Google Drive

Dr. P,

In accordance with our conversation regarding the potential adoption and incorporation of Google drive as an IT tool here at our company I offer the following.  Google drive is a cloud storage tool which affords users the ability to store, edit and share electronic documents.  As of March 13, 2014 with a Gmail account 15 GB of storage is provided free of charge and for a monthly fee users can purchase additional storage as required.

Google drive can be immediately incorporated into our daily operations and have a direct and positive impact on the process we use to share project documents with our field superintendents.  With Google drive we can save and share job contracts, project drawings/specifications and vendor data with our field supervisors.  Since Google drive uses cloud technology our field supervisors can use their previously issued company smart phones, tablets and or computers to access all project information in one convenient location. Implementation of this service will impact the business in various ways.  

Project managers will spend less time answering field supervisor’s questions concerning supplier information, approved products and contractual scope of work.  This will enable project managers to spend more time planning for upcoming work and analyzing current project costs.  Additional time spent planning for upcoming work will result in more organized field operations with labor, material, equipment and subcontractors working harmoniously according to the plan developed by the manager.  The written plan could also be saved and shared with the field supervisor in the Google drive file.  As you’re aware streamlining field operations enhances the opportunity for jobs to finish on time and under budget.  

In addition to freeing up the project managers time, field supervisors will have immediate access to the contractual scope of work when scope of work questions arise in the field.  Having immediate access to the contractual scope of work will reduce the quantity of non-contract work that is performed.  Performance of non-contract work is an ongoing battle and is a financially compounding issue as costs for such work were not captured in the original budget and if the work is not immediately identified as extra work our clients are reluctant to authorize change orders for the work once it is complete.  Capturing the costs and submitting invoices for non-contract work will increase company revenues and eliminate non-contract work expenses.  For these reasons I recommend we incorporate Google drive as an IT tool at our company.