Relief for IT
When did you start using Procore? July, 2015
How many projects do you run in Procore? E-J currently has over 100 projects active in Procore.
What were you using to manage your projects before? Various applications including Excel and Access.
What caused you to look for a new solution? Every year management goes on a retreat and they look at what needs be improved on and where we need to grow. Standardizing project management throughout our company became a very big focal point of the retreat.
Our main issue was that we were doing the same tasks differently on each project and we needed a way to standardize. Being a large company with our employees located in different buildings put an extra strain on our I.T. department as well. Not only would they have to maintain the main servers, they also maintained field office servers to make sure all job data was properly backed up.
Project managers had to use VPN to log in to different servers, then they had to piece together information–that became a time-consuming task. We did not have mobile access to job information and it was becoming a must.
We needed a solution that would allow us to set a company standard across all our documentation. Plus we needed to store all that information in one location so that everyone could access it no matter where they were.
What brought you to Procore? We spent about a year researching a lot of different programs and figuring out what would suit us best and then we zeroed in on Procore. Procore is cloud based, it's adaptable, it grows with you, and it's constantly changing, and those were some of the key elements that drove our final decision.
What was the implementation process like with Procore? Implementation is tricky and the hardest part of any program. Our customer success manager has been great and is always a phone call away to assist us with any questions. The live chat has also been very helpful to solve simple issues.
How long did it take to get up to speed? We are still in the process of getting up to speed company-wide. With that being said, anyone who uses Procore for a couple of weeks will pick it up rather quickly. It's pretty straightforward and painless.
Information Anywhere
What value has Procore provided?The most value we've seen from using Procore has been the ability to access information from anywhere with an Internet connection and on any type of device. Being able to upload drawings from our main office and tell our foreman in the field that they are now on his tablet is a major benefit.
Describe your company's mobile use?Before Procore, E-J Electric did not use mobile. We had a couple tech-savvy people with iPads who were trying to come up with ways to use them in the field but Procore's mobile app has been completely new to us. Now, we're strategically giving iPads to our field foreman so they can use Procore for specifications, punch lists, and drawings which gives us confidence that the correct job is being built.
What's your favorite thing about Procore as a company?Our favorite thing is the company's drive to constantly improve. With a lot of software solutions, you have to wait for an annual update to find out if a specific feature has been added that your company needs. If the feature wasn't added, you end up waiting another year or are told "Sorry, we just don't do that." It can be very frustrating.
With Procore, if it's an issue, they're going to fix it as fast as they can. When Procore corrects an issue they push out the update immediately, There's no Procore version 5 or 6 or 7, Procore is constantly adapting and changing. They also listen and want your input–most companies are not that proactive.
What's the easiest tool?Procore's new Specifications Tool is the easiest tool to use. It is one of the best tools they have and it works great on an iPad.
Changing the Game
Can you speak on Procore's time to value?You gain value as a project picks up speed. It might take longer to enter all the info, but being able to review and retrieve data is so easy and you're able to do it at a moment's notice. It's like having every document available to you in your pocket, except it's all on your phone. Being able to answer a spec question, review a submittal, or discuss a change order off of your phone adds a lot of value.
Which Procore features have been game changers?The Drawings Tool has been the biggest game changer for us. Being able to constantly have a conformed set of drawings that everyone has access to really changes things.
Where do you spend the most time? Which tasks specifically?Document and drawing control are both tedious processes but they're also the most important. Before Procore, on major projects, we would have an employee where a big part of their job function was document control. They would have to print the drawings and manually update sets with any changes so all our foremen had the most current set; it was a very tedious process. Now, we can upload everything into Procore and be sure that everyone is working off the most current set of drawings. The return on investment for that alone is huge and we are now able to free up that employee so they can contribute on other tasks.
What high value do you see Procore providing you and your team?Using Procore as a universal platform throughout our company will allow us to drop someone into any project and they can get right to work without any learning curve. We can be sure that every person on every job will be doing things the same way and all within one program.
Not your Average Support Team
What has your experience been like working with the Procore team?We can't say enough good things about Procore's Customer Success Manager, John Vaccaro. He always makes himself available and if he is busy he'll make sure to get back to us. We've also had multiple conference calls with product managers at Procore and they have always been helpful and willing to listen to new ideas.
How is your experience with Procore's support?Procore's customer support is one of the things we enjoy most about Procore. They are very responsive on all fronts and we are overly pleased with the level of service provided.
What competitive edge will Procore give you in the industry?Over time we will be able to use our historical data to help us bid better, know our strengths, and know what we need to improve. It also gives us an edge over any company still using paper; being able to have live, up-to-the-minute data in the palm of your hand is essential.
