Basic Digitization Could Shape the Future of Construction

The industry has been slow to embrace new technologies. But the benefits of modernizing workflows and processes are hard to ignore.

Visiting the offices at many construction sites today is a lot like visiting the offices of companies in manufacturing, retail or any other sector—if the visit took place in 1990.

Construction site offices won’t typically greet you with slick applications, digital graphs and staff drawing conclusions from vast amounts of data. Instead, it’s common to find an army of administrative and operational staff drowning in paper, rushing to bring order to the perpetually increasing discord.

But digitization of the construction industry, which represents 9 percent of the UK economy, is possible—and necessary. Industry leaders have been slow in implementing technology compared with other industries, and low margins have prevented them from making digital investments. Still, a cultural shift is needed, and those leaders can dramatically improve construction efficiency without spending much more on advanced technologies like artificial intelligence.

They can do it with basic software and tools—technology that has been around for more than a decade.