Raising the Productivity Bar

Globally, over the last 20 years, productivity across the construction industry has averaged 1%, compared with 2.8% across the total economy, according to research by McKinsey.

One of the driving factors behind this lag is the fact that the construction industry has been comparatively slow to adopt digital technology.

At Causeway, we’re committed to enabling the construction industry to raise the productivity bar, and the first step to doing so is to understand exactly what the barriers are.

Atkins President, Philip Hoare believes that “Change is seen by some people as a threat. If we reduce the number of hours needed through the use of new software and technology, then actually that means that people think they will lose their jobs.”

Encouragingly, despite the people vs. technology battle recent research shows there is an appetite for digital transformation and a growing awareness of how technology improves the efficiency of mobile construction workers. Specifically, four in every 10 construction workers say they expect their business to invest in technology to increase the capacity and productivity of mobile workforces in the coming year.

Digital technology + people – the sum is greater than the parts

While technology can perform certain tasks faster and more accurately than people, it fundamentally cannot replace people. In reality, technology does the opposite – it enables people to do more, faster, making them more valuable!

Over the last 20 years, we’ve worked closely with our Maintenance Management Solution customers to understand exactly how digital transformation has benefitted their business. Here are the top five:

A digital workforce gets more done
Access to real-time information means more efficient scheduling, tighter control, and more accurate reporting.
360 degree visibility
Creating a single view of all business activity eliminates the issues associated with siloed data meaning a shift from reactivity to proactivity.
Better decisions
Consolidated data unlocks valuable insights in real time eliminating the need to manually join data sets to reveal past problems and make decisions based on old data.
Client satisfaction
Increased accuracy, tighter control, and more transparent reporting helps keep even the trickiest-to-please clients better informed throughout your contracts.
Attract more talent
A fully digital, forward-thinking business is a pre-requisite for today’s younger workforce. Lagging behind means the stars of tomorrow go to your competitors.