工作现场通信工具的出现就像设备制造商一样快，应用程序构建者可以将它们淘汰 - 只是保持全职工作可能是一项全职工作。
但是承包商不需要其他全职工作。他们只需要以最简单，最可靠的方式快速共享关键的项目信息。
For years, Nextel's push-to-talk phones were the standard in construction, with PTT's instant voice contact at the touch of a button. But Nextel's network is shutting down next June, and its remaining 5.4 million customers will have to move on.
如何ever, these disruptions bring opportunities to upgrade systems. Besides, phones can do so much more now than they could.
Brent Leif, a construction manager with the Hunt Construction Group, started reaching for more in 2008 as his team launched a hotel project in Phoenix. "We were using a variety of phones—some Blackberries and some Nextel—just using the speed-dial number," he says. Then one of his engineers returned from a conference describing a presentation on NoteVault, a telephone-based service that uses a call-in number to capture time-stamped comments from the field and automatically turn them into e-mailed reports.
莱夫说：“我尝试了它，我被说服了。”“我向我们的安全人员开放了它，它抓住了，越来越多地使用。”
NoteVault has gained sophistication with the growing use of smart phones. Now offering an app interface, it has features such as the ability to attach photos. It has a keyword notifier that sends an alert to a pre-set list of users if trigger words, such as "delay" or "held up," are used. Leif now is ramping up a $120-million convention-center project in San Jose, Calif., and he is distributing iPhones with the NoteVault app to all key team members.
"Once the guys have gotten used to using it, they do it all day long," Leif says. "It makes them stop and think, grab the phone and make the statement. They really like it, and they don't even have to think about writing reports—it just happens."
Clifford Cooper, a program manager with URS Corp. in Seattle, has two construction management projects on the system, each with very different hardware. One team is removing dams and restoring streambeds in Washington state's Olympic National Park; the other is renovating a federal courthouse in downtown Denver. Cooper says he is very pleased with NoteVault, but he has had a devil of a time getting phone coverage—in Denver.
在这两项工作中，他从AT＆T和Notevault开始安装在专门为建筑设计的极度坚固的Sonim手机上。但是在法庭上，他切换到iPhone的覆盖范围是如此糟糕，如果服务掉落并稍后发送，可以在内存中保存报告。
