The results of the Digital Change Survey by IFS show that companies are focused on driving process efficiencies through investments in technologies for digital transformation. The study highlights that the main driver for digital transformation is process efficiency (44% of the respondents,) followed by improved reporting and decision making (39%.) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools (46%) are flagged as the number one capability identified for investment, highlighting the need for more mature centralization and management of data internally. This is followed by Big Data and analytics (45%) and Infrastructure as a Service (37%.)
Some 39% of construction sector organizations consider themselves digitally advanced, second only to aviation among the sectors IFS studied. However, this varies significantly by size of company. Over one fifth (21%) of the largest ($25bn+) firms consider themselves fully optimized to leverage digital transformation, while the figure is just 11 percent among the smallest ($1-4.99bn) players.
“Construction firms are recognizing that in order to improve efficiency they need to offer services that manage the total lifecycle of an asset, as opposed to purely its construction,” said Kenny Ingram, Global Industry Director for Construction and Contracting at IFS.
Leveraging data-driven insight is crucial to the success of construction firms, the report reveals.
Big data analytics tools can study in-depth data to help employees understand how to get the best use of an asset based on what was designed, what was built, what failed when, and how it is performing. However, there is a long way to go. Although 69% of construction firms are utilizing data-driven insight, just 17% are actually gaining a competitive advantage from it – although this figure rises to 24% for the largest firms.
Construction industry respondents rate departmental integration at 3.5 on a five-point scale, showing much room for improvement. However, there is a considerable desire for greater collaboration, despite the extra complexity arising from multiple sub-contractors and the joint venture model common in the sector. Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents claim “the necessity for manual reconciliation between management information systems (MIS) has a negative impact on their business.”