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16 www.thefis.org Feature more efficient through technology, and this doesn’t have to be complicated or disruptive to implement. Take Payapps for example – it’s used by contractors and subcontractors to ensure all applications for payment are created and received in a standardised, contractually-compliant format every month. This is far easier than chasing, collating and trying to make sense of chains of emails, spreadsheets and paperwork, and ideal for supply chain members who want to ensure their applications, supporting documentation and variations are accurate, complete and accepted. “Automated workflows streamline the approval process between the commercial and finance teams, ensuring notice deadlines are never missed, and providing improved cash flow visibility and transparency over variations, recoverable and non-recoverable costs, liabilities, projected final accounts and payment due dates.” The industry produces some spectacular building work yet lacks visibility in the back office through an unnecessary reliance on old methods to manage costs and profit. Businesses need to envisage and plan for the construction workplace of the future, taking steps now by using the efficient and intuitive digital technology that’s already available to help control back-office processes and finances. Kevin P’ng, Commercial Director at FIS member, BW Interiors, used Payapps and said: “I can’t believe we tried to manage applications for payment using spreadsheets and paperwork – in terms of administrative efficiencies, we’re saving around £100k a year now.” Theo Riakotakis, Finance Director, at BW Interiors said: “Payapps streamlines the entire assessment as we can access and log everything digitally at any time. We now have one digital version of the truth and that’s a great advantage for us.” www.uk.payapps.com Improving outcomes Duncan Reed, Digital Construction Process Manager at Trimble Solutions (UK) Ltd., observes that the construction industry has been slowly but inexorably moving towards digitisation; the circumstances of the past 18 months have massively accelerated this. However, he says, it still feels uneven and not necessarily across the board adoption. Some real practical improvements have been made but this has not been helped by the creation of new terminology, language and, in particular, the acronyms that have mushroomed. Equally too many of these terms have been misappropriated or misused such that for many organisations it is baffling to understand where or how to start. Duncan said: “In the vast array of shiny new technology it can be easy to forget that most businesses have already adopted some digital technology already rather than presuming they have none. Many business processes are already being delivered digitally. So, look at what you do already, don’t disregard it and see where further benefits can be achieved. BIM is all about better information management, not just model. It should save you money or reduce your risks so look at the things in your own business you can do to improve outcomes (what is often called selfish BIM) first. This could be as simple as teams sharing common data rather than the wasteful process of recreating information that already exists elsewhere in the business; whether in another part of the office or already being collected by staff out on site. “Once you’ve got a better handle of the benefits internally – what version of digital works for your business – then look at how the wider collaborative benefits can be achieved either with your customers or with your supply chain. Remember digital transformation for an FIS member will look very different to other parts of the construction industry or the wider lifecycle of a built asset so develop digital processes that really work for you.” www.tekla.com/uk i FIND OUTMORE Find the digital tools that work for your business here www.thefis.org/ knowledge-hub/digital-toolkit Image courtesy of Trimble Field Technology