ENR to Present Webinar on “Cloud Computing”

Engineering News-Record Presents a Complimentary Webinar
- Cloud Computing (webinar is scheduled for May 25, 2011)

“The air is so filled with clouds these days--cloud computing, cloud services, public clouds, private clouds, internal clouds, managed clouds, fake clouds, hybrid clouds--you would think a storm is brewing. But while “cloud computing" is the buzz of the year, some debunk it as “nothing new" and say we have been using services leveraging cloud computing for a long time. And while that may be true, what is new is a rapid expansion in the opportunities companies now have to apply the benefits of cloud computing to their own operations to manage more data, collaborate more effectively and run far more sophisticated applications than ever before without having to sink bottomless investments into IT. This webinar featuring construction industry experts on the subject will help you find your way through the fog.”

One of the webinar presenters is from this company:

“Viewpoint Construction Software”

Viewpoint Construction Software’s “targets” include General Contractors, Heavy Contractors, and Specialty SubContractors.

Here’s what HCS says about its business:

Defining the future of construction excellence together

With a long-standing focus on the issues and challenges facing contractors, Viewpoint Construction Software has carved out a unique position in the business software marketplace. Instead of pointing our resources towards the development of generic business solutions, we have focused our attention on solving the unique needs of construction professionals.

By working closely with our customers to gain the specific insights we need to adapt our software to new industry conditions, we're creating products that are built to scale with our customers’ businesses, yet not force them to invest in infrastructure that outpaces their current needs. And most importantly, we're building a software platform as rock-solid as the foundations our customers build their roads, bridges and buildings upon.

Our complete suite of integrated applications for Accounting, Human Resources, Project Management and Operations is built on the award-winning Microsoft .NET Framework using the SQL Server database for timely reporting of critical data.

Here’s the address of HCS’ web-site:

http://www.viewpointcs.com/

Joel’s comments:

During a recent discussion in the “Apprentice Group” on LinkedIn, one reprographer (Curtis Thornton) said this:

“We (reprographers) are no longer only competing with each other, we're competing with other industries and technologies. Many of these new competitors understand branding and have business models with a consultative mind-set. The tipping point has arrived.”

I don’t know all that much about Viewpoint’s software, but I do know that it does have a “document management” component. So, in that sense, Viewpoint’s software for the Construction industry does represent competition to reprographers who offer document management software and services. I find myself wondering, though, why wouldn’t reprographers, who have developed document management software, “partner” with non-reprographer software developers, such as Viewpoint, so that Viewpoint would not have to develop, on its own, the “document management” component of its software? And, why wouldn’t reprographers try to convince non-reprographer software developers to add a “print button” inside the “dm” software, which would allow the reprographer (the reprographer’s network of print centers) to at least be first in line for stuff that has to be printed?