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Embracing automation can be a scary thing, as is incorporating new software into your business process. Luckily, Briq makes it both a painless and worthwhile implementation that will leave you wondering why you didn’t start using it sooner. That’s exactly the sentiment that Linda Sterrett and Austin Dodder of Elder Construction expressed in our recent webinar discussion on how financial automation has changed their business for the better.
From giving more accurate and efficient data, to improving employee turnover rate, our financial automation platform has helped Elder Construction take their business to the next level. On that note, here are three key initiatives that Elder Construction implemented that they say have been essential to getting the most out of Briq.
Invoice automation
Invoices are a critical component of any construction project. However, they’re also some of the most taxing parts. A single invoice may be entered multiple times into various programs by the same person, typing in the same number again and again. Even after entering all of that information, there is the secondary issue of consolidating and organizing that information. Tracking invoices across projects, at different stages and syncing them to allocations can be a pain. That’s why one of the first automations that Elder Construction implemented with Briq was this process.
The bot replicated the keystrokes for login and collection that our clerks were already doing. Now, every night at 11 pm, it runs the program automatically.
— Austin Dodder, COO, Elder Construction
With invoices automated, Elder Constructions data came in with greater efficiency and accuracy, all while eliminating double data entry and saving their employees time and energy.
Use data to analyze leads and contacts
There’s more to finance and data than working within the project. What’s essential is finding the right projects and bids that are not only profitable, but are also the right fit for the company. Elder Construction knew this and put Briq to work on helping them tackle that problem.
Briq lets us look at the parameters of past projects, look for how costs align with our planning, and plan that out to be consistent with future projects.
— AD
Briq’s data analysis systems don’t just help you understand ongoing projects, they also project into the future. By using a bulk of past data, the Briq platform was able to forecast what the most profitable jobs would be for Elder Construction. Even beyond simple profits, Elder Construction benefited from a variety of data points on what undertaking such a job would require of them, from labor allocation to administrative capacity. Briq lets your company look into more than just whether or not a job is profitable. It allows you to see what the company itself will look like while this job is going on, creating an opportunity for even greater, more complex analysis and forecasting.
Data integration across platforms
One feature of Briq that can often go unnoticed is how seamlessly it integrates data across your software. It doesn’t matter whether the system comes with built-in data connectors or not, Briq will create a process to automate the exact keystrokes that an employee like an AP clerk would do. Elder Construction touches on this point in their talk, discussing how they wished they’d begun integration sooner.
The data just flows. It’s like magic, it is magic actually.
— Linda Sterrett, Controller, Elder Construction.
This has also led to an improvement in employee experience. Elder Construction points out that the tedium of constant data entry is one of the biggest challenges that can impact employee burnout and turnover rate. By allowing Briq to automate data collection, employees find themselves happier, more engaged and using their brains to perform the high-level tasks that makes them feel the most productive.
The tip of the iceberg
Austin Dodder points out that Elder Construction feels they’ve just scratched the surface of what’s capable with Briq. From the user experience to working with the Briq team to implement “whatever crazy ideas we had” according to Linda Sterrett, there was a lot more to the conversation that Elder Construction wanted to emphasize. If you’d like to learn more, you can download the full webinar here.
