The concept of architecture and our interest in building bigger and better construction is as old as our origins. Architects do not rely on sticks and mud anymore, yet the ultimate goal of the architecture business remains the same: creating a stable structure.
Modern-day business is not just about being the best at what you do but also revolutionizing how you do it. In this day and age, technology is your new best friend in every industry, and it is about time to digitize your architecture business.
Failing to digitize your architecture business may deprive you of reaching your true potential. New technologies and solutions enable your internal business process to be efficient and error-free. Other competitors in the market may eat away your share by applying digitization before you do.
So, if you are an architecture business wondering what 3 ways you can digitize your business, this post is exactly what you need.
3 Strategies to Digitize Your Architecture Business
Digitizing your business is an ongoing process, but you can start using the following three strategies.
1. Introducing Productivity-Centered Solutions
Productivity remains one of the hottest topics in several industries, and the architecture sector is no different. It makes sense because on average, companies can immediately see a 15% increase in productivity by digitizing portions of what they do. Accomplishing this requires you to implement the right type of software suite to automate your project management operations.
A digital solution will provide you with a single platform for everything from your blueprints to design changes and reports. You can even use an option to provide information to your clients about the project’s progress and its current status.
As all the stakeholders will be able to get a real-time view of each of the stages, phases, and operations of a project, it will automatically increase your productivity. Are you a manager of an architecture company and unfamiliar with such software solutions? Then it is time for you to bring in a third-party service provider to implement this digital solution and train your crew on how to use it.
2. Adopting Mobile and SaaS Technologies
Mobile technology comes in many forms and sizes. Tablets and wearables are making an impact as well as drones for inspections and software for online payments. Several digital solutions such as these can flawlessly streamline all of your operations with better customer and employee experience.
Apart from that, you can adapt and implement cloud-based (SaaS) technology to break free from the physical constraints of the industry. The SaaS industry has been growing at a fast pace already and is expected to see its most dramoitic growth in the coming years as it approaches 200 billion in value. By becoming an early adopter to this new tech, you and your team can communicate, collaborate, and monitor all business operations remotely.
Thanks to cloud-based technology that automatically stores your data regarding project management details, you can access, edit, and share it with all stakeholders in real-time. You can use other mobile technologies such as drones for site inspections in the most remote areas or just to check the progress of the project in real-time.
You can even grant access to the live feed to the clients so that they can monitor the progress of their projects as they develop. These few adaptations will put you in the lead as a forward-thinking architecture business and earn you a good reputation as well as customers' loyalty.
3. Going Paper-Free
From blueprint designs to project reports and contracts, architecture companies have heavy usage of paperwork. However, this does not only cost you a lot of money but also increases your carbon footprint. If you want to market yourself as a green architecture business, you will have to implement paper-free solutions.
For instance, you can use a paperless invoicing system by Vergo to help you get rid of handling and managing manual invoices and payments. You can combine the paperless invoicing system with online payment to further save time, money, and resources required for manual payment processing.
You will never miss a payment, as the new paper-free invoice systems can send you automatic reminders about ones coming due. This will help you avoid any late payments and associated charges for both accounts receivable and accounts payable. You can even use reward cards for businesses to make the most of your online payment processing.
Furthermore, you will be able to check the cash flow for each project through a project card. This gives you better control over your budget and expenses.
What’s Next
While the above-mentioned may sound like an insurmountable task to digitize your architecture business, it is definitely worth doing. Getting rid of your legacy systems and automating the aspects of your business that you can, will not only increase the time, money, and resources you save but also improve the efficiency and productivity of your business.
The decision to digitize your architecture business will affect everyone from owners to labor, project managers to clients, and even the vendors. Therefore, you must get everyone on board before deciding to roll out the digital strategies.
The best way is to float the idea amongst the stakeholders and keep an open-door policy for discussion and feedback about the move. You must carefully listen to what your vendors, contractors, clients, and employees have to say about the strategies you are considering deploying to be sure morale remains high and everyone feels heard.
Using the feedback from all the stakeholders, especially our in-house crew, will help you build a digital infrastructure that will serve every domain of your architecture business.
Benefits of Digitizing Your Architecture Business
Here are 8 benefits that you will enjoy after you digitize your architecture business.
- Improvement in operations and projects efficiency and timelines
- You will be able to use your workforce on productive tasks and eliminate time wasted on administrative tasks
- Reduced errors and costs associated with time delays
- Improved and transparent communication internally and externally
- Better services and visibility for your team members, project managers, client, and stakeholders
- You will be able to access your data and monitor projects in real-time remotely
- This will establish your reputation as an industry leader and an architecture business with a modern approach
- Extend your company’s life
Bottom Line
The architecture company's success mostly rides on its reputation in the market. However, the industry has always been somewhat of late arrival when it comes to adopting new solutions and technologies. Being one of the first in your sector to adopt these systems of the future will give you an invaluable competitive advantage.,
If you are a company owner looking for strategies to digitize your architecture business, you should strongly consider ones mentioned in this article.
