Capitalising on technology innovation in construction

Organisations need to start finding more effective ways of harnessing the potential of technology to transform operations, improve productivity, boost on-time delivery, and resolve issues as quickly as possible. Why? Because its key to what makes an organisation successful.

?Many often associate fast and friendly service with restaurants and hotels more than with workers on a construction site. But by capitalising on technology innovation construction companies can deliver a more customer-centric experience. Which is good news for this growing industry, as recent research shows that the South African construction sector is expected to grow by more than 15% this year.

Asset owners need to start embracing the outsourcing of service and maintenance contracts, and contractors committed to enhancing the entire asset life cycle have a significant competitive advantage. Integrating project planning for a construction company means it may need to consider approaching projects from the total asset lifecycle cost and performance perspectives.

?This process necessitates rethinking traditional business processes by injecting a level of technology sophistication into practices that they did not consider before. The secret sauce behind this is having all of this available in an integrated solution.

?Additionally, the unpredictability of construction, especially when it comes to job sites and work environments, means that contractors need to prioritise planning. Raw material price increases, lengthening material supply lead times, and uncertainties around the labour force contribute to this lack of predictability.

?Construction and engineering companies that want to mitigate the risk of these components must adopt a more integrated planning process that starts from the initial project's inception thus becoming reliant on solutions that provide project lifecycle control will become critical. The solutions must be cloud-based to enable the development of the entire project lifecycles that reflect what is happening in the field in real-time to empower decision-makers to adapt quickly to emerging uncertainties.

?Turning to infrastructure, another trend that could become even more significant over the coming months is the fact that many governments around the world, including South Africa, are focusing on improving the resilience of critical infrastructure. This extends across transport, telecommunications, energy, water, and sanitation.

?With the optimisation of these projects/technology, building an information modelling (BIM) model is crucial as widespread investments are made into the likes of roads, highways, bridges, etc. Integrating BIM technologies with the back-end systems of a construction company will help it unlock more value for all stakeholders across the value chain.

?These large-scale investments stimulate the economy and creates jobs, subsequently enabling society to operate more efficiently.

?But it all starts with a willingness to embrace technology in all aspects of asset lifecycle management across the construction project process. So, by flagging issues pro-actively, construction companies can have more control over the complete project lifecycle, which incorporates all aspects of asset management. The result? Efficiency!?