too slowly, using insufficiently up-to-date figures. From the accountant to the shop floor, there is too little insight into what happens between calculation, execution and invoicing. Post-calculation is not done, too late or in separate Excel spreadsheets. As a direct result, there is no proper guidance for future calculations, which consequently require more and more time and money. Fortunately, this is changing, and dramatically so, from the software side.
Many entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed in the software market. Everyone suddenly appears to be able to build software; the supply on the Internet speaks volumes. However, the quality and vision of the current offerings can be questioned. What does it bring to the entrepreneur? Unfortunately, most software packages are conceived from a short-term vision, which is reflected in the complexity of use and laborious integrations.
Fortunately, there is that turnaround, and it is in the guise of Softwareshaker, a newcomer that - with 15 years of experience in software for the construction industry - helps business owners make choices.
Entrepreneur Arjan Vlieger's company Softwareshaker distributes and implements an originally Belgian total platform for the construction and infrastructure sector. Typical is the focus on the quality of each software code and on the vision of the creators. Vlieger: "In plain language: there is a change going on from unwieldy, outdated software to flexible platforms on which data can flow freely, and which people can work with intuitively. Softwareshaker is in the middle of that turnaround. I work hard for the entrepreneur, who today faces difficult choices when it comes to software. I've gained some 15 years of experience with that now and fortunately know most software packages by now."
Among other things, Softwareshaker brings Robaws business administration software to companies in the Netherlands: a total platform for the construction industry. Robaws enables unprecedented flexibility for purchase invoices, sales invoices, customer management, estimating, quotations, projects, personnel, equipment and project planning, work orders, purchase orders, mandate statements. Not only is the software itself unprecedentedly intuitive and simple, the extent to which these programs can be linked together is remarkable. This is done with an ease as if it didn't matter.
"Simplicity is my golden rule," continues Vlieger. "Other software providers often deploy combinations of systems, which by their very nature don't work as well because some complexity remains. It's all about the code, the technology, and not what you think you see at first glance. It's in the vision, the code of the software and the creator. Visionary Michael van Robaeys, the man behind Robaws, has been working hard with his team for the past eight years to develop a total platform. And with success. When people are outside at a construction site and have to enter data into the Robaws app, you want it to be really intuitive. Nothing complicated and no intensive training beforehand. Just start using it. With this software, that's possible."
According to Vlieger, it is not easy to get simplicity into a system. There are few packages anyway where the creators have really taken simplicity into account. So good searching and finding is step one. So the main goal of Softwareshaker is to help business owners choose about which software suits them best. We also give users tools to work with it.
Isn't "revolution" too big a word? Look at the offerings on the market, that massive increase. Companies are massively choosing software packages that they'll come back to later. What you hear too often: "The package isn't quite right for us and doesn't interface nicely with others." Also a classic is, "I have to click too often to accomplish anything with the software."
A lot of information about hours, costs and much more is stupidly retyped from one system to another. Insight into hours comes days later. Learning from completed projects, which makes calculation much easier and faster, does not happen often enough. Keeping track of where (mobile) equipment is located is manual work or is locked up in a software solution from which no exports can be made to the accounting, to the post-calculation system.
"We've always done it this way," is no longer an excuse to continue with unwieldy software. Its capabilities have become too limited to meet the challenges and competition of our time. Extra effort has been put by the creators into making Robaws intuitive, so that even on the shop floor and construction sites, the transition to apps and dashboards is easy. This also makes the acceptance of Robaws easier among employees.
Robaws is a software company open to collaborations with international and local entrepreneurs, including in neighboring Netherlands. They don't want to build everything themselves. For example, they are looking at how to load payroll records and RAW specifications. The role of Softwareshaker is, among other things, to bring the best providers together, so that the entrepreneur but also stakeholders have the best tools in their hands. Tools that can be linked together. Similarly, the market demands dashboards, for early signaling or knowing where we stand today. And the government also asks for information from the construction industry.
Vlieger: "At the most recent fair, I met a few with future-proof software and who are willing to link up with Robaws. That open attitude I also dare to call revolutionary; it's over with that insular culture of classic software."
If you inquire with companies where this small software revolution has already taken place (in part), you will hear enthusiastic noises. One earthworks entrepreneur (name known to the editor) said, "We will soon be able to calculate a complete quotation in five minutes since the arrival of Robaws." During Softwareshaker's implementation of the new software, they took the opportunity to refresh project pricing and other information as well, making a huge improvement. It can be that simple, even in a company that until recently worked with paper work orders.
As mentioned, Robaws is the builder of the software solution for administration and project management in construction. More than six hundred construction companies are already using it, which says it all. We should note here that at most only a little more than a third of the Dutch companies in the ground, road and hydraulic engineering sector are now using digital work orders. The majority are simply not that far yet, but that will undoubtedly change quickly under the current circumstances.
- Goodbye to software solutions and contracts cast in concrete.
- Goodbye to island culture (separate software, stand-alone apps, etc.).
- Goodbye to paper or old, unwieldy and unconnected software.
- Goodbye to manually copying data or retyping from paper or apps.
- Clear bundling in one tool: project management, quotations, invoicing, purchasing, inventory, scheduling and digital work orders.
- Significant time savings.
- More centralized visibility of hours, costs, equipment, instrumentation, locations.
- Faster adoption among employees through intuitive apps and dashboards.
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