Here comes the Sun!

To all of our bewilderment, Summer is officially here. Through the unknowns, lockdowns, re-openings, opportunities, hindrances, and everything in between, we’re seeing the end to a wild year of uncertainty. However, the impact of what has been 2020 will still continue well into the new year.

Knowing this, at Mooven we recently hosted a Webinar on the uncontrollable variables we’ll be facing over Summer, and how we can track and utilise this uncharted road ahead. In today’s blog we’ll share with you some of the insights we uncovered.

Same-same, but different.

In many ways, this year will be the same - families will take time off for holiday celebrations, people will be racing to get their work completed before a long break, and getting decisions approved and signed off will be a challenge as the slow and steady increase of ‘Out of Office’ email replies begins biting into our productivity. 

However, it will also be a Summer like no other we’ve seen before. Across Australia and New Zealand typical movements will be vastly different as the usual influx of overseas tourism grinds to a halt, and the summer departures to overseas destinations are stopped.

This begins to paint quite a different picture for both countries, on one hand, Australia is expected to see a net increase of just over 600,000 tourist, while New Zealand is expected to see a net decrease in tourism of a similar magnitude.  However, the locations domestic tourist will favour and when they travel may be markedly different. 

The shared story across both nations is a the tale of greater homegrown tourist populations.  What will this mean for traditional international tourist hotspots?  Will there be decline in visitors and activity in these areas or will these regions be propped up by locals holidaying.  What about domestic tourist hotspots?  WIll people will be staying nearer to cities, or perhaps leaving for more interesting holiday destinations.

In other words - we really can’t be certain about what the mass movements of our population will be and what sort of impact that will have.  All we can know for certain is that there is uncertainty. 

Know what you don't know

Running an effective summer program of works is critical in both nations.  With this in mind, how do we maximise productivity and catch up on lost time from a year of interruptions.  We have broken this down into two focuses;

A major concern for summer 2020/2021 is that previous benchmarks and baselines will prove useless as conditions are not comparable. This means that in preparation for projects there is little that can be done to foresee the true situation. At Mooven we suggest following a few steps that will give you clarity and confidence in making timely decision to maximise the productivity of your projects. Steps our customers themselves have been taking with Mooven: 

1. Review previous holiday periods to gain as much insight as possible into the nauces of local vs international holiday periods.  Domestic holidays can be used as a guide and then adjusted.

2. Monitor current road conditions before the project period and compare against these to understand current, pre-works conditions.

3. Use real-time data to understand changes on a daily basis, ensuring the impact on road uses stays within acceptable levels and finding opportunities to accelerate if quieter than expected. 

4. Respond proactively to changing conditions. 

This will give you the greatest confidence in your understanding of road conditions while your teams are on-site, but also during a period where sites may be unmanned. Knowing conditions during unmanned periods is growing in importance as we look to minimise the potential of harm to road users.  Understand if road users are behaving responsibly enables us to proactively implement additional safety measures if needed.

In many ways, this will be a typical Summer period, but we’ll also be facing greater challenges, risks, and opportunities. By understanding what these risks are, the concerns faced by road agencies and our communities we can work towards improved productivity while striving to achieve zero harm on every project. 

If you’re present on the roads this Summer, need to maximise progress during these holidays, or want to ensure full visibility for you and everyone involved - reach out about how we can help. With the ability to set up in a matter of minutes - you can be ready for Summer.