How a digital transformation enhanced McCownGordon’s core values
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Focus on: Empower Employees |
Most people think construction is about building structures.
Well, that’s not the mantra of McCownGordon. Creating buildings is an important part of what they do, but for this construction company, the emphasis is on building relationships.
“Yes, the construction industry is about building buildings, but what it’s really about is building relationships,” says McCownGordon IT Director Dustin Burns. “I think that’s what drives a lot of our push to enable collaboration, those relationships are so valuable to us.”
It was that mindset that pushed McCownGordon as one of the more forward-thinking construction companies in the industry. However, there was still much work to be done in terms of thinking about advanced technology.
For starters, the company had to find a way to address cloud storage issues that hindered productivity and security. Additionally, they wanted to emphasize the importance of mobility in the construction industry by establishing support for employees’ work-life balance.
All of their tools were on-premise, with an email infrastructure that offered no competitive advantage, and they had multiple, confusing web conference solutions.
“We were constantly jockeying licenses,” says Burns. “They were way too expensive and we were sharing the accounts and passwords with all of our people who were experiencing too many scheduling conflicts.”
Burns wanted to inspire the McCownGordon workforce and cultivate a culture of innovation, collaboration, and flexibility.
“We don’t want technology just for the sake of having technology, says Burns. “We want actual technology that benefits the organization.”
Through a host of Microsoft products such as SharePoint, OneNote, and the Enterprise Mobility Suite, Burns supported McCownGordon in its technological growth and expansion of its digital footprint.
This is a true story of digital transformation.
Integrity, relationships, and performance
Burns looked for ways to implement innovative tech to better support his company’s core values.
“Integrity, relationships, and performance,” says Burns. “We live by those values on a daily basis.”
As the IT Director, Burns wanted to use technology to emphasize his organization’s core values and collaborative nature. McCownGordon is a company of mostly construction managers providing professional services to commercial organizations from design build to general contracting.
Founded in 1999 in Kansas City, MO, the organization operates much like a startup company. Compared to other construction companies, McCownGordon sees itself as more advanced, or forward-thinking, when it comes to its core beliefs and its view on construction as “building relationships” rather than building structures.
Employee support strengthens relationships
“Construction is probably one of the most collaborative industries in the market today,” explains Burns. “Especially in the kind of work that we do, 90 percent of the work is done by other companies that don’t necessarily have a physical tie to our organization.”
Burns wanted to embrace relationship building and increase the level of collaboration between his teams and the company’s partners.
By implementing Office 365, SharePoint, and OneNote, McCownGordon broke down silos throughout the organization. Now, everyone— from partners, to field staff, to office staff— is in the loop and communication flows freely, yet securely.
“We try to provide a collaborative conduit to keep conversations flowing and really be open with multiple methods of communication,” says Burns.
Before the adoption, all McCownGordon tools were on-premise, with an email infrastructure that offered no competitive advantage. Now, the out-of-house cloud infrastructure frees up teams to do more with their time. Newfound productivity means less having to fix internal issues and more time dedicated to customer and employee retention and growth.
“Brick and mortar shouldn’t matter anymore, “says Burns. “We want people to work without boundaries. Going wherever you want, whenever you want lends to our culture.”
Mobility, speed, and security through Azure resulted in a more savvy, collaborative workforce. Associates felt more empowered and encountered a sense of freedom and flexibility than they ever had before.
“McCownGordon is a family-first organization,” explains Burns. “Employees can go on parental leave with no worries because everything they need can be accessed from home through shared files via SharePoint and OneNote.”
By putting family first and empowering employees with smarter collaboration tools, Burns assisted McCownGordon in creating a sustainable, healthy work environment. This environment promotes high-quality performance and meaningful relationships, two of the core values of the organization.
Streamlined operations lead to integrity in performance“It’s a fine balance between security and productivity,” explains Burns.
Because the construction industry is extremely mobile, Burns had to figure out a way to protect his employees’ information. Security and mobility were two of the main components of remaining true to McCownGordon’s core value of integrity.
The implementation of the Enterprise Mobility Suite and the device enrollment management program ensured confidence in mobility security for the organization.
“We’re providing our associates access to the information they need, when they need and how they want to get to it,” says Burns.
The Enterprise Mobility Suite allowed employees to locate and wipe devices without exposing their personal information. It helped maintain personal use on devices while remaining secure.
Burns also saw great success with OneNote in the organization. OneNote is used for conversation histories of bid process information and information on trade partners.
In the past, the company used a binder full of paper to keep track of records. Today, OneNote processes emails to get the full communication chain, even of bids that didn’t win.
“The simple implementation of OneNote has changed the way we do business so much, explains Burns. “I get feedback all the time with how impressed people are with it. Honestly, that’s the thing about technology: sometimes people try to overcomplicate solutions. But really, simple solutions are the best solutions.”
OneNote has changed McCownGordon’s internal business on a large scale. No paper agenda and streamlined operations mean a smarter, more optimized way of performing.
Meaningful relationships drive integrity in performanceThose three core values—integrity, relationships, and performance—were the anchor for McCownGordon’s digital transformation. Innovative technology has allowed the organization to grow while remaining a single, cohesive unit through those values.
While Burns does believe McCownGordon could continue expanding through technology like the Surface Hub, he feels his organization is staying strategic in the way they enhance their culture. He lends credit to people within his organization who use technology daily and constantly bring him suggestions to make it better for employees across all disciplines.
“Today’s generation of workers have an expectation that they’ll have collaborative tech at their fingertips,” explains Burns. “Microsoft technology gives us that competitive edge.”
As the construction industry continues to evolve, so must the processes that enable collaboration and overall success.
“Now everything is a technology decision,” says Burns. “Every business is becoming a technology business and those who don’t embrace that are going to fall behind or become obsolete.”
Thankfully, McCownGordon will not become obsolete. Instead, they will work to hold strong as a digital leader in the construction field. And despite being a model for the industry as a digital-first enterprise, what it all comes down to is being a people-first organization. With a strong set of core beliefs connected to dedicated technological growth, anything is possible.
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