Original article posted in June 2020 Rail Professional Magazine

Cloud-based technology has truly come into its own over the last few months. The seamless transition executed by businesses who had already invested in cloud-based software prior to the Covid-19 pandemic was a stark lesson for those less fortunate.

In fact, research conducted by the McKinsey Consultancy suggests that the “importance of digital to customers, suppliers, and to the entire economy has rapidly accelerated—and executives must speed up their digitization plan”.

Furthermore, a recent survey conducted by Gartner indicates that ‘more than 74 percent of CFOs and business finance leaders expect at least five percent of their workforce will never return to their usual office workspace — becoming permanent work-from-home employees after the pandemic ends’.

It is clear that the advantages of cloud technology are here to stay. 

As the UK rail industry finds its feet within the new Covid-19 landscape, the need to harness the benefits of cloud technology is evident. Paperless Construction is a cloud-based software app poised to take the rail industry into a new era – one where safe, responsive and robust practices are more important than ever. Covid-19 has removed certainties that we assumed would always be true. We no longer have the assurance that we can go to our place of work, operate with a full team or maintain a safe working environment.

The Paperless mobile app provides answers to the many questions operators face about how we navigate our current unfamiliar and unpredictable existence. With Covid-19 expanding the need to both protect and meet the needs of all stakeholders, the challenge to establish rail services that not only survive but continue to grow, is greater than ever.

Designed with the construction industry’s need for mobility, flexibility and accessibility in mind, Paperless Construction’s powerful mobile software provides the ability to manage and monitor teams across the network and lots more. With Paperless’ cloud software there is no longer a need for staff to return to the office for timekeeping and record management, saving precious working hours and facilitating more efficient working practices

The mobile app enables staff to do everything on go, including timekeeping, fatigue management, training, roll calls and lots more. The app’s cloud software equips all staff with the capacity to manage all their administration needs from any location throughout the day via their own personal mobile device.

 Paperless’ revolutionary app facilitates the transparent, flexible, and efficient working practices that the industry desperately needs. The mobile app enables staff to do everything on go, including timekeeping, fatigue management, training, roll calls and lots more. The app’s cloud software equips all staff with the capacity to manage all their administration needs from any location throughout the day via their own personal mobile device.

Essential Features For Multi-Site Use

The practical nature of cloud technology makes it scalable and sustainable long-term. Cost-effective and economical benefits of cloud technology for the rail industry are endless. The Paperless app’s seamless and versatile array of features are ideally suited to the railway industry. With easy access to data on the go, all employees are able to complete essential administration easily. 

Compliance is a major concern for the industry and the app provides a solid solution to ensuring robust compliance practices across all teams. Cloud software is a modern technology designed for today’s businesses. Paperless guarantees that recordkeeping is not only error-free but also easy to review and action. Furthermore, clear audit trails are quickly established and auditing is simple.

The app is the perfect tool to give the industry’s transient workforce an efficient and robust way to record and track timekeeping and briefings from any location. Eliminating the inconvenience and archaic practice of having to be physically present in the office for important administration, Paperless enables the railway industry to finally embrace contemporary working practices in place in other sectors.

The ease of clocking in and out from mobile devices instead of units in fixed location clocking devices addresses efficiency, employee satisfaction levels and fatigue management. The ability to manage timekeeping from personal mobile devices means that it is no longer necessary for staff to travel back to the office or a fixed site to log in and out. 

Statutory safety training is simple to manage and easy to deliver across multiple locations over any time period. Once loaded onto the app, briefings are available for all desired staff to access. The distribution and collection of records are tidied up so that records are error-free and easy to locate with infinite storage space in the cloud. This app is the single software solution that the industry has been asking for, for many years Combining: timekeeping, fatigue management, document management, PDF annotations, briefings, messaging, SOS and Roll Call and more, the app’s ground-breaking range of functions does the work of multiple software solutions whilst keeping all of your data in one place.

Furthermore, as rail contractors face a growing responsibility to evidence how they address fatigue management, Paperless delivers a valuable and uncomplicated solution.

With every employee’s true travel times and working patterns logged in real-time, managers can gain a clear picture of potential hazards on an ongoing basis whilst collecting a powerful bank of data for long-term fatigue management at a strategic level. 

In a recent interview with Construction News, Ian Prosser, chief inspector of railways at the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) states that “ the railway industry – where lengthy shifts, long journeys and working at night are commonplace – should examine its working practices.” 

Mr Prosser goes on to suggest that over the coming months and years, the ORR will “be laying some more challenges down for the industry to improve because ….in improving fatigue management and shift patterns […] planning will actually lead, not just to a safer railway for the employees, but also a more efficient one.

Fatigue management is a critical issue for the industry. With lives at stake, the impetus to embrace new software like Paperless is more urgent than ever.

Post Covid-19 Capabilities

Paperless also makes it possible for managers to install essential safeguarding measures on timekeeping features. For example, it is possible to add a symptoms checklist declaration or wellbeing questionnaires on clocking in and out so that any issues can be identified and actioned quickly.

There are many indications that temporary lockdowns may need to be put in place for specific localities in future. The Paperless app guarantees that any transition to remote working in the future will be effortless, with all data and functions readily accessible in the cloud and staff adequately equipped to make the best use of the software.

Over the past few decades, we have learnt that developments in technology herald better performance, greater levels of productivity and improved services. For the railway industry to ignore the clear advantages of cloud technology at this moment would be a mistake that will cost the railway industry long into the future.

Beyond the challenges created by Covid-19, cloud-based technology provides a sound base for the expansion, development and monitoring of responsive services and high performance across the rail industry. 

The priority now must be to ensure that the rail industry is adequately prepared for the future with the right software in place to be able to respond appropriately to the many situations and challenges that our teams and customers may face in the months and years. Covid-19 has taught us a hard lesson about why cloud-based software provides the answers we need, let’s ensure we listen, adapt and learn.