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From paper via Excel to apps. Companies are digitizing their business processes in various ways. Yet it can all still be done much more efficiently, says Gabe de Jong of VanMeijel. Digitizing is pure necessity. For construction companies starting out, VanMeijel has some good advice: "Include digitization in your vision and strategy." V&D, Kijkshop, Intertoys. Just some examples of companies that ran into heavy weather in recent years. And eventually fell over. One reason is that they could not compete with new, disruptive companies. "Like Coolblue," says Gabe de Jong, operational director at VanMeijel. "They have a fully digital strategy and understand the customer. For example, who can always see current inventories online. Companies with an extremely successful past that did not participate in this digital transformation went out of business."
Even in the construction industry, there are still numerous companies that are not or barely digitized. De Jong: "On the construction site, for example, people still often work with paper time sheets. These then have to be approved and typed over in the office to be included in the administrative system. An enormously time-consuming task, which makes it more difficult to monitor projects closely. After all, the administration always lags behind reality." Now you can find plenty of companies that do work digitally, using PDFs and Excel sheets. But that, according to VanMeijel, is really no more than digitized paper. De Jong: "Of course Excel, for example, has handy advantages, such as flexibility. But a major disadvantage is that it is mainly useful for one person: if everyone works with Excel, the data are fragmented. For example, to get a complete overview of a project, you have to combine all that data. This is also enormously time-consuming and error-prone. All those Excel sheets are in fact separate islands."
You can also find construction companies that have resorted to modern apps. "Also apps have their own advantages, but again are actually separate islands. Say you have an app for timekeeping, an app for project monitoring and one for invoicing. Each of these are technologies with a separate data structure. You have to see it as all these plugs that you can connect to each other with great difficulty. It takes time and effort to keep them continuously connected."
According to VanMeijel, you are most successful when your organization works with one integrated platform such as an ERP system. "We are an IT company that specializes 100% in the construction industry. VanMeijel has a rich history in automating construction processes. From design to realization and invoicing. Our integral platform Metacom reflects the construction process, which is after all also one coherent whole. For example, it allows you to make calculations, project planning and project monitoring based on a 3D model. At the same time, it offers the flexibility that a program like Excel also offers. On the shop floor the work becomes easier and higher up in the organization one always has up-to-date insight into each project."
To avoid suffering the same fate as, say, V&D, you have to digitize as a construction company. Such an integrated platform is ideal for this purpose. But how do you start the digital transformation as a construction company? De Jong answers, "The leaders in the industry have included digitalization in their corporate vision and strategy. They have structurally freed up resources and people
made responsible to shape digitalization. In doing so, these companies have built the digital transformation step by step. Because digitalization is not something of 'a small club': ultimately your entire organization has to go along with it."
"Don't rush, but proceed one step at a time."
That is therefore the biggest challenge. Every employee must join the digitization process in addition to their regular work. Think of a crane worker who has to get into the habit of entering his hours via his smartphone. How can you get that done as a construction company? According to De Jong, "patience" is essential. "Take your time with digitalization. Don't think: we have fifty employees, they all have to go along with the changes as quickly as possible. For example, start with a small group of enthusiasts and then, step by step, go through your entire organization.
