Collaborating With a Construction-savvy Technology Partner

It takes the right technology provider to configure software functionality to drive transformative business initiatives and achieve strong results. Sikich offers a unique combination of business and technical expertise and a broad range of consulting services. We aim to deliver tangible, measurable value for your construction business. Today, we discuss reasons why working with Sikich, a construction-savvy technology partner, to deploy and manage your construction management software and support your business may be a great idea.

Steeped in the industry

Sikich industry practices like construction, manufacturing, and professional services are led by people who have spent a large portion of their careers in the respective industry before they joined our consultancy. We know the construction industry and what matters to construction firms. We also understand the challenges your clients face—the public- and private sector entities that commit to construction projects as well as the firms which may hire you as a subcontractor. Construction is an essential industry that so far has been underserved by most technology leaders. Business Central for Construction —our integrated solution comprising Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and ProjectPro—can meet your technical requirements. Our consultants, building on hundreds of successful ERP projects, will make sure it also fits your unique operational conditions.

Tackling processes first

For many clients, the first step in a Sikich engagement is a Business Process Alignment (BPA). You can benefit from a BPA even if you don’t want to go any further with us. During a BPA, we assess your business processes, identify inefficiencies and discontinuities that slow your success, and help you make the right changes to address them. We review processes from the perspective of your leadership, managers, and business groups, and offer suggestions to empower the key roles in your firm. Without this initial focus on process improvements, you may simply transfer existing inefficiencies and wasteful activities into a new technology environment.

Your BPA can become the foundation for your software deployment, and Sikich ensures a seamless transition. We implement Business Central for Construction and assist your users in becoming comfortable with their new technology tools. The Sikich team also performs data migrations and integrations with your other systems or Microsoft Power Platform solutions.

Offloading IT administration

Many construction companies don’t have a large IT staff, and using construction software in the cloud may make it possible to reassign IT team members to other than purely administrative tasks. Some companies contract for Sikich Managed Services, outsourcing technology management and support entirely to us. If you want to make sure that your office-based employees and everybody at construction sites or delivering client services can enjoy the capabilities Business Central for Construction to the fullest, that may be the way to go. We will onboard new employees and ensure a productive, high-quality user experience for everybody in your organization.

Depending on your goals, a Sikich virtual CIO (vCIO) can be part of our services. The vCIO can offer guidance for a transformative use of technology. If you anticipate dramatic growth or organizational change, your vCIO can help you develop an effective technology strategy. Sikich vCIOs help many businesses manage through fast, dramatic changes that force them to evolve quickly. We know how to achieve this without distracting you with disruptions and uncertainties.

One point of accountability

Unusual among technology consultancies, Sikich offers many business-consulting services to construction clients and other firms. We can help you plan real estate investments, workforce development, leadership succession, regulatory compliance, and other aspects of the business. We’ll provide a business valuation when it’s time to sell or attract investors. We simplify taxes and wealth management. At the right time, we ease your way to a financially secure retirement. Still, no matter what you do with Sikich, you deal with just one accountable technology and business consulting partner. Sikich team members know who you are and understand your relationship with us, so you don’t need to tell your story over and over.

Save by right-sizing software licensing

Software licensing is a specialized discipline where a bad decision can incur substantial costs for years. Most companies experience that licensing can be complicated when you need to deploy and integrate a variety of applications and deliver them to the many roles in your business groups. Because they don’t always have the time to research this, they may over-provision licensing, and, for example, acquire broad functionality for many users that may only be required by a few. Business Central has one licensing model; ProjectPro has another.

Our consultants understand the intricacies of licensing—and how to reduce expenses by not overbuying licenses you won’t need. Leave it to the experts to streamline licensing, for example, when you already use Microsoft Office 365, but now you add Teams to your environment and integrate it with Business Central for Construction. Sikich also helps you plan licensing when an acquisition or organic growth that will bring more, different users into the organization.

We offer licensing strategies as part of our solution design and in concert with your overall business and technology planning. We usually have early insight regarding licensing changes at Microsoft and other software vendors, so we can help you prepare for them. When you leave behind your legacy systems to consolidate on one construction software platform, you may be able to generate substantial savings in software licensing and support costs.

Model for managing growth

As mentioned, you can set up as many companies or business entities as you like in Business Central for Construction, and you can manage and report on their activities in a consolidated fashion. You don’t need additional licensing for that. However, especially the first time you bring another organization onto your construction software platform, Sikich can make sure that the undertaking will be successful. Configurations of new entities or business groups are not necessarily difficult, but can easily become unwieldy when you also need to accommodate different lines of business or new user roles. We help you keep these activities on track without complicating your life.

Take the next step with a construction-savvy technology partner

If you want to explore how Sikich expertise and Business Central for Construction can help you:

• Contact us and we’ll be right back in touch to answer your questions or arrange a demo.
• Visit the Sikich construction page with the latest on our services and solutions.

Co-written by Tim Tucker and Jason Niccolau