Implementing Restoration Management Software

Any project manager for a restoration company will tell you that it’s time-consuming and demanding work. Burnout happens frequently throughout the construction industry, and the restoration sector is no different. Restoring buildings after a disaster is often one of the more stressful niches to work, as it requires management to work long hours and be on call constantly. Add to this the dangerous conditions faced when evaluating the damage done to a structure due to earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, tornados, windstorms, and other disasters, and it’s a surprise more restoration managers don’t hang up their hats.

The long hours and constant juggling of multiple tasks can wear out even the most dedicated restoration manager. Software that allows those in charge of restoration projects to ease their workload can make a real difference in their lives and the teams who work under them. Technological innovations save time and money and help decrease the stress of a restoration manager. Software that helps with workflow, reporting, communications, scheduling, and other aspects of the restoration business can help keep this burnout at bay.

Easing the Burden: Restoration Management Software to Optimize Efficiency

Technological innovation has progressed throughout the construction industry. With its typically smaller companies and the often cutthroat competition between players in the sector, however, it’s even more vital for a restoration manager. Software is becoming increasingly ubiquitous among restorers seeking to enhance the efficiency of their operations. Restoration contractors, like other business owners, are coming around to the need for advanced software solutions to streamline their processes to drive their businesses to their fullest potential.

Yet with anyone in charge of a business, whether it be the contractor or their restoration manager, software really just helps free up time to live life outside the business. After all, what good are all these lined-up projects and a fat bank account if there’s no time to have fun? While many restoration contractors are married to their companies, this isn’t necessarily the case with those under them, including their restoration managers. For restoration companies, the software allows industry employees to reclaim at least some of their time to ensure a good work-life balance.  

Of course, the automation in so much modern restoration management software helps workers perform repetitive tasks more quickly while reducing errors. It helps restoration managers oversee multiple projects, streamline workflow, or provide insightful reports based on historical data to optimize operations. For a restoration manager, the software also aids collaboration and communications, allowing tighter project schedules. So, if a contractor wants to free up time to expand their business as quickly and as much as they can, that’s an option too.

Features to Look for in Restoration Manager Software

Like any business software, restoration managers need a platform that provides elements that every business needs. Project management software for restoration companies should feature an intuitive interface that’s easy to learn and helps automate routine tasks like sending out invoices or scheduling appointments. It should have cloud-based functionality to enable the company to scale its operations effortlessly while allowing for nearly unlimited storage of information vital to the business. Additionally, it should have an open API (application programming interface) to permit smooth integration of other applications that can work within the main software platform to ensure a restoration company can react to changing business conditions.

For restoration managers, software should also allow them to: 

• Aid communications with customers, insurance companies, office staff, teams in the field, and other stakeholders.
• Better evaluate potential employees throughout the hiring process.
• Centrally manage all tasks from one place, from communications to workflow and documentation to scheduling.
• Decide upon and recommend solutions based on data rather than conjecture.
• Improve multiple aspects of a restoration company’s efficiency and growth by generating custom datacentric reports.
• Provide secure storage for integral documents.
• Stay updated on all ongoing projects while receiving real-time information on each.
• Store, share, and analyze data.
• Track equipment, teams, tools, vehicles, and other resources to allow project managers to supervise projects more effectively.

For a restoration manager, software offers all these advantages to improve their teams’ productivity and allow them to complete projects faster. Restoration software for project managers enables them to streamline workflow, improve decision-making by making it data-centric, collaborate better between field and office, communicate with other stakeholders, and automate scheduling to use time more wisely.

Workflow 

The nature of the business means a sequence of specific processes need to be followed in order by a restoration manager. Software needs to augment their ability to solve problems, allowing managers in the field to gain a wider perspective of everything associated with a project. In essence, restoration software should optimize workflow to save time so that both management and their field teams have greater freedom, whether they utilize this time to further expand the business or allow team members more time to play. After all, as the old saying goes: “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.”

For a restoration manager, software should benefit workflow by:

• Aiding management in the making of good decisions on a daily basis by providing relevant reports based on hard data.
• Allowing integration with software apps that ease workflow.
• Checking to ensure that work on a project complies with relevant regulations.
• Enabling real-time sharing of data, documentation, and any other information that can be digitized.
• Helping to manage inventory so that tools, supplies and equipment get to where they’re needed at the right time.
• Optimizing efficiency to allow for greater flexibility when performing essential tasks like scheduling jobs or working with subcontractors.
• Securely storing data and making it available from any point with Internet access.

While restoration software should help project managers with workflow, allowing them to juggle multiple projects while keeping all stakeholders happy and well-informed, it should also speed up projects so teams can enjoy well-earned relaxation after a long day’s work.

Reports

With the ability to create reports using insights gleaned from collected data, such aspects as team performance, market developments, and client preferences can be more easily measured. This makes determining such things as employee compensation, marketing decisions, and customer relations easier for a restoration manager. Software that includes data analytics makes reporting more accurate, allowing restoration companies to utilize the most effective business strategies.

The standard ways of doing things in the restoration industry are over. Gone is the era when it took days or weeks to put together and process data. Knowing what’s happening in the here and now is important to get an edge over the competition. That’s why for a restoration manager, software that supports the collection and utilization of real-time data is necessary. It allows for quick and decisive decision-making on everything from marketing to hiring.

Restoration companies that aren’t sufficiently energized to face the digital age will get left behind, so it’s absolutely imperative that restoration contractors adopt current technology. Reports provide all stakeholders within the company insight into the best way forward, whether it’s the contractor, field teams, office staff, or a restoration manager. Software can help ascertain the best way in which to launch a marketing campaign. It can measure a team’s performance to determine pay raises. A cutting-edge software platform gives everyone at all levels of a business the means to move a company forward to the future.

Collaboration & Communications

Teamwork in the construction industry is vital. Collaboration and communication are close cousins, both vital for a successful restoration. Manager software that enables teams to keep connected allows for a more seamless workflow, which speeds up a project to completion. Communication tools are necessary for field teams to collaborate with the office, subcontractors, insurance companies, or other stakeholders in a building restoration. Managers need software to stay connected to everyone involved in a project.

Additionally, communication tools allow employees to share ideas and work together in real-time, enabling collaboration while reducing the chance of misunderstandings. A wrongly interpreted message, for example, could result in equipment going to the wrong job or purchasing decision that results in an undersupplied team. With the right restoration software, project managers can track the progress of a job, make decisions on the fly, and delegate work more easily. Not only does it help stakeholders optimize communications with the building restoration manager, but software with the right collaboration tools allows office and field staff to work seamlessly together.

To aid a restoration manager, software ought to augment communications by: 

• Allowing restoration managers multiple means to contact stakeholders, such as texting, telephone calls, social media messaging, email, and applications used specifically for messaging.
• Automating many parts of communications with customers, such as sending out automated messaging to remind them of the date when a project will begin. 
• Enabling mobile devices to easily transfer documents, forms, messages, and other interactions between a project manager and other stakeholders.
• Making sending invoices to insurance companies or others responsible for payment easier for office managers.
• Organizing and keeping records of communications by job or other means, all made accessible from a single dashboard.

Along with keeping in touch with everyone involved in a project to ensure they’re on the same page, an employee doing a field visit can easily share photos with an insurance assessor to speed work approvals. Or an office worker can send a project manager through a digital contract that details the work and cost, ensuring the restoration company doesn’t get beat to the punch by a competitor. Communicating effectively is an imperative part of the restoration industry, whether with subcontractors, insurance companies, equipment suppliers, customers or anyone else involved in a project.

Automated Scheduling 

Timelines are important in the construction industry, especially for disaster restoration jobs. For a restoration manager, software helps track when and where they need to be at any given moment. Digital calendars can help schedule appointments to assess damage, collaborate with an assessor to move a work authorization forward or sign a contract with a homeowner. While much of this can be done digitally, schedules are important to ensure things get done expediently, as delays cost contractors both time and money.

Often, restoration software provides scheduling reminders to help with time management, including understanding when a job will start or when a specific piece of equipment needs to be onsite. Some software scheduling solutions have integrated apps that layer timelines so that with a quick glance, a project manager can easily see start dates for future projects as well as any imminent deadlines. Automated scheduling offers restoration companies the means to ensure the right resources are where they need to be at the right time.

Freeing Restoration Managers with Software by Albi

Whether looking to free up time for a better work-life balance or to expand your business, technological tools like Albi are becoming essential for every restoration manager. Software that can optimize workflow, aid in data-centric decision-making, help stakeholders collaborate by augmenting communications, and automate many aspects of scheduling is what will drive the restoration industry into the future, and Albi is here to help. But Albi is, above all, software made by restorers specifically for restoration companies, and we invite you to contact our team today to schedule a free demo.