We all love our houses; it’s no wonder why most people describe their homes as their paradise. Our life mainly revolves around commuting or switching between a lot of such structures on a daily basis. An industry making life easier for people by its buildings, railways, roadways etc., is also a people-dependent industry that can potentially become nonfunctional without its huge workforce. The idea of a UEM for the construction industry was the end product of a series of improvements that the industry witnessed.
“You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it requires people to make the dream a reality.” – Walt Disney
The construction industry has always been an industry with many ancient processes that were often hard to digitize. But, with changing times, even this industry has embraced the wave of change. Now, modern practices like employees using smart devices are becoming a common scenario.
How are smart devices making the construction industry smarter?
Smart devices have become integral components of the construction industry. Workers are now being equipped with smartphones, tablets etc., that help in better utility management by real-time data updates, thus giving them better control over the progress of each process.
- These devices save construction time and cost, and this increases employee productivity.
- It makes it easier for employees to access critical data without any location restrictions.
- Help workers get a better idea about their projects by viewing building models and other important information.
- Enhanced communication helps the workers within the construction industry stay connected and get a better idea of the progress of each process.
- It also helps in more accurate and efficient tracking of price changes and orders.
Leveraging construction processes with Hexnode
The construction industry consists of several vital elements. It’s one of the few industries whose progress depends entirely on the outcomes of the preceding industrial processes. So, to strengthen the construction industry, the best way is to improve each of its functions individually. This is effectively done by focusing on the employees. One such measure that is being adopted is the implementation of smart devices. When coupled with an effective device management solution, it can boost employee productivity and enhance the construction industry as a whole.
McClone Construction specializes in concrete structures and concrete formwork, providing several different construction services like structural concrete formwork and packages, multi-story structural concrete frames etc.
For an organization specializing in concrete structures, the role workers play in the project’s timely completion is immense. With many field workers serving from the construction sites and requiring traveling between places to meet their work requirements, employee efficiency plays a significant role in the overall process. With this goal of increasing employee productivity, the field workers were equipped with iPads for storing useful utility information.
However, things weren’t as easy as it was imagined. A great workforce also requires a greater number of devices that needed to be managed, which meant a cumbersome device management process. All these were issues that an MDM could effectively solve. So, the project engineer’s search for budget-friendly software with a simple and intuitive UI ended up in Hexnode’s free trial and eventually purchasing it, solving the device management issue once and for all. You can read more about our case study here.
“I find it very useful. It avoids me having to technically explain problems or having to make trips to different locations; I can manage it out from my office.”
Mitchell McGee, Project Engineer at McClone Construction
The way ahead with Hexnode
With Hexnode, the issue of device management ceased being an issue anymore. Some of the features that helped include:
- Seamless distribution of multiple apps to the device at once, through mandatory app policy or by directly selecting one or more devices and selecting Install Application via Actions.
- Remotely track and fix device issues without the need for traveling; with Hexnode’s location tracking, remote view and control features.
- A simpler UI that helps in easier navigation through the software and an easier device deployment process.
D’hondt Interiors is a company well known for its specialized products. It mainly deals with the manufacture of doors, stairs, parquet, cupboards, walls, ceilings etc. With nearly 100 years of tradition in craftsmanship, it focuses on various designs like retro, modern or rural in materials like wood, metal, glass etc.
Customer satisfaction plays a vital role in most of the product-based industries, and with a motto of enhancing it further, the company purchased some Samsung tablets. This was deployed to the employees for showing the product to the customers to help them get a clearer idea of the product.
With this new endeavor emerged another major challenge of employees using these devices for non-business activities. After realizing how effective an MDM can solve such similar issues, the IT admin began searching for an effective MDM solution. The admins search culminated in Hexnode overpowering all other MDMs as it had all the required features along with many advanced security options all wrapped up in an interactive UI. You can read more about our case study here.
“…We are very happy and satisfied with the services of Hexnode.”
Stefan Versmessen, IT Administrator at D’hondt Interieur
The way ahead with Hexnode
Hexnode could effectively solve their device management issues with its multitude of features. Some of these include:
- Easily import Active Directory into Hexnode console and associate corporate restrictions and configurations to the users, groups or units within an organization and even fetch user-based data when required.
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) that allows easy access to AD content.
- Configure reports easily to get an overview of AD users and their enrollment status along with many other available customizations.
- Single app and multi-app kiosk to restrict devices to a set of applications.
- Whitelisting feature to prevent users from accessing all apps on the device except the whitelisted ones and blacklisting to block specific blacklisted applications.
- No need to manually install apps as APK files to all the devices; it’s now possible to push APK files from the MDM console to multiple devices at once with Hexnode’s policies or directly to selected devices from Actions.
Hexnode as a tool for upgrading the highway construction industry
The construction industry aids another critical process, transportation. Highway and railway construction are other major construction industry sectors where timely completion plays a significant role. So, tracking the vehicles carrying raw materials and such similar aspects helps in easier planning of the whole process.
Manatt’s Inc is a heavy highway construction company. It covers most aspects of the industry like asphalt paving, milling, sealcoat, ready mix, grinding, etc.
In an industry like highway construction, the role transportation plays in speeding up the project is immense. The company has over 350 trucks for transporting concrete to the construction site, which is a clear indication of its significance. However, keeping track of a large number of trucks and getting a clearer picture of their location can often become a challenging job without an efficient mechanism in place. Therefore, Android tablets were installed on the trucks meant to deliver concrete to job sites to make the whole process easier.
Though these devices helped operators update work status and find the truck locations and communicate more effectively with the team, they also had their drawbacks. There emerged a need to lock these devices to the essential work-related apps to ensure that these devices are only being used for work-related purposes. The ‘not so friendly’ MDM solution they first used had issues like enrolled devices disappearing automatically from the dashboard. Their quest for a better MDM capable of meeting all their requirements led them to Hexnode, eliminating all the earlier issues. You can read more about our case study here.
“We have a fleet of almost 350 trucks, and we have an Android tablet in all those trucks…we needed a way to lock those tablets down so that the drivers wouldn’t watch Netflix or YouTube while they should be working.”
Kyle Lint, Plant Manager at Manatt’s Inc.
The way ahead with Hexnode
Hexnode helped Manatt’s Inc combat their device management hurdles with Hexnode. Some of its features that helped include:
- Hexnode’s kiosk lockdown helped in restricting non-work-related apps in a click.
- It offers neat management of multiple devices without any complexity and is supported by a user-friendly UI.
- Device screen could be continuously kept ‘ON’, reducing the need for employees to tap or press buttons to turn them on, especially for viewing maps along with many other restrictions.
- It was also possible to set the default volume of the devices remotely so that the operators couldn’t alter them and help in easier communication.
- Ease of use along with excellent user experience and a top-notch user interface.
Securing the overall construction process with Hexnode
Construction is not a process that ends once the whole building or structure is built. It involves a series of succeeding events like maintenance, repairs and other services involving electrical, plumbing, refrigeration services, etc. Like any other process, it also relies on its huge employee workforce relying on smart devices. So, an efficient device management strategy can play a significant role in elevating employee productivity.
NCS deals with the overall maintenance services throughout the construction period, mainly specializing in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, refrigeration, facility maintenance/repairs and drain cleaning.
The company’s biggest strength is its group of highly proficient technicians who quickly diagnose and solve issues, delivering the best possible results to their customers. A great majority of their workforce comprises field workers who need to travel to multiple locations for service delivery. A few Android tablets were distributed to the technicians, which had an application to simplify the whole process of recording their work timings. It helped technicians receive their work orders and schedules and record important details and findings for future reference.
With this implementation, several other issues also began surfacing. Solving device issues from a distant location as and when they appeared was a challenge. And, making things even worse was the use of these devices for non-work-related purposes. This led the team to search for a solution that could help admins better control employee devices. This search for an MDM ended in Hexnode as it had all the features they were looking for. Its ease of managing devices from a distant location and selectively impose restrictions even without a complete device lockdown, along with an easy setup and implementation process, made Hexnode their only choice. You can read more about our case study here.
“It seemed to be in line with everything we were looking at, so wasn’t a bargain, but it wasn’t expensive either compared to the others.”
Chris Robinson, Executive Account Manager at NCS
The way ahead with Hexnode
With Hexnode, managing the overall construction process was even easier. Some of its features include:
- Easy to deploy devices with the right set of restrictions saving much of the productive time with a wide range of enrollment methods available in Hexnode.
- Remotely monitor and control devices easily with Hexnode’s remote view and control features.
- Device-specific restrictions could be easily set on devices selectively with OEMConfig.
- Location tracking feature helped track device location and detect any suspicious activity right from the MDM console.
- Provision to silently install applications on managed devices without any user involvement saving much of the productive time.
McDonald York Building Company is a US-based company focusing on comprehensive construction services from scratch to post-construction works. It covers all the construction-related aspects, from preconstruction-based processes like budget estimations to maintaining accurate timeline schedules during the construction process.
With many employees spending many hours working on fields, digitizing their projects and operating the day-to-day schedules more efficiently needed modern devices. To make things easier, Android tablets were distributed to the employees to increase their productivity.
That was not all; these employee devices had to be locked to specific apps so that they were used only for work-related purposes. Additionally, tracking the device location and data consumption of each tablet was also necessary. As an MDM implementation could easily solve all these issues, they began searching for an MDM solution that could meet all their requirements. After investigating the various MDMs available, they decided to try Hexnode’s free trial, which gave them the confidence to choose it over the others as it had all the requirements they were looking for. You can read more about our case study here.
“It’s easy for me to manage… I’ve got a dashboard to go to and see who is using it and who is not. I can check on things.”
Nathan Swiggett, Senior Project Manager at McDonald York
The way ahead with Hexnode
Hexnode could easily put an end to their device management hurdles allowing them to focus more on their construction services. Some of its features that helped them in their device management journey include:
- An effective kiosk lockdown to restrict employees from using non-work-related applications.
- Easy to track data usage and device locations from the MDM console using the data management and device location features, respectively.
- Activity status can be easily obtained from the unified Hexnode console.
- Locating misplaced devices couldn’t be easier with Hexnode’s location tracking or features like lost mode.
- A UI that is simple and easy to use.
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