If you're considering upgrading your company's field management processes - for example with better software - a well-put business case argument in favour of change might just help persuade those making the financial decisions

It's a route to a more modern way of working that grants full visibility of remote projects, develops KPIs, generates data insights, and replaces the slower parts of your workflow with automations.

It also leads to safer and more productive teams.

Back in June a local highways authority 'appointed someone without relevant structural or civil engineering experience to a position that involves assessing structural health of assets'. If incorrectly qualified workers had been assigned anywhere else in a business, and one of the multiple accidents leading to a fatality occurred, then not only would lives be ruined, but businesses may not recover from this.

Elsewhere, according to a recent BBC article, Norfolk County Council issued fines totalling £685,000 last year for non-compliant work on their road system.

The number of incidents caused by construction hazards is increasing, and the need for strategic interventions for enhancing safety will in part be covered by the incorporation of industry-tailored field management software.

This means software produced in collaboration with highways, civils, and UK infrastructure firms that address issues around compliance, safety standards, managing complex project timelines, and coordinating multiple teams spread across large areas while tracking their progress.

This kind of digital solution brings together each disparate part of managing field operations in one piece of software - that's job setup, scheduling, asset management, managing sites, visibility of work, reporting, auditing, and more.

Before we make the business case, let's look at a few common hesitations for companies considering a digital transformation.

Even if you have your eyes on a stronger software solution than what you're currently using - whether you currently have an inflexible bespoke system, or multiple systems not quite doing the job - that doesn't mean you won't be affected by the following hesitations about changing:

The good news is, each of these concerns has a clear solution. We wrote about it in more detail here.

Re-flow's dedicated support teams and project managers have been guiding companies through the process for years, helping migrate data safely, building Re-flow's end-to-end management software around existing workflows, and providing an intuitive solution the whole team can use, including:

Of course, business goals vary:

Field management software like Re-flow can help in multiple ways in each case.

Re-flow Field Management is a complete end-to-end operations management solution built with flexibility, impact, and industry needs in mind.

As Richard Lennon, head of IT for MV Kelly put it in their Re-flow case study:

"The efficiencies in the accuracy of the data, in the fact that data records live to an operative's record, that the KPIs are being recorded straight into the system, that nonconformances are being sent directly to site, the efficiencies in the process of taking out the manual communication. That's been the biggest thing for us."

'It was instantly recognisable that Re-flow was a great fit for our business,' Iain Johnston, Breedon Group's national managing quantity surveyor, said. 'Re-flow has saved hours from an admin perspective.'

Elsewhere, LAML's surfacing division reported efficiencies that amounted to 15 minutes saved per operative per day and 40 minutes per admin.

When extrapolated, that amounts to huge efficiency and financial savings.

Whether it's operations gaining greater oversight and better risk management, or IT teams ensuring scalability, flexibility, and data security, operations software is becoming a critical foundation for success - and keeping teams ready to meet the challenges of a fast-changing industry.