Construction Today, Vol 20 Iss- 3 Final Book | Page 16

the time needed to develop and deploy solutions that leapfrog manual processes and activities . To date , technology adoption in the industry has resulted in a variety of bespoke and siloed solutions scattered across organizations and projects . In the past , the cost of sharing technology infrastructure was expensive , and implementation was timeconsuming , placing additional burden and risk on projects . However , this is changing with the evolution of cloud computing , the emergence of low-code / no-code platforms and the flood of venture capital funding into the construction technology sector . In fact , more than 1000 construction technology companies have collectively received $ 11.8 billion , with half of this funding occurring between 2018 and 2020 .
Full collaboration and oversight Simply investing in new technologies will not drive value into the industry . Investment must be paired with an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset and highly collaborative teams able to maximize easy-to-implement technologies such as low-code / no-code platforms and Software as a Service (‘ SaaS ’) cloud solutions . For example , a small multidisciplinary team of technologists and construction professionals ( e . g ., planners ,
quantity surveyors , data engineers , data visualization experts , change managers , technology architects and agile practitioners ) can design , mobilize and embed many different ‘ light ’, yet robust , solutions into the core of the projects . This has the capability of leveraging a project ’ s entire value chain , right down to personnel in the field .
Can it be done ? Yes . But it requires a change in approach .
Firstly , bringing together people with equal measures of technical expertise and business process experience is key . These capabilities combine to ensure that a commitment can be made across the capital project ecosystem to adopt these ‘ light ’ tools and technologies in a way that is easy to deploy and use .
Structural changes in traditional projects must be made by putting a digital office in the center of the project to manage the data flows and digital solutions on behalf of the project . This involves specific project members carrying out specific roles within the newlyformed digital office . A small , centralized team will need to be mobilized in the early stages of the project , such as during the feasibility phase , to ensure that the data and technology requirements are captured upfront .
Lastly , all major contracted entities will need to feed into the digital office
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