Why “Location, Location, Location” Is Not Just a Real Estate Catchphrase
It’s 2 p.m. on a Thursday. As an upstanding electrical contractor, do you know where every single one of your trucks, pieces of equipment, and tools are? Most would like to think so, but the reality is — whether it’s 2 a.m. or 2 p.m. — you may not be able to specifically track the exact location of every single asset at any given moment. According to the results of a recent survey, “Location Tracking: Incidence & Issues,” performed in October 2018 by Informa Engage, EC&M, Contracting Business, and Contractor magazines on behalf of Verizon Connect, the well-known mantra, “location, location, location” may be just as important in the contracting arena as it is in real estate.
Whether you’re talking about the electrical, plumbing, or HVAC industry, the survey showed that when a contractor has real-time information about the location, status, and performance of its employees and vehicles, that business is uniquely positioned to maximize productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Well over half of respondents saw significant value in having real-time information about the location of employees and high-value assets. In fact, more than 54% agreed or strongly agreed that without this information, they can’t quickly and easily retask employees or high-value assets based on proximity to another job site. Despite this positive perception, only 32% of respondents currently acknowledged having digital tools that track asset locations in real time.
Another industry survey, conducted in April 2019 by Fleet Advantage, revealed similar findings that illustrate how technology shortcomings continue to prevent many business owners from effective fleet management. According to the results, approximately 33% of respondents said they still do not have a software platform that allows them to manage their fleet’s total cost of ownership in one place. A quarter of the 2,000 fleet executives that answered the survey (26%) said their current software analysis platform does not combine financial and operations data together, 48% said their current platform does not provide benchmarking reports for the industry or other similar fleets, and approximately 62% said their platform does not produce a profit and loss statement for each truck in their fleet.
Based on these two surveys alone — and they’re just the tip of the iceberg — there is mounting evidence that lack of access to business intelligence information is a real pain point for contractors. That’s just one of the reasons Informa, EC&M’s parent company, is launching the new Contracting Technology Bootcamp, a free online learning event designed to help contractors improve business operations. Not only will it offer a wealth of fleet management resources, but it will also target other key areas, such as project management, finance, field service management, and more. Coming in August 2019, this new product is essentially a “month of online learning” that will bring together the best technologies and software solutions available to contractors. Backed by Informa’s leading resources for contractors (EC&M, Contractor, and Contracting Business), these three brands reach a combined audience of more than 500,000 electrical, plumbing, heating, and HVAC professionals. Featuring content from top technology influencers, the site will offer a mix of formats to keep the audience engaged — from live webinars and interactive learning videos to in-depth technical articles and how-to content to sponsored tutorials and case studies. The format uses a single sign-on experience, meaning you only have to register once — then you can transparently jump from a webinar to a whitepaper to a video, for example, without having to re-register each time. Visit contractingbootcamp.com today for a sneak peak, and look for the official site launch on Aug. 1, 2019. Take advantage of our early bird registration before August 1, and you’ll automatically be entered into a drawing to win a Yeti Roadie 20 cooler.