Construction is big business, but the industry seems resistant to change. It’s increasingly worrisome if the industry is to keep pace with demand in coming decades. Globally, the construction industry faces challenges that were not envisioned even 10 years ago. How the industry addresses those challenges will, in large part, determine the face of the future for the worldwide population. Ultimately, these increasing demands can be mitigated and solved by implementing innovative technologies that will put your workers’ needs first.
Demand In Construction
Earlier this year, Digital Builder reported interesting statistics. Consider the following:
- In order to meet the needs of an expected population of seven billion in the world’s cities, the industry will be expected to complete 13,000 buildings each day between now and 2050.
- In the United States alone, 1.55 million new housing units are planned annually.
- Worldwide construction spend is estimated to reach $17.5 trillion in 2030, just a decade away. In 2018, the figure was $11.4 trillion.
- More than 180 million people hold construction-related jobs around the world.
Innovation in Construction
In general, contractors believe the future is bright. It is clear, however, that innovation is necessary to provide solutions to the multi-faceted challenges that currently exist. Project costs continue to rise while productivity declines. Underperformance is an issue across all segments of the construction industry. Risk is a major factor, impacting not only lives, but economic choices as well. Lack of “real-time” data impedes onsite decision-making capability, leading to mistakes and delays.
These are issues that must be resolved if the construction industry is to move ahead. In order to address these issues, construction firms should consider investing in innovative technologies for their workers to utilize in order to drive business performance.
Why Invest in Innovation for Your Workers?
There may be no single, or simple answer to the needs of the construction industry. But the path is clear. Innovation and technology present a wealth of new opportunities to improve training and performance, supply and transmit actionable data from the jobsite to the proper decision-makers, reduce waste and errors, and boost construction industry effectiveness and profit.
It is this comprehensive approach that will produce the results needed to transform the industry, and the time for change is overdue.
Currently, more than 95% of all data available to the engineering and construction industry goes unused, according to an FMI Big Data report. There is little doubt that even a minimal increase in the use of available data could be transformative and lead to empowerment of construction industry workers. Yet, only the top 20% of innovative industry leaders in one 2019 survey used such technologies. Only 18% of surveyed firms confirmed that they use mobile apps to access project data and ensure effective collaboration between teams, or from jobsite to executive suite. However, those 18% that used mobile devices, found great success in implementing these innovative, yet simple, technologies.
Because more than half of industry rework results from miscommunication or poor and missing project data, it would seem to be a natural — and crucial — step to look at how technology can fit into your vision of the future.
Here is why investing in innovation ultimately benefits your workers:
- Investigate the range and power of existing digital technology that will allow your workers to respond to immediate jobsite needs, including problem analysis and resolution.
- Commit to leverage high-tech solutions that keep your workforce informed; know that information sharing must be in both directions to be effective.
- Allow your workers to “test drive” new technology, analyze the benefits and provide feedback. Trust that they will embrace tech solutions that provide positive results.
- Create an ongoing task force to stay abreast of new tech developments to ensure that you can work more effectively, modernize your processes, plan for the future, and empower your workforce.
Anvl’s Solution provides an innovative and sustainable digital transformation solution designed to put your people first, to keep managers connected with their workers, and to enable today’s construction firms to “future-proof” their operations to meet the challenges of the next few decades and beyond. Click to see a demo of Anvl in Action, and contact one of our experts today.
