Who is at the helm of your business? Better question, what is at the helm?
What steers your business, Construction or Service? In many companies it is construction that drives the business and service is support. Thinking back to the lean times in construction, should it be that way?
In the race with the tortoise and the hare, who won the race, consistent and steady? That is service; service volume is not as fast paced or cyclical, but a steady piece of the business. So why is it that construction runs or dictates the how the service side of the business operates?
Service and construction businesses have many of the same foundations but run completely differently. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are very different. Contract management is not the same as project management. Financial KPIs are different. How and when to recognize revenue, what is good Gross Profit performance and what that tells a business owner about the health of a particular service contract to the service division.
Many construction based software products have a service module but they still operate the service side of the business with a construction mentality. If service sees you through the lean time, does it not then justify a software that is focused providing all the excellent service tools needed? As many would say “we run our business on service revenue, and play (grow) on the construction revenue”, then why not use a service based software to operate your service business and use construction software for construction?