As readers of my bylines over the years know, I have been very aware of technology changes within the construction industry. After all, it’s my business. To this point I have been a participant and an observer, helping shape these changes through the solutions marketed by On Center, then analyzing their impact on the market. Earlier this year we decided to conduct our own research. We surveyed over 900 construction professionals, comprised of 42 percent estimators, 22 percent project managers, 22 percent managers or chief estimators and 13 percent executives. Our interest was in learning what technology they are using and what their future plans looked like. What we found was an inquisitive industry, looking for answers to frustrating problems and actively moving, albeit behind other industries, to adopt technology solutions.
The On Center survey found that when asked about the importance of business processes, “minimize costly project errors and rework” was ranked as the most important by three of the four groups, totaling 65 percent of the respondents. All four groups also selected “improved communication between the field and the office” as an area of concern. We also found that all groups overwhelmingly indicated that the “ability to use a single source of data” was the most important criteria when evaluating software solution.