By: Matt DeSarno, CEO, Verfico

How Gilbane uses innovative technology to manage risk and enhance project efficiency.

ABC members can receive 10% off Verfico Technology solutions.

CHALLENGE

In the highly competitive landscape of the construction industry, Gilbane stands out not just for its excellence in project execution but also for its unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of workers. Recognizing the pervasive challenge of wage theft—costing workers an estimated $50 billion annually—Gilbane confronted a pivotal challenge: ensuring wage compliance while maintaining their competitive edge as an industry leader. Wage theft is particularly rampant in construction due to multitiered labor environments and a lack of transparency. Regulators are heightening legal scrutiny and enforcing stricter penalties to address the escalating problem within the construction industry. Wage theft posed both a legal and reputational risk to Gilbane, threatening the foundation of trust and ethical standing the organization had worked tirelessly to build with workers and owners alike.

SOLUTION

Gilbane’s response to this challenge was both strategic and visionary: the implementation of Verfico technology. Verfico’s cutting-edge solution enabled unparalleled transparency and compliance, capturing worker log data and reconciling it against payroll information to guarantee fair compensation. This proactive approach provided real-time insights into potential discrepancies, significantly reducing wage assurance risk and the costs associated with litigation. 

“The Verfico and Gilbane partnership enables us to deliver the type of innovative and transformational programs that represent our core company values. It allows us to proactively navigate the complexities of labor compliance while solidifying our commitment to ethical practices and making a positive impact in the communities we serve.”

KELLY BENEDICT
Vice President, Head of Innovation & Transformation, Gilbane

Verfico has the potential to help Gilbane improve efficiency in three key areas:

Litigation Costs

In 2023, wage theft cases brought by the Washington, D.C., attorney general had an average settlement cost exceeding $600,000. With legal fees often reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars, coupled with reputational damage leading to lost business opportunities, total costs can escalate to millions.

Workforce Costs

Project teams currently dedicate considerable time to manual reports and data entry, prone to errors and fraud. Verfico enhances data accuracy by directly linking daily reports to worker logs, saving supervisors and forepersons 15 to 30 minutes daily, equating to over 350 work hours on a yearlong project.

Project Costs

Project delays incur significant financial losses for general contractors annually. Verfico’s data alerts project teams to worker shortages in real time, preventing costly delays. 

By: Michael Dickran, Director of Enterprise Sales, Arcoro

ABC members are eligible for 10% off new ExakTime or Arcoro software contracts through ABC's Tech Marketplace.

US builders and contractors currently have a huge business opportunity, thanks to federal investments in public projects. Several acts have launched over the last couple of years that will eventually add trillions of dollars into infrastructure, clean energy construction and semiconductor and supply chain projects, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Taking advantage of the billions in funds that are currently trickling down to all 50 states requires an understanding of prevailing wage and other requirements for federal contractors.

What is Prevailing Wage?

Prevailing wage is the amount employees must be paid when working on government-funded projects. It’s a mandate laid out in the Davis Bacon Act or DBA, which was created in 1931 to protect workers from receiving low pay while competing for federally funded construction projects during the Great Depression. The act, as currently amended, requires that any federal contractor who takes on a job over $2,000 on public buildings or public works must pay their workers no less than the prevailing wage and fringe benefits as on similar projects.

The prevailing wage rate is determined by the by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and is dependent on where the work is and what type of work is being done, i.e., specific geographic areas and jobs, like laborers, carpenters, installers and so on.

How Certified Payroll Fits into the Equation

Prevailing wages must be paid on all hours worked on the site of the work and employers must submit weekly certified payroll records. Certified payroll reports provide proof of compliance with DBA. Federal contractors must submit Federal Form WH-347 for certified weekly payrolls on contracts subject to the DBA and make sure each of the form’s fields are filled out correctly, including correct names, addresses, worker classification, hours worked and pay. Current DBA wage rates for each state can be found online by filling in a few fields or providing the wage determination (WD) number. Once the WH-347 form is filled out, submission is certified by signing the compliance statement in the form. It’s important to note it must be an officer of the company or someone that’s able to bind the company into a contract, like a controller, that signs off on the certified payroll report.

If figuring out prevailing wage and certified payroll seems like a lot, it’s because it is. But you don’t have to be an expert on the subject, let HR technology help handle the details.

The Solution: Tracking Accurate Hours

Tracking and logging accurate working hours are the foundation for fulfilling certified payroll requirements. This includes knowing the exact time when each of your employees starts and ends a job that’s funded by government money along with other details like:

• What jobs your employees performed, i.e., worker classification
• Where the employee worked
• Tracking subcontractors
• Tracking apprentices
• Signing off on time sheets by having them approved by the employee and supervisor
• Setting up wage tables for jobs via your payroll software
• Feeding the information to your payroll system to print certified payroll reports

Accurately tracking worker time, transferring the data to payroll and submitting certified payroll reports can take substantial time without software that’s built for construction. For example, some payroll systems like QuickBooks don’t have pay tables, forcing accounting staff to manually look up prevailing wage amounts.

Payroll time tracking software allows contractors to track and store all worker hours. Unlike paper time sheets or even Excel spreadsheets, the information can’t be altered, fudged or lost. Time tracking software can also follow your workers from job to job. So even if your employees work on both government and privately funded jobsites the same week or same day, the information is logged securely and accurately. The data can then be quickly and easily uploaded for use with your payroll software. Good time tracking software will streamline your certified payroll process by providing all the information you need for certified payroll reports.

How ExakTime Can Be Used for Prevailing Wage Projects

ExakTime is a cloud-based time and attendance solution from Arcoro that gives you the power to manage employees’ time records, job costing information, locations and other field data easily and efficiently. ExakTime’s construction-first solution solves both accuracy and reporting needs of prevailing wage jobs by:

• Tracking job costs
• Tracking employee location via GPS and geofencing features
• Setting up multiple cost codes for multiple employees
• Following employees from location to location
• Having an established mapping to more than 100 payroll packages

ExakTime also is configurable for alternative pay as well as job and cost codes for prevailing wage work. You can view all your job sites and limit certain codes, like prevailing wage codes, to specific sites. For example, admins can set up multiple groups, with specific worker classifications under each.

• Group A (Non-Prevailing Wage): Demolition, drywall, finishing, foundation, framing
• Group B (Prevailing Wage): PW-Laborer, PW-Flaggers, PW-Drywall Installer, PW-Carpenter

Employees who work both types of job can easily switch between cost codes, ensuring accurate pay and classification. Only employees working on prevailing wage sites get the option to clock in under a prevailing wage job classification, ensuring those who work only on non-prevailing job sites can’t clock in under a higher wage.

ExakTime also offers an at-a-glance dashboard that lets managers see where employees clock in and the cost code assigned, start time, hours, overtime, breaks and total time. Security features, like geofence and FaceFront photo ID, reduce or eliminate buddy punching or padding time sheets.

ExakTime helps reduce the risk for prevailing wage noncompliance. It provides an electronic paper trail that includes employee sign off, data accuracy via proof of chain of command and securely stored and easily accessible documentation in case of audit.

Plus, ExakTime works with top construction payroll providers. Our partners include Sage, Spectrum, Vista, Acumatica and more.

Let ExakTime set you up for success when it comes to complying with the DBA, prevailing wage and submitting certified payroll report. Plus, with our easy onboarding, award-winning features and top-notch support, you can be assured you’re getting a solution that works for your company.

Don’t wait. Contact an ExakTime representative today.

By: Matt DeSarno, CEO, Verfico Technology

ABC members can receive 10% off Verfico technology solutions.

Does it matter that many, if not most, of the contractors that engage in wage theft do so unknowingly? Not at all. But innovative technology solutions can help you avoid it altogether.

In my 20-year FBI career, I faced off against gang members, drug traffickers, international terrorists, cybercriminals and corrupt politicians. It was fulfilling work, even though I knew there would always be more criminals and my job would never be done. I enjoyed taking small steps every day to make things better.

That approach has prepared me well for my new challenge: fighting the massive problem of wage theft in the $2.7 trillion U.S. construction industry.

A $50 Billion Problem

Wage theft is the illegal practice of not paying employees the full wages or benefits to which they are entitled. This can take many forms, such as failing to pay overtime, misclassifying employees as independent contractors or making improper deductions from an employee’s pay.

This isn’t as high-profile a crime as, say, ransomware attacks—but it has a far greater impact. While ransomware theft is estimated to cost companies $11.5 billion globally, wage theft in the United States alone costs workers more than $50 billion per year, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

That’s more than the annual cost of robberies, burglaries and car thefts combined. Note, too, how that $50-billion loss affects all Americans, not just laborers. Stolen wages are taken out of circulation, out of the economy and out of the tax base.

Every month, it seems, there are new headlines illustrating the depth of the crisis.

In November, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office settled a lawsuit with a contractor for $1 million over violations of overtime and paid sick leave law.

In December, Minnesota regulators announced they are seeking $2.4 million in back wages and damages for construction workers in a case against two subcontractors.

In January, Colorado lawmakers introduced a bill to crack down on a construction industry they say has been “polluted by wage theft.”

These examples emphasize the urgency for collaborative action and innovative solutions to protect workers’ rights and ensure fair compensation—and to also protect contractors from legal risk and reputational damage.

Why This Matters

For construction leaders, wage theft is a strategic liability with far-reaching consequences, both legally and reputationally. This is especially frustrating because most general contractors do not engage in wage theft knowingly. They simply have limited visibility into the labor practices of their numerous subcontractors.

Either way, employers risk serious criminal and civil penalties—as well as reputational damage. In a recent Verfico survey on wage theft, for example, fewer than half of U.S. adults found it credible that “employers sometimes commit wage theft by mistake.” That means that, when mistakes do occur, many Americans will not give construction companies the benefit of the doubt.

Respondents said that when construction companies practice wage theft, it makes them concerned about other aspects of those companies’ operations. Specifically: Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they worried that construction companies that committed wage theft would cut other corners as well.

Many respondents also said they worried these practices would result in slower delivery of construction projects, lower-quality work and a negative impact on communities that rely on construction jobs.

For the vast majority of general contractors that demonstrate honesty and ethics, the importance of eliminating wage theft extends beyond legal and reputational considerations. It has significant financial implications as well.

Those companies that cheat not only discredit the industry, but they also have an unfair advantage over legitimate companies. Stamping out wage theft levels the playing field among competitors.

Tide-Turning Technology

While politicians in Washington and in statehouses across the country have been introducing legislation and tightening regulations around wage theft, I don’t believe this approach is what’s best for preventing wage theft in the construction industry. A better direction is to develop market-based solutions driven by technology.

By integrating innovative tech solutions, companies can monitor, track and reconcile wages in real time, preventing incidents of wage theft and reducing the likelihood of legal and reputational damage.

Technological solutions in this context serve a dual purpose: They not only protect companies from legal risks but also promote a culture of fairness and ethical treatment of the workforce. By ensuring that workers are paid what they are owed, companies can foster a more positive work environment, leading to higher productivity and employee satisfaction.

Taking a proactive approach to technology solutions while collaborating with other interested parties on the topic of wage theft, such as governments and advocacy groups, is the best way forward for the construction industry to lead in solving this longstanding issue. Ultimately, all stakeholders must work together to ensure the future of the construction industry is rooted in fairness and just compensation for all.

A Shared Responsibility

Rebuilding trust in the construction industry requires a deliberate commitment to transparency, collaboration and tech-driven solutions. By embracing these principles, construction leaders can not only mitigate the risks and costs associated with wage theft but also build a more productive, efficient and sustainable workforce. This, in turn, leads to improved project outcomes, enhanced client satisfaction and a stronger reputation for the industry as a whole.

The future of construction, like the buildings it creates, must rest on a solid foundation of fairness, integrity and shared prosperity.

By: Satyam Verma, AEC Practice Leader, Construction, Egnyte

New ABC customers are eligible for a 15% or more discount through ABC's Tech Marketplace.

The construction industry is at the cusp of a digital transformation, primarily driven by the transition toward cloud computing. This significant shift promises to enhance efficiency, collaboration and innovation in a sector traditionally reliant on tangible materials and labor. For construction companies, adopting cloud technology is not just an upgrade but a fundamental change in how projects are managed and teams collaborate. This post is one of a three-part series discussing the steps for effectively migrating to the cloud, focusing on the assessment and planning and migration preparation phases.

Phase 1: Assessment and Planning

Start with a comprehensive evaluation of your current on-premise infrastructure to identify challenges, limitations and areas of inefficiency in data handling, cooperation and scalability. Set clear objectives for cloud migration, such as improving data accessibility, enhancing collaboration and reducing IT infrastructure costs, and conduct a cost-benefit analysis to understand the expected return on investment. For construction firms, this means critically assessing how project data and drawing files are managed and identifying communication bottlenecks.

Phase 2: Migration Preparation

Once the evaluation is complete and objectives are set, the next step is to develop a comprehensive migration strategy. This includes determining which data and applications to move to the cloud first, optimizing data for cloud storage and implementing robust security measures to protect sensitive information.

Choosing the right cloud solution is crucial in the construction sector, where effective project data management and collaboration are essential. Egnyte has proven to be an invaluable asset for ABC members like PCL, where Chris Palmer, manager of advanced technology services, notes, “Our data volume doubled over two years. Egnyte enabled us to cut down on labor needed for new storage provisioning and decrease our capital expenditures, saving PCL time and money.”

DOWNLOAD: Data Migration Checklist: Your checklist for replacing your file server with cloud-based storage

Adapting to Change and Mitigating Transition Challenges

A key aspect of cloud migration is preparing the workforce for the upcoming changes. This involves conducting training sessions, creating detailed documentation and setting up a support network to address any challenges during and after the transition. It’s also vital to anticipate and mitigate potential issues, such as data loss or operational downtime, to ensure a smooth shift to cloud operations.

Moving to cloud technology offers construction companies a strategic advantage in an increasingly digital world. By thoroughly assessing current infrastructure, setting clear objectives, developing a detailed migration plan and preparing for organizational change, construction firms can achieve a successful transition to the cloud. This boosts operational efficiency and collaboration and positions them for future growth in a rapidly evolving industry.

If you found this article helpful, read our next post in the cloud journey series, which covers streamlining data migration and cloud adoption for construction companies.

By: Maria Davidson, CEO and Founder, Kojo

ABC members can now receive a free implementation of Kojo. 

After working with thousands of contractors to improve their procurement and materials management processes, Kojo noticed a pattern among those experiencing exceptional growth and resilience in the face of challenges like supply chain disruptions and inflation. We analyzed what these top-performing contractors were doing differently from start to finish and compared it to other contractors.

What we discovered is that the best-in-class contractors had simplified their procurement process into seven steps that include standardized tasks and often technology. Efficiently completing one step made the other steps simpler. Every ounce of energy had a positive compounding effect, which led to jobs getting done on time, on schedule and on budget and with less overhead costs.

Unfortunately, many contractors lack a formal procurement process. According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Construction Financial Management Association, only 39% of contractors reported having a formal procurement process in place.

By implementing a standardized seven-step procurement process, contractors can save on materials cost, increase productivity and make better business decisions.

So, what are the seven steps?

Step 1: Planning

Planning may sound self-explanatory, but this step varies among contractors. Those who lack an organized, well-constructed plan for how they are going to procure all materials needed on the job before the job starts will fall behind their competitors. This first step is imperative to setting the project up for success by making each of the other steps simpler.

Step 2: Sourcing

Sourcing entails gathering relevant information to determine what materials you should buy, when you should buy them and from whom. Effective sourcing is critical for managing material costs.

Step 3: Purchasing

The purchasing step ensures that the purchasing orders are created and tracked in an efficient manner. The goal for this step is to reduce overhead costs while ensuring that all purchasing data is accurate and up to date at all times. According to a recent study by Fails Management Institute, when contractors optimize their purchasing processes, they can see a reduction in procurement costs of up to 25%. With that, it is essential to approach this step strategically and implement best practices.

Step 4: Requesting

Better materials requesting is the fourth step to better procurement. This plays a critical role in ensuring that the field receives the right materials at the right time, without compromising speed, accuracy and safety. Gartner reports that digital procurement solutions can cut processing time by up to 85% and reduce costs by up to 45%. To become a top-performing contractor, mastering the requesting process is essential.

Step 5: Receiving

Receiving involves logging deliveries to the jobsite and warehouse with essential information to track inventory, record delivery issues and maintain a historical record of materials delivered by vendors. To avoid issues later in the procurement process, it is vital to streamline it so that receiving can promptly relay this information back to the office for further management and record-keeping. Additionally, this information serves as proof for project managers, accounting, purchasing and vendors in case of discrepancies.

Step 6: Invoice Matching

Invoicing matching is the practice of comparing your invoices with the original POs and delivery receipts to catch billing errors and prevent overpaying. The traditional, three-way invoice matching processes have been notoriously manual and time-consuming, which is why it is important to implement technology to automatically compare.

Step 7: Payments 

The final step of the procurement process is payments. This step encompasses optimizing pre-payment workflows and approval processes, determining when and how to pay invoices, selecting appropriate payment methods and ensuring the security of payment data. Mishandling this step can lead to late payments, missed discounts and inaccurate data, all of which can cause significant financial and relational setbacks.

Next Steps

Now that you have a basic understanding of the seven steps, it is important to take a look at your current practices and determine areas where you can improve.

Hear how Central Electric improved their procurement processes in this webinar.

 

ABC members can now  receive 10% off new Trimble products in the Construction Enterprise Solutions Division 

By: Patrick Scarpati, Director of Construction Technology and Innovation, ABC

In November 2023, I attended Trimble Dimensions in Las Vegas. I was able catch a glimpse of what the future may entail in the construction technology space from one of the most sought-after providers in the industry. Keynote speaker Mark Gallagher, an industry analyst for Formula 1, set the tone for the event by talking the audience through high-performance leadership, technology and teamwork.

For the next few days, attendees from various industries around the world sat in on sessions ranging from emerging technologies to sustainability. As much as I wanted to attend sessions for all of the 13 topics covered, I decided to focus my time on perhaps the most popular current trends: AI, the labor shortage and next-generation workforce and data flow and technology integrations.

AI (35 Available Sessions)

Trimble announced that its enterprise resource planning will now include automatic invoicing capabilities through its latest integration with Azure AI Document Intelligence. Per the press release, “The integration of Azure AI Document Intelligence enhances Automatic Invoicing, helping automatically turn paper and PDF invoices into validated, unapproved invoice entries within Spectrum and Vista for faster, more accurate workflows that save contractors valuable time, effort and money.”

One of the spotlight panel sessions on AI, “Exploring the Power of Artificial Intelligence to Transform Industries,” included two members from PwC, along with the director of AI at Trimble. This team walked us through their list of themes for AI transformation. (Picture)

Workforce (87 Available Sessions)

Several trade schools and craft academies around the country are recognizing the importance of implementing construction technology into curriculum. In one example, through its industry partnership program, Trimble provides resources and guidelines to educational facilities on how to teach students the effectiveness of jobsite layout on their Robotic Total System family of equipment. Trimble also highlighted how important it is to get students to start learning much of the 3D modeling/layout component in construction by utilizing its VDC Pro+ Solution in the classroom.

An innovation panel on what the role of the general contractor may look like in 10 years was also interesting. Although speculative, panel members discussed topics ranging from AI’s future impact on general contractors to whether modular will take more of a foothold in the industry and what the next generation of our workforce may look like. Previously working in the trades and eventually as a general contractor, I was fascinated to hear that eventually general contractors will be less and less of self-performing contractors, as the industry is mostly filling up with construction managers.

Data Flow and Technology Integrations

Trimble has time and time again emphasized the importance of data flow and tech integrations. This was most evident not only through the panels and sessions offered, but on the exhibit hall floor, where most vendors were able to talk about how their product ties directly into the Trimble portfolio of solutions. One example of this is the partnership between Trimble Viewpoint and Tenna. End users can capture equipment data, location and hours/miles as they are work through various projects.

 

Additional Photos

By: Josef Burkart, Construction Technology and Innovation Manager, ABC National

Autodesk University 2023, held Nov. 13-15 in Las Vegas, was an exploration of the most critical topics related to how buildings and infrastructure are designed and made and how AI is going to revolutionize both processes. Below are highlights for ABC members:

• The AEC Design Industry Forum brought together industry leaders to explore new solutions to the challenges faced by the industry, from talent gaps to materials shortages to climate events, and how digital transformation can help find new solutions. Nicolas Mangon, Autodesk vice president for architecture, engineering, and construction design strategy, was one of the speakers at the forum.
• Learning sessions focused on projects platforms and products, extending the Autodesk Forma Ecosystem, soundscapes, green buildings to net-zero buildings, and data-driven design to create more sustainable projects.
• The AU Theater featured short talks on pioneering projects and ideas that can change the industry. One of the talks was on revolutionizing AEC businesses with extended reality, which explored how XR is transforming the way AEC professionals work and providing a new understanding of how project data translates to human experience in the built environment at all phases of the project lifecycle.
• The Design & Make Stage presented interesting construction technology solutions through live demos, thought leadership and educational use cases.

Top sessions included: 

• XYZ Reality:
  • Beyond Blueprints: Engineering Grade Augmented Reality in Action.
• Toric:
  • Automating Data Pipelines with Toric: Seamless Integration of Multiple Data Sources.
• EarthCam:
  • See the Future of Construction with EarthCam AI and EarthCam 3D.

• OpenSpace:
  • Building the Death Star with Reality Capture; an Alternate History.
• Matterport:
  • Scaling Sustainably: How to minimize your carbon footprint with digital twins.

• GCPay:
  • Discover Your Missing Link in Construction Accounting.
• Intelliwave:
  • The future of BLE Sensors for Material, Tools, and Equipment Tracking in Construction.

Autodesk AI: With Autodesk AI, construction professionals can leverage technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing to automate tedious tasks, analyze project data using Construction IQ, predict and prevent risks and improve the takeoff process using automated symbol detection. 

Here are some quick links to learn more: 

• Advancements to Revit. 

   

• Reality Capture Extraction in ReCap.
• Integrated Drainage Design and Analysis for Civil 3D 
• Autodesk Assistant in AutoCAD and Civil 3D.
• BIM Collaborate Pro.

By: Charles Rathmann, Senior Construction Technology Editor, Arcoro

ABC Vice President of Construction Technology and Innovation Matt Abeles and Arcoro National Sales Manager Michael Nelson join Senior Construction Technology Editor Charles Rathmann to share insights on how contractors can maximize return on investment from construction HR software.

Arcoro is offering a 25% discount on software fees to ABC members for new ExakTime contracts signed from now through Dec. 31.

 

By: Patrick Hennessy, Director of Scheduling and Analytics, Harkins Builders Inc. 

It is no secret that the construction industry has seen a boom in technology in the last 20 years. Organizations that were previously using pen and paper to complete daily reports, inspections, submittals, as well as track schedule progress have now entirely moved these processes to the cloud. Harkins is no exception.

A major benefit of performing these tasks online, in a cloud environment, is the storage and control of the organizational data that is a natural outcome of these processes. Data that was previously filed away in a cabinet, never to be seen again, is now at the fingertips of our organization’s decision-makers. Decisions in the construction industry have long been driven by the “gut feel” of the highest-paid person in the room. Harkins is actively working to utilize our data in the most effective way possible, making this a more hybrid approach, and giving our leaders real-time information to help balance “gut feel” with trends and historical facts, which leads to data-driven outcomes.

Our data journey began when we made the move to Procore as our construction management software of choice in 2013. Moving to a cloud-based management software made the storage of construction data in one, easy-to-access place a reality. Previously, data had been kept in an assortment of different places—siloed, untracked and untouched after the initial input was made.

One quote stands out from a study produced by the McKinsey Global Institute in 2019: “[Roughly] 96% of data goes unused in the engineering and construction industry.” In a world where the use of data to target consumers, inform decisions and improve profits is becoming the standard, this statistic is alarming. Unfortunately, we were living proof of this fact. While we began the implementation of Procore in 2013, it was not until late 2018 when we started to put time and effort into figuring out how to utilize that data that we were now collecting in one sole source (Procore), kicking our analytics and business intelligence endeavors into high gear.

We first focused on the low-hanging fruit. We asked ourselves, “What data do we know is accurate and standardized across our portfolio, from region to region, and project to project?” and “What data do we know can make an immediate impact to our organization?” The answer for us was our safety data, and thus, our Safety Dashboard was born. During our initial investigative and brainstorming phase, we quickly realized our data integrity was poor.

Through the process of developing and creating business intelligence reports, we began to learn that efforts needed to be focused to standardize our processes and procedures across the entire organization, driving an improvement in our data integrity. This led to standardization efforts— the creation and distribution of standard operating procedures and training to ensure these processes and procedures were being performed correctly. Today, we have a variety of solutions that provide real-time analytics across many different divisions and teams, from individual projects to our entire organization at a portfolio level, to our HR and risk management groups. We are constantly looking for more ways to tap into our data to help inform the decisions that we make, in the hopes that we can soon have data-driven solutions assist in the decision-making process in all that we do.

The biggest challenges we have faced are mistrust in the information and fear of too much oversight. This is an iterative process, and there will always be a natural resistance to change. To breed trust and comfortability within our organization, we look for “light-bulb” moments. These are moments when a previously quiet user gives positive feedback or tells the story of a situation where the insights helped make a decision or solve a problem. These moments are contagious. Like momentum in a sports game or a viral marketing campaign, these moments dramatically enhance your progress. It is key to capitalize on these moments. Culture is the other key. When there is a culture of trust within your organization, oversight concerns go away. Organizational transparency breeds an unparalleled culture. This cannot be overstated.

In the future, we hope to tap into more advanced machine learning methods and algorithms to help us predict risk before it even becomes a thought, to move to an entirely proactive approach rather than reactive. Too much of construction is about putting out fires. This leads to loss of productivity, loss of profits and too much focus on present issues, rather than the ultimate end goal. The use of big data has completely transformed industries across the board since the turn of the millennium. Think marketing, health care, sports—the list goes on. Why can’t construction be next?

ABC Tech Alliance member SMARTBUILD has announced their new partnership with Microsoft “to offer a fluid interoperability between the platforms—making the two work together essentially as one solution for SMARTBUILD users.” SMARTBUILD is now the sole construction management platform designed for small- to medium-enterprise businesses and powered with Microsoft’s extensive applications. Learn more.