The Top Three Insights: Why Data Matters to the Construction Industry

With new tech tools came other benefits such as increased collaboration, faster decision making processes, and the ability to monitor an evolving workplace and uncertain supply chains. As a result, company leaders needed to find that new tools were easily accessible and customizable. They will undoubtedly continue to discover their use in a wide variety of areas beyond day-to-day operations, for instance, more fine-tuned forecasting and sales projections.

We want to share three insights taken from the unprecedented challenges of 2020:

1) Data drives change, which gives savvy companies a stark competitive advantage over time. Analytics can reveal hidden insights about daily operations and market trends, helping companies expand in a more precise and targeted manner, aided by the ability to incorporate data into real-time decision making. Harvard Business School writes, “There are opportunities to capture information about the team involved, the population engaged in the change, how long it took to implement, what tactics were used, and so on. Building a reference data set like this may not yield immediate benefit, but as the overall data set grows, it will make it easier to build accurate predictive models of organizational change.”

2) A strong ROI depends on quality data and the ability to transform that data into useful pipelines. Information is everywhere, but many companies have failed to realize the monetary value of their data. Companies need a plan for their data, and they need the right tools to collect information that is useful to them. There is a morass of available data. A quality platform held securely in the cloud means data is available when and where it’s needed.

3) Leadership sets the tone for success by taking a long-term view for integrating data company-wide. This year, the old gave way to the new at record speeds. Traditional silos needed to not get in the way of adopting new tools, particularly those critical to meeting the health and safety requirements on a Covid-19 safe job site. The Construction Institute writes, “With digital capabilities now vital to continued employment, one-time IT luddites have become digital warriors, their eyes opened to the productivity gains of remote working and to the transparency of information enabled by electronic document and drawing management or common data environments.”

With a rising number of connected devices and convenient access to the internet, big data analytics is sure to drive the construction industry’s future. With an increasing emphasis on new markets in infrastructure, green tech, healthcare, and more, the potential is unlimited.