IT for construction firms that work from a van as much as a desk.
Construction businesses run on drawings, tender packs, subcontractor paperwork, CIS and payroll, and a lot of money moving by bank transfer on the strength of an email. Half the team is on site with a phone and a tablet. Foundry runs the technology so it works from the cab, the cabin and the office.
Sound familiar?
Common patterns in the working week of construction businesses, written the way they tend to sound. They are illustrations, not quotes from clients. If more than one of these is your week, keep reading.
- A supplier's 'new bank details' email looked completely genuine, and we nearly paid it.
- The site manager's tablet has the only copy of the snagging photos.
- The tender is due at noon and the shared drive is 'syncing'.
- Our subcontractor insurance certificates are in eleven different email threads.
- The office PC that runs the accounts is the same age as the apprentice.
Your environment
What the business actually depends on.
- Microsoft 365 for email, Teams and shared project folders
- Project, estimating and accounts software, some on an office PC or server
- Phones and tablets on site, often shared and rarely managed
- Drawings, RAMS, certificates and photos moving between office, site and clients
- Payroll, CIS and supplier payments handled by a small office team
- A phone number that clients and suppliers ring all day
Your risks
Security, compliance, availability and data.
- Invoice and payment-redirection fraud by email, the most common attack on the sector
- Losing project records and photos held only on a phone or tablet
- Ransomware on the office PC that runs accounts and payroll
- Health and safety and contract documentation you must be able to produce
- Cyber-insurance and main-contractor requirements for basic security controls
- Downtime during a tender or valuation deadline
Your problems
The IT frustrations these businesses run into.
- The office manager runs IT between payroll and CIS returns
- Site staff can't get to the documents they need, so they take photos of them
- Devices are bought from the high street and never set up properly
- Nobody knows what's backed up, and the answer is probably nothing on the tablets
- Main contractors ask for security policies you don't have
The Foundry solution
Foundry runs the technology from office to site. Microsoft 365 configured so drawings, RAMS and certificates are in one place and open properly on a phone. Every phone, tablet and laptop managed, encrypted and backed up, so a device in a puddle is a replacement rather than a loss. Email security tuned for the invoice fraud your sector faces, with a process for verifying bank details. The accounts PC protected and backed up to isolated storage. A phone system that follows the business wherever it is. One team, one monthly cost.
Your Foundry stack
The capabilities of the platform that matter most for construction businesses, and what each one is for. Take what you need.
Foundry Secure
→ Email security against payment fraud, MFA, EDR, patching, Cyber Essentials
Foundry Support
→ Phones, tablets, laptops and office PCs managed and patched, helpdesk, starters and leavers
Foundry Connect
→ Microsoft 365, Teams, shared folders, email, identity, cloud phones
Foundry Cloud
→ Cloud server for accounts and estimating software, device and Microsoft 365 backup, tested recovery
Foundry Web
→ Domain in your name, DNS, website hosting, certificates, WAF
Foundry Portal
→ Secure workspace for tender packs and subcontractor documents