Smartsheet and Artificial Intelligence for Roofing Contractors

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

The combination of the two can provide powerful insight into your business.

Many people think that the Smartsheet platform is just Microsoft Excel on steroids, which is partially true in that it has grid tables and some similar functionality; but it turns out that it’s much more than that according to John Kenney of Cotney Consulting Group (CCG).

How Smartsheet can benefit your business

John shared that there are multiple reasons contractors should consider using the platform. “It’s a great collaboration software, it works with Slack and Teams, and it has alerts and communication tools to ensure workflows are happening,” explained John.

It’s not meant to be a standalone product, but it serves as a place to collect your business data in one platform. “If you have a favorite estimating program, or accounting program or CRM, Smartsheet allows you to collect the data from multiple sources and populate the fields in Smartsheet. Then we build the formulas based on what you want to see in your operations, or your estimating or sales data, or any other data that you want to look at.” 

Contractors can use the program across multiple departments. “If someone doesn’t have HR software, we can use the platform to build out and HR suite processes to manage the application process, turnover ratios, vacation requests and more,” said John.

The program can handle inventory management and tracking and features a smartphone app which allows that field workers to easily access the data and information.

Combine it with the power of AI for solid decision making

2019 Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3) Innovator of the Year winner Rackley Roofing has embraced the power of Smartsheet in their business but are taking it one step further by working with Cotney Consulting Group to implement their artificial intelligence (AI) platform called PreCog Analytics™. “PreCog Analytics™ performs predictive analytics designed specifically for roofing contractors,” said John.

He explained that CCG is able to look at a company’s data and by running it through the AI platform a contractor can easily determine their most profitable estimator. That can then be compared to the sales team data. A contractor can extend that to their superintendent or foreman on the job and the AI will predict for them who will be the most profitable team to assemble when going after particular types of projects.

John shared that he has one of the largest overall databases for the roofing industry that he has collected over the last 40 years, all of which is loaded into the AI system. A contractor’s data can be compared to that to make sure it is not outside the norm. It’s also where machine learning comes into play. The program gets smarter every time it looks at new data and compares it to the historical data.

“This helps you efficiently make decisions for all of your departments,” shared John. “It gives you an understanding of the type of work to pursue and you no longer make decisions on gut feelings, you make them based on the data.”

Learn more about Cotney Consulting Group in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory.