Long Term Financial Outlook & 04Customer Stewardship How technology vendors partner with their clients should be as important as that super cool feature you are looking for in your construction project management software. It has been said that the construction industry loves many things but one thing it does not like is surprises. Construction companies and specifically contractors are a generational business. They have been built through the hard work and dedication of the founders and the generations that have come after them. Too often, technology vendors don’t share that same long view of their business. Technology moves too fast to be a generational business and sometimes, that can drive tech firms to surprise their customers with their short term view and accompanying policies. Tech companies that struggle with demonstrating profitability to their shareholders are likely to catch their customers off guard with surprise tactics such as substantial price increases, sometimes as much as 300% year over year. The reason behind this is that as a tech company rapidly grows and increases its market share, it can sometimes do so at the expense of profitable growth. It’s very similar to a contractor’s motivation to bid many projects at a negative margin. Sure, you will be busy but at some point, you will have to do something to cover expenses. When looking at top project management solutions, it is vital that you inspect the financial stability of your future technology partner. You will likely be entering into a multi-year relationship with them and it is important that they continue to support you without surprise price increases. Every technology firm will have modest price increases, which is unavoidable but price increases that double over a short period of time is not typical and there are alternative technologies that are just as good without the downside of margin elimination. Top Owner Construction Top Contractor Construction ACTION: Management Software with Management Software with Ask for and review publicly available information as to the financial health of your technology Profitable Growth: Profitable Growth: partner. Search Google for documentation on Earnings Per Share and ask companies how they • e-Builder Enterprise • Trimble ProjectSight will improve their EPS if negative. If they can’t answer the question, consider the risk you may • Oracle Primavera Unifier • Viewpoint One be taking. • Autodesk BIM 360 5 Factors You Must Consider in a Project Management Software Provider