Tough Leaf’s first webinar of 2024 was an exploration of technology in the construction industry. Nick Tilford, Sr Trainer at Procore.org led an excellent session exploring the role that technology currently plays in the construction industry, how tech impacts your projects, how it plays a role in your business, and what a WMBE subcontractor can do to make the most of tech in their business. For those of you who could not join us live, we’re offering a few highlights that should get you up to speed on what technology can do for your business.
How Tech Can Make Your Construction Projects Flow Better
Technology offers huge benefits for your construction projects by getting everyone on the same page. Instead of teams feeling disconnected and data being all over the place, the right solutions let you collaborate seamlessly, see everything in real-time, and streamline workflows. This means your crews can work more efficiently to scale up your success.
The Construction Tech Landscape in 2024
Technology in construction today includes wider use of 3D modeling and mobile apps for managing job sites, with platforms like Procore leading the way. There are also more Internet of Things devices, such as safety cameras, drone photos, digital badges, and sensors to monitor sites and boost security. Emerging tech like AI, 3D printing, wearables, and robotics are starting to impact construction processes too, from housing to worker safety. It's key to understand the potential here, even if not all of it applies to your business yet, so you can stay competitive and in-the-know.
Evaluating Construction Tech for WMBE Subcontractors
When evaluating construction technology, it's essential to identify your needs and ensure the solutions truly align with how your business works and what your team needs. Conducting a needs assessment helps identify pain points helps target the tech to fix workflow challenges. Scalability and compatibility are crucial too, so the tech can grow with you and integrate with your existing systems. Prioritizing performance, reliability, data security, and user support ensures a smooth implementation and ongoing success.
Measuring the ROI for Your Tech Investments
Getting people, processes, and performance to mesh is key for nailing tech implementation, since they all impact each other. Data plays a huge role here, enabling real-time monitoring, predictive analytics for risk management, and collaboration through shared data. Leveraging data can lead to big wins like increased productivity, cost savings, fewer delays, and happier clients, showing the ROI on your tech spend.
How to Find the Right Construction Tech for WMBE Subcontractors
Figuring out the best tech comes down to assessing your needs - will you use it for one job or many, and does it provide lasting value? Make sure it works with your current systems and won't require extra purchases down the line. Scalability is essential too so it grows with you, without limits on users or data. And choose something your team can use intuitively to drive adoption.
We ended the webinar with a lively Q&A between Nick and our audience, as well as a special offer from Procore for diverse firms who are verified on the Tough Leaf platform. If you’d like to be a part of the conversation next time, keep an eye out for the next webinar announcement.