Author: Peggy Smedley
Microsoft in Action at Hannover Messe Gen AI (generative artificial intelligence) is here for many industries. In fact, 80% of manufacturing customers are considering using gen AI in their manufacturing operations and in their business processes—and it will fundamentally transform the factory floor and change how frontline workers interact with data. Certainly, this will be a point of conversation at Hannover Messe, which is scheduled to take place March 31-April 4. At the event, more than 4,000 companies will attend, with roughly 130,000 attendees, 1,600 speakers, and some 300 startups are anticipated to walk the long aisles from roughly 150…
Both FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) and CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) will be a big consideration for federal contractors in the year ahead. Let’s break down what this means for your construction business. FedRAMP provides a standardized approach to security authorizations for cloud service offerings. It was established back in 2011 and then in December 2022, the FedRamp Authorization Act was signed as part of the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act, which codifies the program as the authorities standardized approach to security assessment and authorization for cloud computing products and services that process unclassified federal information. The…
While generative AI (artificial intelligence) has been the talk of tech for the past several years, agentic AI now offers new opportunities for business—and companies should be preparing for what comes next. Agentic AI builds on generative AI. Gen AI is simply the idea of turning large quantities of data into actionable intelligence. AI agents build on this capability. NVIDIA suggests agentic AI uses sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously solve complex, multi-step problems. It suggests agentic AI uses a four-step process for problem solving: perceive, reason, act, and learn. Simply, it will enhance productivity. Agentic AI in Customer…
The construction industry is facing many challenges: the need to build more, faster, and with constrained resources. Does construction need more workers? Yes. But what is actually required more than ever is innovation and excitement about a new way of doing things, and central to that is technology, which is one of the reasons we developed the Constructech Top Products awards program. With the help of a panel of judges, the hope is the research conducted for the 2025 Constructech Top Products awards program will help businesses identify the best products in the construction market, as well as the solutions…
The telecommunications industry is facing big transformation, especially with the rise of gen AI (artificial intelligence)—and perhaps there is no greater place where this has been on display recently than MWC Barcelona, which took place March 3-6 in Barcelona. Taking a closer look at MWC, we are seeing a few big trends emerging that are remarkably interesting for the coming year. Once a year, roughly 100,000 thought leaders come together to talk about the top trends in technology and telecommunications. From digital agriculture to transportation to manufacturing, one big trend is that many industries are impacted by telecommunications and the…
Those working in the construction industry know the statistics. Roughly 47% of women are employed in the overall workforce and, yet only around 11% are employed in the construction industry, and even less are skilled trade. Progress is slow to say the least. This is unfortunate because there are several advantages for women working in the construction industry, according to a new survey. The survey was conducted by the New York chapter of PWC (Professional Women in Construction) New York. Regina Rivera, executive director, PWC NY, says today there are only 1.3 million women employed in the construction industry, despite…
Is higher confidence in gen AI (artificial intelligence) associated with less critical thinking? New research says yes. Let’s take a closer look and determine how we can better prepare and train our workforce for this new era of work side-by-side with gen AI. A new report—The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking—examines how 319 knowledge workers perceive the enaction of critical thinking when using gen AI and when and why gen AI impacts their effort to do so. The research done by Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft is interesting to say the least and will shape the future of…
Statistics show by 2030, there will be $15 trillion spent per year on projects. The challenge is statistics also show about a 70% failure rate, including being over budget, missing the schedule, or not meeting the requirements in some other way—and 80% of the value of an asset is after it is built. Certainly, technology can help solve this challenge. This data was conveyed by Huw Roberts, CEO, PMWeb at the PMWeb conference in February. As we know, there is new investment in PMWeb. In November 2024, the company announced a strategic growth investment from Bregal Sagemount, a private capital…
Each year, ABI Research unveils must-know tech stats for the year ahead. Each year, Gartner does its top 10 predictions for the year ahead. Each year, Deloitte does a state of the industry market for verticals like transportation, construction, and manufacturing. For today’s blog, I will share my thoughts on what has been found for the year ahead, and I will share my thoughts on how you can best parse through all this information to make decisions for your business. ABI Research Must Know Tech Stats For 2025, ABI Research has analyzed 66 critical trends across 33 growth sectors and…
Have you ever thought about securing your home or building? It’s an interesting question to ponder. The point here is, do smarter homes and buildings bring greater safety and security (we are looking at you Ring doorbells!) or do these devices put the occupants at greater risk? Surely all these connected devices and automation systems can keep a closer eye on our homes, ensuring greater security on the perimeter of the home—but does it put our data at risk? First, a primer. We recognize smart-home devices bring home-security opportunities. The 2024 Nationwide Homeowners Survey on Smart Home Insights shows homeowners…