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The Briq team was lucky enough to sit down with James Benham- ConTech superstar, entrepreneur, and CEO of JBKnowledge- for a quick chat about the state of the construction technology in today’s market. In this article, James provides insight into:
- The construction industry in regards to adopting new technology
- Which technologies are changing the construction landscape
- Which technologies are providing the most immediate ROI for contractors
- What construction executives need to know about tech, right now
Let’s dig in.
James, you talk a lot about contractors being slow to adopt new technologies, are you seeing that change and if so, why?
“Well, COVID has certainly been a foot on the accelerator pedal of construction technology adoption. If you want your workforce to be able to work remotely, you must be digital to do it well. Being able to work remotely, safely, has also accelerated the need and use for technology in the industry.”
Which technologies have changed the construction landscape in the past 6 months? Why/how?
“The past 6 months have been all about the pandemic and economic factors. A lot of the development schedules for construction software companies have been upended a bit, because they've rolled out a whole suite of functionality to deal with COVID-19 reporting, proximity sensing, etc. That’s where I’ve seen innovation across companies we speak to and work with: employee tracking, contact tracing, employee self-reporting.
Some fascinating technologies are combining things like thermal imaging cameras, sensors on employees, and these are all interesting; but really they’re useless without an analytical suite. Analytics software is really enabling executives to look at the construction data and identify where the problems are. Successful companies are taking analytical capabilities and applying that to things like sensor and visual data, to find out where their company is having issues and to predict when or how they will occur.”
What tech are you seeing provide the most immediate ROI for contractors?
“That’s a big question. I like to call it ‘quick ROI.’ If it’s a subscription, companies need to be making that money back in 9 months, and for something that’s a large up-front payment, they need to make it back in 18 months.
Lasers, as well as drones, have a very quick ROI, when they are used in combination with data analytics. Really, anything that can manage the fundamentals of field data collection can provide immediate return. The same goes for construction software that gets the CFO and C-suite out of Excel. Platforms that help them analyze their accounting data and field data, then predict which projects are not going well, those are really quick ROI.
Another high ROI item- one that Briq is really leveraging well- is search. Search technology pays immediate dividends because it allows construction managers to do a large query on a large amount of data very quickly. These search capabilities enable construction managers to find whatever they need instantly, which saves a lot of hours otherwise spent digging through information.”
If there was one thing that's imperative for contractors to know about technology right this minute, what would it be?
“Construction businesses need to get their digital house in order before backlogs start to reduce.
Even if backlogs are already declining, this is the time to get your house in order so you can drive more profit out of the same or less volume of building. Most contractors are still working on projects from before the economic downturn. This happened with the recession 12 years ago, and the lesson we learned was that right now is the time to figure out your digital house.
Drive profit by driving technology and process improvement, and do it today, not months from now. This is the time for efficiency.”
Briq helps contractors use their data to drive better outcomes for all phases of construction. Using modern technology such as automation, machine learning, and predictive analytics, Briq helps to stop fee erosion, freeze overhead costs and provide better outcomes for your business. Contact us to see what Briq can do for you.
