Survey of construction owners by Trimble found a strong desire to continue expanding the use of digital workflows and software tools
Modern technology and software has captivated every industry and helped it grow and evolve into a more efficient and connected work environment. This is true of the construction industry, where a digital transformation is well underway. Despite the fragmented nature of the world of construction, where there can be dozens of stakeholders, designers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, teams are finding a way to connect and share data and project information digitally. Leading the charge towards digital transformation are owners who are pushing project team members to adopt connected construction technology, applications and software to deliver better outcomes for everyone involved.
To better grasp the needs and progress in converting the construction industry to a digital age, Trimble conducted a study of owners and key stakeholders to help guide and inform the industry. Across the board, owners consistently cited increased efficiency, higher quality and faster delivery as key benefits to utilizing digital workflows in their construction projects. Digital workflows increase insight into project processes and operations. Without digital workflows, over 50 percent of owners say they are unable to trace the causes of delays and errors in their project processes – compared to less than 10 percent of owners using digital workflows who say they are unable to track down the source of their mistakes. This lends itself well to future improvements as processes and methods become refined over time.
Within the industry, there is wide variation in the types of tools being used by companies. Larger companies were more likely to make more use of software than small and mid-size companies for their digital workflows, but the number of small companies increasing their utilization of software products is increasing at a higher rate than their larger counterparts. This shows that smaller companies are beginning to see the value in adopting software and connected construction and are quickly catching up to the bigger firms.
Project owners may be widely adopting software to digitize their processes and document storage but forcing their contractors to do the same has proven difficult. Again, this is an area where larger companies have had more success, mandating their contractors towards their own digital workflows. This may because larger companies are able to exert more power over their contractors or are working on bigger projects with more experienced contractors. Financial constraints and lack of training time were cited as key reasons why construction firms are not able to make contractors adopt digital workflows.
For connected construction to take off and reach its maximum potential, data must flow back and forth to both internal and external teams. Here is a bit of a disconnect. General contractors and construction managers – especially the larger ones – and consulting engineers are often using digital workflows to send data and information to external companies on their project team. Usage drops off steeply among specialty contractors, equipment manufacturers and permitting authorities. High levels of satisfaction were reported when dealing with internal departments but lower levels were reported across the board when dealing with external stakeholders. Therefore, progress is still needed to ensure that data is shared freely across the entire team on key projects.
The biggest challenge still facing the construction industry when it comes to going digital, and the likely reason for the cited low levels of satisfaction with connectedness with external stakeholders, is frequent breakdowns in connectivity. Nearly 60 percent of owners experience breakdowns in connectivity with their external teams. General contractors and construction management firms acknowledged breakdowns in connectivity at the highest rate, likely due in part to their higher level of reliance on connected workflows in the first place. Owners were given the chance to list improvements they fell would increase connectivity and better data analysis tools and easier access to data received the most votes. Owners also felt they would benefit from better training and increased support and investment from upper-level management.
Companies are using software to make their construction business more interconnected both internally and externally, but what tasks are they actually using software for? During preconstruction phases, companies are using digital workflows for submittals, procurement and bids, design review, permitting and estimating. In postconstruction, digital workflows have been used for RFIs, project closeout, field inspection and progress reporting, change orders and payment processing.
Seeing the benefits realized using digital workflows, companies are open to increasing their investment in software that makes it possible. The most common benefits mentioned included higher levels of cost predictability, increased efficiency of multicompany processes, informed decision making, higher labor productivity, fewer change orders and safer job sites. Owners hope to invest in software that assists in design review, project closeout and bid procurement.
Chad Foley, Technology Manager at City of Raleigh Municipal Government (Picture courtesy of LinkedIn)
Chad Foley, Technology Manager at City of Raleigh Municipal Government, has seen the benefits of adopting digital workflows within the city’s different construction and engineering groups, including stormwater, roadway and construction management.
“The biggest advantage is standardization: to have different departments do things the same way and stop relying on Excel and emails, as well as getting construction plans, CAD drawings and BIM files off some shared drive or somebody’s thumb drive and having them in one system that anyone can access. Executive-level reporting is another big benefit of having these internal digital workflows. They allow people at the management level to use a dashboard to see where a project is in a workflow at any given time. We are still in the process of building these things, but the goal is to standardize how we do our projects versus the old way in which one department does it one way, another department does another way and it’s all in Excel on shared drives and folders on people’s personal computers,” Foley said.
Growth in connected construction software and technology will continue to grow as owners continue to see the benefits and encourage all members of their external teams to join them. This begins a positive feedback loop, whereas increased investment in using digital workflows in construction will lead to more innovation by the software companies as their sales grow or clients ask for new tools. Likewise, construction companies who lead the charge in digital workflows will win more opportunities and drive adoption in the industry as laggards seek to catch up or risk being left behind for good. It’s a brave, new, connected construction world.
