EXTRANET NEWS * Week of 21 April 2003
Editors: Joel Orr and N'omi Orr
http://www.extranetnews.com

1. CONSTRUCTWARE: THE SECRET OF THEIR SUCCESS IS EXECUTION
2. THE LIST
3. TIDBITS
4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 

1.  CONSTRUCTWARE: THE SECRET OF THEIR SUCCESS IS EXECUTION

Editor Joel Orr spoke with Scott Unger, founder and president of Constructware. Visit their Web site at http://www.constructware.com.

We featured Constructware almost exactly one year ago in EN (http://www.extranetnews.com/2002_issues/EN%204-15-022.htm). One of the impressive things about this company is that everything I said about them a year ago is still true—except for their numbers, which have gotten better, while most other vendors' have not.

 

What keeps Scott up at night? "Execution. We're not worried about other outside variables: We haven't been badly hit by the economy. Competition doesn't register on the radar. We are at a 'tipping point' of the use of collaboration in construction. Owners are beginning to understand the problems--each level beneath them becomes its own problem, due to poor communication. Technology can help, and its benefits accrue to the owner."

 

Constructware has focused, as I pointed out last year, on keeping in step with their customers. The firm does not introduce features that are more advanced than the market is ready for. They maintain close contact with their user base, and engage users in the process of evaluating various potential new features.

 

"We have adopted a design model for our software that emulates the construction design process, and we use Constructware to manage it," said Unger. "Design takes us much longer than development. We have a rigorous 20-step process and lots of checklists."

 

Any chance their development will move off-shore, as it has for some competitors? "No," said Unger. "We believe our tight-knit group, with industry experience, and closeness to our users, gives us major competitive advantages. We wouldn't want to give those up."

 

Does that explain why the company is prospering now? "That's part of it," said Unger. "Also, we had a lot of users renew their subscriptions to lock in the old price when we recently announced a price hike. But a significant amount of our revenues came from new users, and a much larger fraction of them than ever before are owners. In 2002, 60% of new users were owners; now it's even more."

 

On the expense side, the company is using Webex more, doing less travel, keeping a tight rein on finances; accounts receivable, for example, are under 30 days--quite an accomplishment in these times.

 

Unger believes the company is in harmony with an important IT trend towards federated point solutions, and away from comprehensive ERP-style systems that do everything. "Another change we've made: Our trainers are implementers. They not only show users how to access and use the system, they help them integrate their business logic into it." It's about execution.

 

Our take: Good, savvy company. Great relationships with users. Excellent value proposition. A winner!

 

 


2. THE LIST

ADDED:

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GONE:

 

CHANGED:

 

Total companies: 257 (see who's on The List at http://www.extranetnews.com/).  

 

 
3. TIDBITS

 

·        "Tipping Point: The Case for Owner Adoption of Project Collaboration Tools" is yet another outstanding white paper from Constructware, complete with well-written, straightforward arguments and three case studies. Get it (PDF) at: http://www.constructware.com/Common/Downloads/Tipping_Point_Owner_Collaboration_03-03.pdf

·        LCI (Lean Construction Institute) upcoming events:

o       Implementing the Last Planner System? Las Vegas, Nevada, 24-25 April 2003. Details are available at: http://www.mapnv.org/events.html#LeanConstruction.This seminar is a must for anyone whose company wants to implement this new approach to production control.

o       5th Annual Lean Construction Congress, Blacksburg, Virginia, 21 July 2003. Enjoy a day devoted to presentations by practitioners of lean construction who are getting exciting results in their organizations. Stay another two days to participate in IGLC, described below.

o       11th Annual Meeting of the International Group for Lean Construction, Blacksburg, Virginia, 22-24 July 2003. This meeting will feature more presentations by practitioners and academics from around the world on the implementation and theory of lean construction. Details for both LCC and IGLC are available at http://strobos.cee.vt.edu/IGLC11/

·        "The Dandelion Paradox: Structuring for Greatness." Where's the paradox? Visit http://www.dandelionprinciple.com, and sign up there to receive a series of "seedlings" from "The Dandelion Principle" via email.

·        You need to be at COFES2003. Keynotes: Alan Kay and Jeff Harrow. 15-18 May 2003, Scottsdale Plaza Resort, Scottsdale, AZ. Go to the website to see who has registered to date. http://www.cofes.com

·        "Nuclear" is pronounced "noo-clear." And saying, "I could care less," means you care; what you probably meant to say was, "I couldn't care less."

 

4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 

 "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."

 -- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

 

 

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