McKinsey & Company just released an eye-opening article in which they discuss the need for the construction industry to change. In particular, changing the way they manage technology and processes. With large projects now taking nearly 20% longer to complete than originally anticipated and up to 80% over budget, the need to adopt technology is growing more and more. According to the study,”The industry has not yet embraced new digital technologies that need up-front investment, even if the long-term benefits are significant.”
In other large companies (industry-agnostic), the average percentage of revenue that’s invested into IT is 3.2%[1]. In the construction industry, that spend drops to less than 1%. One of the potential reasons the construction industry is slow to adopt new tech is that implementing new software can be extraordinarily difficult, more so than in any other industry. With new job sites cropping up, and older ones shutting down, being able to effectively roll out new software can be problematic. However, with new advances in mobile technology, remote users can download an app and become proficient within minutes. Software companies rely on mobile technology to allow their application to go where a terminal or desktop would simply not apply. This makes enabling new software and features move much quicker than in years past, with greater user acceptance to boot.
