A New Outlook for Owners
November 10, 2009
As the construction industry is responding to the changing economic conditions, corporate owner perspectives are shifting appropriately. In fact, with this ‘inflection point’—a significant moment of change—technology will likely have a larger role for the corporate owner community.
Based on research, the use of technology was not a factor of great importance for owners in 2009. But given the economic shift that the market is currently experiencing, technology now registers some of the greatest gains in importance throughout the next five years.
According to the Tenth Annual Survey of Owners from FMI Corp., www.fminet.com, Raleigh, N.C., and CMAA (Construction Management Assn. of America), www.cmaanet.org, McLean, Va., the economic turmoil from the past two years has resulted in a shift in the AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry. Still, it typically takes five or more years before the industry can look back and recognize exactly when the shift occurred, according to FMI.
The research—Inflection Point: Defining the Future of the Worldwide Construction Industry—surveyed a cross-section of 191 participants, representing various owner types, types of construction, industry sectors, and geographies.
The study shows maintenance technology—GIS (geographic information systems), GPS (global positioning system), and BIM (building information modeling)—was one of the least important factors in 2009. However, as we look out to 2014 FMI says the importance of this type of technology will rise for owners.
Additionally, the research shows six dominate forces shaping the industry today—globalization, social norms, technology application and innovation, economic performance, political stability, and environmental influence.
The study presents different scenarios is which the factors will play varying roles. In the perfect-world view, technology will be a primary driver in the coming years, whereas social, economic, political, and environmental are weaker drivers. Specifically, IPD (integrated project delivery) will increase in use, leveraging both new processes and technologies.
One of the overall themes of the study is the need for owners to improve team coordination. The survey shows 18% of owners cite team coordination, achieved by applying technology-enhanced processes, as the area needing greatest improvements.
In general, construction technology is garnering a lot of attention from owners these days.
The Houston Independent School District, www.houstonisd.org, Houston, Texas, recently implemented Prolog from Meridian Systems, www.meridiansystems.com, Folsom, Calif. The school district selected the technology to help improve accountability, transparency, and reporting across the school district’s current capital improvement program.
Another recent example is a new bond program to build and renovate schools in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, www.wlwv.k12.or.us, Tualatin, Ore. With Web-based project management technology from e-Builder, www.e-builder.net, Plantation, Fla., the school board will be able to view the program’s status.
Additionally, Skire, www.skire.com, Menlo Park, Calif., recently partnered with Vanir Construction Management, www.vanir.com, Sacramento, Calif., a construction management firm working with project owners across the private and public sectors. This partnership will help extend Skire Unifier’s platform to Vanir’s clients in education and healthcare, among others.
The industry is certainly going through a cultural, economical, technological, political, and environmental change. Specifically, owners are finding now is the time to improve collaboration and reduce risk. It will be interesting to follow this shift and see what role technology will play for all project participants in the coming five years. To learn more about the 'inflection point' and survey, visit FMI's Website.