Construction is a booming industry. This factor can make the management of construction companies challenging. But digitizing construction practices can simplify day-to-day operations. Is it time for your construction company to digitize your operations?
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A growing population leads to the need for more construction services. However, the construction industry lags behind other industries in implementing innovative technologies. In fact, many construction companies still manage their operations from paper documents. This makes managing and tracking construction projects more complicated.
Why Is It Difficult for Construction Companies to Digitize?
Digitizing construction projects is complicated because of the multiple layers of subcontractors and the various tools each different project requires.
What’s more, a good many construction workers fear innovation. They are afraid new ways of doing things will disrupt the systems they are accustomed to. After all, many of these systems have been in use for decades if not millennia. They easily become frustrated with the difficulties inherent in mastering new technologies.
In addition, they are confronted by a vast number of modern platforms designed for the various aspects of the industry. When they look at digitizing construction workflows, for example, they must make difficult choices. Therefore, many prefer to stick with the old methods, postponing the introduction of digital technologies indefinitely.
Why Is It Necessary to Digitize Project Management in Construction?
But many manufacturing companies have successfully implemented digital technologies in their activities. After digital transformation, research shows that productivity in these organizations rises about 15%, while their costs decrease by 4-6%. For these reasons, owners of leading construction companies have begun to recognize the need to digitize their companies, too.
These issues become especially relevant when it comes to the use of modular structures created in production shops. Modular construction provides enormous opportunities for improving performance. Additionally, this way of construction leads to more efficiency as it can allow a construction company to reduce the size of its labor force.
All the while, customers continue to demand more and better products. They also prefer to participate actively as their projects progress. This provides powerful opportunities for digital technologies, since they provide a high level of project visualization at all project stages.
For these reasons, modern construction companies must continue to digitize in these areas:
- Time accounting
- Work progress reporting throughout the life of a project
- Graphic interpretations of work processes
- Quality control
- Ordering materials and other administrative tasks
Digital technologies allow construction workers to quickly and efficiently complete tasks. Many construction companies learned this lesson the hard way during the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis provided a powerful push for digitizing construction projects, as many construction companies found themselves having to complete some tasks remotely.
Digitizing Makes for Greater Efficiency in Construction
Digitization is widely accepted in many other industries. It makes operations more efficient, enhances performance, and provides new opportunities. Moreover, digitized information is much easier to save, access, and share. Simply put, digitized data is more convenient.
Another reason that digitization is important in construction is that construction companies need to collect vast amounts of information for each project. But data collection from different sources can lead to duplication. This affects work efficiency and compounds the risk of errors.
Additionally, variations in methods for processing certain data can significantly delay a project. Moreover, these disparities can also lead to frequent and unexpected changes, requiring sometimes difficult adjustments to the allocations of resources.
But the integration of all data through a single platform helps to avoid many of these issues. Seamless integration will ensure better use of resources and more efficient management of construction projects. Fluix is an example of a platform that will provide these benefits. This program is easy to use, and it automates all workflows from a single platform.
Digitization of information with Fluix improves maintenance for construction sites, saves energy consumption, and minimizes the occurrence of construction site accidents.
Is It Time for Your Construction Company to Make the Leap to Digitalization?
All construction companies strive to improve safety, increase efficiency, and boost profitability. However, each company sees the way to achieve these goals differently. Therefore, company owners must clearly determine what their goals are before they decide to invest in digitalization technology.
Important criteria for choosing a platform for digitizing a construction company are:
- A platform must have an intuitive interface. Company employees will more easily accept changes and use new tools if the software is simple and understandable.
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- It must be able to configure custom threads according to specific business needs.
- It needs to allow for the quick exchange of data among process participants, especially between the office and the construction site.
- The platform should cover the entire life cycle of each project, from the execution of the contract through project development, throughout construction, and with management of all production processes.
- The technology must provide a comprehensive platform that will expand as the company grows. It should help a construction company and its workers gradually adapt to the use of new technologies while also providing for the expansion of your business, regardless of how large your company grows.
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Conclusion
Digitalization is an effective means of change in the construction industry. It solves multiple problems, from supply chain management to tracking performance on each construction unit. This ensures synchronicity among participants in the construction process, including all equipment and materials at all of a project’s stages.
Finally, digitalization of construction processes ensures transparency of each task in real time, providing analytical analyses even of the expected. It minimizes risk, provides effective coordination of actions, and allows for improved management throughout the life cycle of a construction project.
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