Improving the lives of contractors with technology

By Emma Peterson. 

Dataforma has dedicated decades to developing software that makes roofing workflows more efficient and manageable. 

Technology has truly revolutionized the way the roofing industry and society at large function. In this Roofing Road Trips®, Karen Edwards chats with Brian Cook, the senior VP of Dataforma, to learn how they are leveraging technology to create software that helps contractors manage their workflows with ease. At its core, Dataforma was born from frustrations that contractors were experiencing in their day-to-day lives with other management systems. Brian explained, “There are generic programs and they're okay. There are really expensive ERP systems and sometimes those overpromise and underdeliver, but you still have to pay them. Dataforma was created to solve those issues for contractors specifically.” 

And so, Dataforma’s first version of their cloud-based field service management software was developed. From there, the Dataforma team dove into efforts to continue  improving their product. Brian explained, “We had a vision of Dataforma and that lasted for probably three to four years. And then we gained enough customers and you're constantly getting feedback and suggestions. You also learn very quickly, ‘Oh, the world has changed in just those three to four years.’” One very simple example of this is the aesthetic appearance of Dataforma, which was a challenge for their programmers. Brian put it simply, “We have 21 years of legacy code, there's a lot there that needs to constantly be rewritten and that's a lot of what we're doing now. We're trying to make it look like it's a software in 2025 and not 1995.” 

It is this response and evolution based on feedback like that which has allowed Dataforma to continue to find success. Today, their software is able to help contractors manage every part of their workflow, from expenses and contracts to scheduling and inventory from any device that can access the internet. Brian shared a bit about the improvements they are working on currently, saying, “One of the coolest things that I think our users are going to love is that the mobile app interface is going to be redone. So, each user will decide what's on their mobile app. And then it's going to have AI suggestions that cue you to do things like log into or out of a job based on your normal patterns.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about Dataforma and how they continue to roll out innovative technological solutions for roofing contractors.