By Mike Carrozzo, Chief Editor, Constructech
As a fully integrated estimating takeoff, job-cost accounting, project management system, the product can certainly be classified as an "end-to-end" solution for contractors, but the bigger news, in my opinion, is what Maxwell did under the hood to ensure this product will be able to deliver as promised.
Without a doubt, the name Maxwell Systems is a highly recognizable one to anyone in the construction technology space. Through the years, the company has brought forth some strong product lines, both organically with the likes of American Contractor, and via the acquisition route, including the StreetSmarts product from Cheetah and estimating products from Quest Solutions and Estimation. But even with the strong reputation and track record in the construction space, the one "knock" we have heard in recent years about Maxwell was in relation to its underlying technology platform being a bit outdated compared to others on the market.
This is where I have to give the team at Maxwell credit on this latest product release. Rather than taking the approach of simply rebranding the current product lines, the company opted instead to go all in, so to speak, and rebuild the system from the ground up.
With ProContractorMX, Maxwell addressed the underlying architecture using the latest in Microsoft technology, the Microsoft .NET platform and SQL Server 2008. And these are the pieces that will truly help this product achieve the promise of being able to deliver real-time information across the business. This release also represents the acquisition of Quest Solutions by Maxwell, approximately three years ago, coming full circle, bringing the long-term strategy for that acquisition to fruition.
Quite honestly I like what I have been seeing from many technology providers in the space these days. Of course we have those progressive solutions providers that have been ahead of the technology curve for some time now and have been using newer technologies, but we are also starting to see some good things coming to market from the legacy system providers too. Even some of the companies that at one point touted the fact they could provide all things to all people are realizing that integrating isn't all that bad of an option if it means better results for the customer.
The theme across the board is that solutions providers are shifting their approach to selling software to contractors from one centered on providing "all the bells and whistles" to one that is instead focused on the concept of lower total cost of ownership. And in order to get contractors on board with technology in this market, those two factors will be the key to survival for many of the solutions providers in the space.
Whereas five or 10 years ago when contractors experienced a slowdown and the first thing they looked to cut was the technology, today these same companies are realizing that technology is indeed a powerful tool that can truly help their business grow. And that is why it is so important that the solutions providers make the commitment and invest the resources into making their solutions more flexible and scalable and transforming their software into tools contractors can trust for the long term.
Mike Carrozzo
Chief Editor, Constructech