Pearl Scan, one of the UK’s most established companies dedicated to document scanning and management, has stressed the importance of technology when it comes to the building trade, emphasising how adopting digital processes can help the sector grow and develop further – and as a result, have a positive effect on the economy.
The building industry is, by default, hands-on. But technology can play a large part in the sector, helping it to move forward and develop like never before. Nowadays it is commonplace to find out information, such as building plans, deeds and planning applications online, but there is much more that can be done, according to Pearl Scan’s managing director.
Naveed Ashraf, Managing Director, Pearl Scan Group, says, “In the past, the best way to retain planning application records was to store them on microfiche, but as technology has advanced at a greater speed than many anticipated, it has become clear that microfiche storage no longer addresses business processes – and actually waste valuable resources.
“Over the last five years, local authorities have really embraced the digital age, making the use of social media to open up a two-way form of communication, investing in websites in order to inform local residents about the issues that affect them, and of course making information freely available to those who request it. But despite these developments, more can be done to help streamline the way it is run behind the scenes and speed up the time it takes for planning investigations to be conducted and shorten the time between application and a decision being made.”
It’s no secret that the country is facing a chronic housing shortage. Latest figures suggest that the country will have a housing deficit of 1m by 2025, due to both a slowdown in the building industry and an increase in the population. And despite the government pledging more money than ever before into the building trade, it could actually be technology that helps to lift the fledging industry by increasing the speed of retrieval and providing more effective service to construction and investment companies.
Pearl Scan specialises in the digitisation of microfiche and paper documents. To find out more about the service, visit the dedicated building control page: https://www.pearl-scan.co.uk/industry/planning-and-building-control or visit the homepage to discover more about the company as a whole: www.pearl-scan.co.uk
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