How IFS helps Construction and Engineering Firms Optimise their Workforce and Retain Critical Expertise
In today’s construction and engineering landscape, transformation is no longer optional – it’s essential. As organisations face mounting skills shortages and an ever-widening skills gap, the ability to track workforce competencies, align project planning, and retain critical expertise can make the difference between growth and stagnation.
That’s where IFS Cloud comes in.
The Challenge: Complexity, Change, and the Skills Gap in Construction
The construction and engineering sectors are grappling with unprecedented change. Many firms still rely on legacy systems, standalone tools, and static spreadsheets that make it difficult to maintain visibility across projects, people, and finances.
This fragmentation doesn’t just hinder efficiency — it deepens the skills shortage by making it harder to identify and deploy qualified talent where it’s needed. As experienced workers retire and new talent is slow to replace them, vital institutional knowledge is lost, and the gap widens further.
To stay competitive, firms must streamline operations, strengthen workforce productivity, and preserve critical expertise for the next generation.
The Solution: IFS Cloud - Built for Construction and Engineering
For over 25 years, IFS has worked closely with leading construction and engineering firms to develop a complete, industry-specific ERP solution that connects people, projects, and processes in one unified platform.
IFS Cloud goes beyond traditional ERP – it provides a single source of truth across the enterprise, enabling smarter, faster, and more data-driven decision-making.
By helping companies understand their people as well as their projects, IFS Cloud bridges the gap between business strategy and workforce capability.
4 Ways How IFS Helps You Optimise Your Workforce and Bridge the Skills Gap
1. Track Skills, Certifications, and Training Needs
IFS Cloud enables organisations to manage and monitor employee competencies, certifications, and training requirements in one central platform.
This ensures:
- Teams are always compliant
- Training gaps are identified early
- Workforce planning is based on accurate, up-to-date data
With full visibility of skills across departments, regions and individuals, managers can quickly allocate the right people to the right projects – enhancing productivity and safety.
2. Align Workforce Planning with Project Schedules
By integrating workforce data directly with project schedules and financial controls, IFS Cloud enables real-time workforce optimisation. When schedules shift, allocations automatically adjust – reducing delays, avoiding overstaffing, and improving cost efficiency.
This alignment transforms project planning from reactive to proactive, boosting agility and helping firms navigate the ongoing skills shortage more effectively.
3. Foster and share knowledge wherever you are
Construction projects can often be across multiple sites or very large single sites. As trades become more specialised with ever-growing compliance requirements and requirements for connected spaces, IFS provides a way for workers to quickly share information and experience.
Through IFS Cloud, documents, photos and images uploaded are accessible anywhere. For occasions where documents just don’t cut it, IFS Remote Assistance tools allow colleague to call each other and review the problem in a real-time, augmented reality environment with the ability to draw on-screen to identify the problem or missing pieces.
This allows knowledge to be shared more quickly within the business, not whenever a particular skillset is on site and available.
4. Empower Teams Anywhere, Easy-to-Use Tools
From the field to the office, IFS Cloud delivers a modern, mobile experience that empowers teams to work anytime, anywhere be it on a tablet device or a smart phone. Whether it’s updating timesheets, reviewing safety documentation, or tracking progress, users can complete essential tasks on the go.
This mobility boosts engagement, strengthens communication, and helps employees focus on what matters most – delivering successful, high-quality projects.
Real-World Impact: Building a Future-Ready Workforce
Across the construction and engineering sector, companies implementing IFS Cloud have reported:
- Improved project control and profitability
- Reduced risk and better decision-making
- Enhanced workforce retention and satisfaction
- Streamlined, harmonised global operations
By integrating project, financial, and workforce management into a single platform, IFS Cloud transforms how firms plan, execute, and grow- even in the face of the construction skills gap.
Lead the Way: Build a Skilled, Resilient Workforce with IFS
In a world where talent is scarce and project complexity continues to rise; leaders need more than just technology – they need strategic foresight and a trusted partner.
IFS Cloud, delivered by Anthesis, empowers CEOs and executives to build resilient, skilled teams ready for tomorrow’s challenges – helping organisations bridge the skills gap, retain critical expertise, and achieve sustainable growth.
Ready to make your next strategic move for 2026?
If you would like to know more, call Anthesis or drop us an email to discover how IFS Cloud for Construction and Engineering can help you optimise your workforce, future-proof your operations, and lead with confidence.
