Hello from Las Vegas! It’s been an exciting week here at World of Concrete, and I’m proud to announce that the latest version of our construction management software, Spectrum Construction Software v14, was launched this week. I don’t usually talk about Dexter + Chaney’s products, but given that this new version drastically changes the way users operate and interact with the software, I couldn’t help myself.

What’s New in Spectrum version 14?

In the last year or so, there’s been a lot of talk about “The Cloud,” and how it is going to change software. We’ve also seen increased use in mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, with easy to use interfaces and applications. With all of this in mind, we’ve designed Spectrum version 14 to be easy to use and access.

Accessibility

Our customers told us they wanted to be able to access Spectrum anywhere – whether they were in the field, the office, or snowed in at home. Because version 14 is web-based, there is no software to install, upgrade, or maintain. The user simply needs to login on an Internet connected device.

Information a Click Away

Spectrum’s user interface has been completely redesigned to give it the look, feel, and usability of other web applications. Simply put, all the information you need is one click away. In Spectrum v14, you start with a dashboard that you can customize with the apps you need to do your work. Once you pull up a job screen, you’ll instantly see all of the links related to that particular screen, such as vendors, subcontracts, and cost projections. Just as you can open web links in tabs, Spectrum v14 allows you to open multiple tabs or screens so all the information you need is in front of you.

Affordability

Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of Spectrum v14 is that it’s more affordable than ever. Because Spectrum v14 is web-based, users don’t need to purchase, maintain, and constantly update hardware, operating systems, and databases just to use our product. With v14, users don’t need to install software and maintain the software on every user’s computer, because it’s all accessed from the web.

I hope you find this dramatic change in construction software as exciting as I do. We also happened to launch a new product for construction operations at the World of Concrete, but I’ll let my colleague Mark Reich explain this new addition.

Anyway, enough about me – what do you think about the changes we’ve made?