Hosted VoIP Phone System for the Construction Industry
Across the U.S., nearly 700,000 firms in the construction industry employ more than 10 million people — carpenters, electricians, project managers, site managers, masons, plumbers, welders, glaziers, surveyors, engineers, architects, and the list goes on — who collectively build over $1.3 trillion worth of structures each year.
Strong, Ongoing Growth
Many of the construction projects that were stalled or cancelled during the Great Recession have since resumed, which combined with historically low interest rates are fueling ongoing growth and expansion. According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the U.S. construction industry is expected to enjoy a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9% through 2023, at which time generated value will surpass the 1.8 trillion dollar mark each year.
Communication Challenges
While effective and efficient communication is a challenge in all industries, it is especially problematic in the fast-paced, constantly changing construction space where distributed teams make face-to-face discussion the exception rather than the norm. According to a study by PlanGrid and consultancy FMI Corp., 26% of rework on construction projects is the result of poor communication between team members — a gap that is costing the industry as a whole over $31 billion a year.
Fortunately, that is where our state-of-the-art hosted VoIP phone system makes a transformative difference between failure and success in the construction industry!
Key Benefits
Mobile and Remote Working: Construction teams can use our mobile app for iOS and Android to stay connected, regardless of where they are located. For example, they can make and receive calls, share instant messages, check call history, access directories, check the status of a colleague and more — and all without having to go into the office or head to the jobsite trailer. What’s more, outgoing calls made through our app display the construction business’s information on Caller ID, not the individual worker’s personal information.- Business Continuity: During a construction project, losing communication during a power outage does not just affect productivity and efficiency, but it can also pose significant health and safety risks as workers are cut off from critical information. Our VoIP phone system is designed to continue operating even in the event of a local power outage — from relatively short brownouts (which are increasingly common due to the country’s aging and over-burdened infrastructure), to longer blackouts caused by natural disasters, severe weather, or man-made emergencies.
- Easily, Quickly and Affordably Scale: Construction projects are typically multi-phase initiatives with workers onboarding and offboarding throughout. With a conventional phone system, giving each individual — especially temporary hires — their own phone number is a non-starter due to the technological limitations of an on-site PBX system, and the enormous costs of MACs (modifications, additions and changes). However, with our VoIP phone system, construction companies can easily, quickly and affordably scale based on changing needs. Within seconds, workers get their own phone number, and can be productive and responsive from day one. There is no cable to dig up, and no on-site PBX to configure or upgrade.
- Dramatically Lower Year-Over-Year Telecommunication Costs: Our hosted VoIP phone system operates at a dramatically lower cost vs. a conventional landline phone system. There are no up-front capital expenditures (other than possibly a managed router, switch and IP phones — all of which are very affordable). There are also no domestic long distance costs, no maintenance costs, and all support and upgrades are handled by our expert U.S.-based team. Plus, unlike conventional phone companies that routinely increase fees, our affordable pricing is fixed and predictable — which makes budgeting and forecasting easy and accurate.
- Advanced Calling Features: Our hosted VoIP phone system provides construction businesses with a full range of advanced calling features that boost productivity, performance, efficiency and results. Features include (but are not limited to) auto attendant, voicemail to email, live call transfer, video calling, conferencing, paging, intercom, presence, and the list goes on.
