A study from Dodge Data & Analytics, commissioned by B2W Software to examine technology trends in heavy civil construction, found 61 percent of contractors surveyed cited concerns about field workers' acceptance as a main barrier to adopting cost management technologies, according to www.constructiondive.com.
Contractors cited an inability to conduct real-time or daily financial tracking, poor resource utilization and their offices' lack of visibility into cost-related field issues as the three biggest cost-management challenges they face. The Dodge study revealed mobile devices, mobile applications that manage field operations and real-time connectivity via the internet and the cloud are the three top technologies that can help resolve the problems cited by contractors.
Employers are interested in adopting the helpful technologies—95 percent of respondents indicated they think mobile applications that help manage field operations will have an important or extremely important role in improving cost management by 2020; only 14 percent of respondents reported they were satisfied with their current methods of tracking field costs. Such a response indicates the top barrier to adopting the technologies pertains to worker acceptance rather than company aversion.
In addition, there is evidence an increasing number of construction companies are recognizing the benefits of using mobile devices at job sites. In JBKnowledge's 2012 Construction Technology Report, 41 percent of respondents said mobile capabilities were not very important. In the 2017 Construction Technology Report, that number decreased to 16.9 percent; 83.1 percent of respondents said the use of mobile technology is important or very important.
