Software Advice matches companies with suitable software in the fields of construction, medicine, property management, and retail. They don't charge a consulting fee or sell software; rather, software vendors pay them a finder's fee in exchange for leads. This is an interesting business model. But more interesting is a report they posted two weeks ago on the state of construction software.
Since January, 2009 their team spoke six thousand times with people working in construction as a part of their software-matching service. They summarized the findings in "Construction Software State-of-the-Industry Report." While this company is in the narrow niche of estimating and takeoff software, estimating and takeoffs are a harbinger of future economic activity.
Estimating and takeoff software is in greater demand because, contractors say, "Bidding has gotten very competitive, which means I've got to be as accurate as possible" -- and are replacing their spreadsheets or manual bidding processes.
Software Advice says they are also seeing interest in on-screen takeoff software, but that the demand is actually driving down software prices.
SaaS [software as a service] seems to be attractive to contractors in just one area: project management. That's because subscription costs can be included with project costs, and faster implementation makes it easier to implement. LEED [leadership in energy and environmental design] certification that requires detailed documentation be tracked, and so this is also driving SaaS-based project management. (There is little demand for SaaS in accounting, estimating and service management.)
Even though government construction is healthier than commercial and residential construction, Software Advice has not seen the USA's ARRA [american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009] have much impact on software spending -- contrary to prior speculation. "Project management software -- known for strong document tracking capabilities -- would provide the audit trail needed for this transparency."
You can read the entire report at http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/construction/construction-software-state-of-the-industry-report-1111209/
Cynthia West
Vice President, Project Insight