Why Your E-Permitting Software Isn’t Saving You Time

In today's fast-paced digital world, many organizations turn to E-Permitting Software and digital plan review systems to speed up their permit approvals and boost operational efficiency. However, it’s surprising how often these tools fail to deliver the promised time savings. Undoubtedly, they streamline and digitize processes, but that alone is not enough to save time in the actual review. Let’s explore the key reasons your online plan review or e-permit software may not be saving you time—and what steps you can take to maximize its benefits.

1. A Complicated Interface Can Kill Productivity

Even the most advanced building code review software can become a burden if it’s difficult to navigate. An unintuitive interface, cluttered menus, or slow load times can frustrate users and increase task completion time. When employees struggle to locate features or understand workflows within the system, the entire process slows down. It’s essential to select software designed with user experience in mind—offering clean, straightforward navigation and fast response times—to ensure staff can work effectively.

2. Outdated Processes Limit Your Gains

Sometimes the challenge is not the software itself, but the internal workflow. Overly complex or outdated manual permit applications can reduce the impact of even the best software. If your organization has not optimized workflows before implementation, your E-Permitting Software might simply digitize inefficient procedures, which does little to enable faster permits. An AI building code review tool that simplifies the review of their applications would be a better alternative to ensure you maximize operational efficiency.

3. Electronic Plan Review is still not Automatic

And Electronic Plan Review Tool that adds-on to your E-Permitting software is just a fancy name for a document markup tool. The actual effort here is still your reviewers’ time and energy, repeatedly, till the application is cleared for permit approval. What you really need is an AI plan review tool like Blitz AI that automates the review of plans.

What Industry Experts Say

According to research by Forrester , organizations that fail to align their permitting technology with internal workflows and user needs often face delays, increased costs, and lower return on investment. The key to unlocking true efficiency lies in selecting the right technology—such as an AI plan review or AI precheck system—and coupling it with optimized processes and effective user training.

Therefore, if your E-Permitting Software isn’t delivering the expected time savings, it is crucial to evaluate if you need to supplement it with AI. Addressing these critical factors— and leveraging a cloud-based automated plan review like Blitz AI —will help you realize the full potential of digital permitting , enabling faster permits and more efficient local governance

It’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘how soon’ now

With the multiple state-level AI regulations and directives, using AI is inevitable now. The key is to get the buy in from your team. Introducing new technology without comprehensive training is a major roadblock to success. If your team isn’t fully familiar with the capabilities of your AI plan review or AI precheck system, Blitz team can introduce them to how it will supplement their work, not replace them. Only those who continue to rely on manual methods or inefficient workarounds will lose out. Investing in the right software now will reap benefits faster. Blitz AI support helps users feel confident and enables them to fully leverage the software’s functionality. As a result, productivity improves across the board.