InEight’s 2022 Global Capital Projects Outlook report is gauging the perspectives on digital transformation in the construction industry. Roads & Infrastructure sits down with InEight Executive Vice President APAC region, Rob Bryant, to learn more.
Digitalisation continues to be a hot topic throughout the construction industry.
Last year, InEight published its first Global Capital Projects Outlook report, detailing the optimism levels across the industry, and assessing track records, plans and attitudes towards digital transformation.
A second report, based on survey data collected in March this year, again evaluates the enthusiasm across the industry towards a digital future.
According to Rob Bryant, InEight’s Executive Vice President for the APAC (Asia Pacific) region, the industry’s digital transformation is “inevitable”.
“Now more than ever, there’s a significant appetite for digitalisation,” Bryant says.
In conjunction with a market research provider, InEight conducted an online survey of 300 respondents drawn from each of its focus regions: the Americas, Europe and APAC.
The survey included 26 questions designed to gauge general confidence and optimism levels across the industry – 67 per cent of respondents were project owners, and 33 per cent were contractors globally.
“We worked with Frost & Sullivan to develop a report, which would give us insights on the behaviours, focal points and concerns within our market,” Bryant says. “Reports such as these help us to develop solutions that can satisfy the needs raised. It also gives us a barometer on where the industry is, in its journey towards digital transformation.
“It also provides customers an industry benchmark as to where they sit in their own digital transformation journey and help them to identify ways to improve their operations. I think that’s one of the best things that stakeholders in the industry can get. There’s lots of learnings that can be gained from this, which is why we did it and why we’re happy to share the results.”
Findings from industry engagement
Bryant says the report’s findings about universal implementation and excitement for digitalisation was more than just a “pleasant surprise”.
He says the report highlights an increasing realisation of the significant improvements that digitalisation can provide the industry, in terms of productivity.
“What we’re seeing is more global consistency,” Bryant says. “In the past, we’ve seen the APAC region lead the way in terms of digitalisation, the UK has traditionally led in process innovation and digital standards. Nations and companies in the APAC region have been quick to adopt technology and start to put it to work in their projects.
“Now we’re seeing a trend across the different regions in North America, Europe, and APAC, where there is a growing sentiment on how digitalisation can add value to businesses.”
Bryant says this growing realisation is consistent with the demand for InEight’s digital offerings – the company’s project management software is now used on global construction projects valued at more than $1 trillion.
“It shows that there’s a continued demand for products that have an element of consistency that can be used wherever our customers are in the world. We can then configure these to adapt to local and regional demands when required.”
Enduring challenges
Across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have emphasised the need for reliable services across the industry, especially for capital project and construction professionals.
Bryant says material supply and labour shortages have resulted in a shift of focus towards productivity and efficiency gains.
Australia is continuing to move through one of its largest ever labour shortages, with more than 423,000 job vacancies nationally, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
As such, Bryant says the use of digital platforms to optimise project delivery is now paramount.
“The survey results tell us that the industry is moving forward. However, from a contracting and delivery efficiency and productivity point of view, Australia does have a little bit of catching up to do, with what might be viewed as best practice in other parts of the world.
“For the global construction industry, it’s very much been a collective experience throughout COVID-19. This has also presented a silver lining, an opportunity to drive real change in the industry at a global level by setting higher standards and expectations of performance,” he says.
So, what has the industry been doing to ensure it satisfies project delivery, while coping with lasting economic impacts?
“The construction industry is now starting to accelerate its progress of delivering better outcomes, by investing in technology,” Bryant says.
“If projects have been unable to add people as a resource due to international demand, then they are seeking improvements through digitalisation and transformation of process. This is a very efficient way of improving productivity, managing conflicting project schedules effectively, and navigating future demand.”
Bryant says progress is also being made by state governments across the country in fostering digital transformation.
“Something for us in APAC to consider is how well the states are coordinated, in terms of the delivery methods and the lessons learned, and the way that they can bring digitalisation into a more holistic initiative,” he says.
“Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland are arguably more advanced in their digitalisation approach to major projects being delivered through the state’s Department of Transport. Bringing those lessons together and helping everyone develop a common standard would go a long way to delivering a consistent standard for projects nationwide.”
“With the new Australian Federal Government, there is the potential for Infrastructure Australia to be charged with greater authority over major projects, and a mandate on improved planning activities, engagement and delivery practices.”
He also says that a greater shared belief in the power of digital project controls technology will go a long way to improving the construction sector.
“It’s essential that people understand ‘how does adopting a different practice facilitate an easier day’s work for the trades, a more profitable outcome for the contractor and a timelier and more predictable outcome for the owner?’ If you can harness that understanding of the benefits, then all the effort that’s required pales in significance.”
Data is power
Another essential component raised by the Global Capital Projects Outlook 2022 report is the use of data and analytics in major infrastructure projects.
Bryant says the days of repeated surveys, data entry and transactionally distributed project information are numbered. Instead, more organisations are digitally organising asset data.
“We’ve observed that capital project data needs to be considered with the full life cycle in mind. Data that you collect at the very beginning of the project and its initiation is the data that you can rely on in its operational phase, providing you capture that, and you can have it in a reliable format for use through the life of that asset. Having a single-entry point for data, which can be consistently used, is where the most gains can be had.
“To put it very simply, if you enter information once, and you can rely on that consistently and with confidence, then you can make better decisions throughout a project’s life cycle,” he says.
“If you have to constantly recheck and validate the data source every time, then you get inefficiencies and things become much harder to predict. The effective use of data and digitalisation tends to correlate with the success of a project.”
The report also demonstrates the role that data and analytics can play in achieving sustainable outcomes.
“We’ve definitely seen a growing aspiration for sustainability throughout the sector,” Bryant says. “Traditionally, sustainability has been focused on the end-product. I think addressing the captured carbon, energy savings and responsible sourcing of materials that occurs in the construction process is the next big challenge. And you need data points to bring all of that together.
“There are a lot of variables that you couldn’t possibly track in a manual sense. You need to have data points and analytics to determine what your environmental savings are. Most organisations want to be sustainable and with data, they can measure their impact.”
A strong outlook
Bryant hails the Global Capital Projects Outlook as a success, saying the report is essential in ensuring InEight remains in tune with the construction industry.
He adds that the findings of the 2022 report establish how “fundamental” the next five years will be for the success of the sector.
“If these opportunities aren’t seized, and the lessons aren’t learned, then there may be consequences. I absolutely believe that in the next five years, the way that technology is enabling change, we’ll look back and see new major players emerge. And that will be based on how well they adopt technology, how well they digitalise and how much they’re innovating and changing their delivery models,” Bryant says.
“The construction industry has the ability to make this a pivotal moment in its life cycle.”
This article was originally published in the August edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.
Related stories:
- InEight: How to manage owner expectations and remain profitable
- InEight introduces automated earned value management as part of new updates
- InEight: How modern risk management can lower uncertainties on megaprojects
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