Out-of-the-Box Platforms are Stifling Innovation
Over the last decade, I have been asked thousands of questions about software requirements.
“Does it do this?” “Will it enable that?” “Can we support this?”
And as a provider, I really wanted to say “yes” as often as possible. But sooner or later, our capabilities would run out. There was no level of thinking outside the box for a workaround that would truly answer the question posed.
That’s because the idea of a one-size-fits-all, out-of-the-box platform solution is a myth. That’s right, the tech junky said it. Construction technology has created its own monster.
But there’s a solution right under your nose. One that you already know, love and use every single day. Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it to you.
First, a quick story on this whole “platform” conundrum.
How Did We Get Here?
As much as we’d all love to build our own software like we build projects, starting with a blank slate to create the perfect project management system is just not feasible. It’s expensive, time consuming and quite frankly has been tried before, many times. Believe me, I had a front row seat to a few attempts. As desirable as the ground-up configuration idea might seem, the endless supply of unknowns coupled with users who disagree on minute details both render progress virtually impossible. If you think construction projects get behind schedule and over budget, try custom-building software.
To counter this, software vendors began popping up throughout the late 90s. Seeing a ripe field of endless possibility, they set out to solve the core issues plaguing our least-digitized industry one at a time (thus, point solutions for specific problems). Then, at the turn of the century, a few began to realize that consolidating solutions into a single umbrella would not only increase benefit to consumers but also increase revenue. And so, the mass supply of “out-of-the-box” project management software began entering the market.
Consolidation happened in one of two ways. SaaS (or software as a service) vendors would go the easy route and acquire multiple point solutions in an attempt to combine them into a platform. Or so it seemed. This created significant integration challenges, and these products never really figured out how to conform together. The second option was to build it from scratch. Sure, the integration was better, but the feature depth of these platforms has never really caught up to the capabilities of the old point solutions.
Customers were ultimately forced to compromise.
But then the real problem started. A new phone changed everything, essentially overnight. All of a sudden, technology evolution hit ludicrous speed and there was nothing ConTech providers could do to keep up.
The Product Became the Problem
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, “It’s on the roadmap.”
Trust me, I hated saying it as much as you hated hearing it. You see, SaaS implementations are only ever good enough to get people about 80% of the way there. That last 20%? That was the letdown. And as luck would have it, that last 20% was where you as a user would point out flaws.
“You just don’t meet our needs.”
Or, that last 20% was made up of the little things that differentiated the your company against your competitors.
“This will change how we do our business, and we can’t afford that.”
So, it got added to the roadmap. Quickly the product teams became the bottleneck of innovation, and let me tell you, as a technology vendor, that weighs on you. There was more to be done than we could possibly do. On top of that, there was the increasingly unavoidable difficulty in trying to be everything to everyone. Just like a stretch fit hat has never fit my head right, not all things you ask for in a software will fit the industry. What happens when your request is deprioritized, or worse, thrown out altogether? Suddenly that missing 20% is magnified.
And if that wasn’t enough, the overall lack of flexibility in the way SaaS has been architected on the backend developed a rigidity that aged worse than LaserDisc (if you don’t know what that is, Google it). As compliance and security regulations continue to evolve, vendors have struggled to develop the controls necessary for today’s threats.
The Solution is in Your Pocket
Remember how I said the solution was something you know, love (most likely) and use every day?
The solution is your phone. Or, at least, how your phone operates.
Think about it for a second. Your phone works out-of-the-box on day one, and it does everything that a phone is expected to do. It makes calls, sends messages, manages email and even gives you directions. The platform (iOS, Android, etc.) was designed to be what we need from a phone out-of-the-box.
But what if you’re a traveler?
Apple, Google and the like didn’t pretend to know everything about the travel industry, so they developed a PaaS (or platform as a service) model and gave people the freedom to build on top of the out-of-the-box foundation. Hotels, airlines and car rental companies quickly got on board, leveraged platform services like phone calls, calendars and locations, and built usable apps to do travel-like things.
That placed innovation in the hands of the users. Out of nowhere, companies like Uber and Airbnb changed the travel game entirely.
Well, this same thing is now happening in construction technology, thanks to a few PaaS providers. Dissatisfied by the lack of ability to fulfill all customer requests, they set out to create the same platform as a service offering that we have grown accustomed to at home. Something that works out-of-the-box but doesn’t stop there.
That means, with the right software, innovation is in your hands.
Whether you needed a little tweak or a whole new app, you are empowered to move “beyond the box” of a typical construction software. In fact, some providers have seen over 1,200 applications developed by customers and partners. That’s what I call closing the gap.
The industry no longer has to be dependent on a platform provider being everything to everyone. Why we even tried that, I don’t understand. It’s literally impossible to achieve. Whether relevant to other companies or not, you, your coworkers or even other industry vets can create custom applications, workflows and integrations tailored for the way you do work, protecting the little things that make your company unique. More importantly, protecting your competitive edge.
A Return to Innovation in ConTech
Which brings us back to the beginning. After a while, I got sick of it. No matter how hard I tried, there was always the fear of a question that I had to answer with a “no.” Or worse, with a “on the roadmap.” There had to be a better way.
Turns out, the answer was right there under my nose the whole time. And now that a few providers in ConTech have figured it out, the future is looking a lot brighter!
Construction is cool, tell your friends!