Author: Peggy Smedley
Today’s typical consumers are loyal to brands they love, prioritize sustainability considerations, demand quick shipping and availability of goods, and prioritize quality and personalization. They are often empowered by data and choices available to them. Simply, today’s tech-savvy informed consumers want faster, easier, well, everything. Enter biometrics. I must confess, I love how quick the experience is now to go through an airport via biometrics. And I guess so do most of you. Simple and Quick A June study by Visa also found two-thirds of respondents would use biometric authentication to check out, with many trusting biometric authentication (fingerprint/face ID)…
More than 63% of construction and engineering leaders say they are searching for a new ERP (enterprise-resource planning) system within the next 1-to-2 years—and then another one-third are looking to 3-to-5 years. As we all know, that is a rather big feat and undertaking—and now we have a whole host of unique factors and market conditions and AI (artificial intelligence) to add to the mix, shaking things up a bit more than the last time many companies implemented a new ERP. At IFS Connect in Nashville in the beginning of June, Matt Breslin, regional president, North America, IFS, pointed to…
Construction is picking up at a rapid clip. We see construction jobs have increased in 184 metro areas between April 2024 and April 2025. As these projects pick up speed, we must consider how we create a culture of safety around the jobsite. This is something we have written about a number of times. And I have talked about this very subject matter countless times on my radio program, The Peggy Smedley Show. PPE (personal protective equipment) such as hard hats have only become mandatory on jobsites in the last half a century or so. If we follow the numbers,…
The digital-twin maturity curve is like many others—the term dates back decades. However, digital twins really gained widespread adoption in the 2010s. So, what exactly is the current state of digital twin in manufacturing and construction? First, a bit of a primer. Digital twin date back to the 1960s when we witnessed NASA create a living model of the Apollo mission. Why was a digital twin created? Apollo 13’s oxygen tank exploded and there was damage to the main engine. To address this, NASA employed multiple simulators to evaluate the failure and extended the physical model of the vehicle to…
Much is changing in the heavy equipment world—from the financing to the attachments to the embedded technology to the type of worker operating the machine. Keeping an eye on the trends will be key to ensuring success in the future. First, we see data from the U.S. BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) shows a bump in employment. Overall employment of heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians is projected to grow 9% from 2023 to 2033, or roughly 24,100 openings each year on average throughout the course of the decade. This is faster than the average for all occupations due…
Smart cities are coming—and in some cases they are already here. We continue to see case study after case study of how new technologies, including AI (artificial intelligence), continue to emerge, transforming our connected cities. Let’s consider one of those interesting cities in this column today. Travel with me through the city of Dubuque, Iowa. The city is using enhanced traffic management, including AI, for city management. The city of Dubuque, Iowa, wanted to maximize the value of its expansive video network, which included more than 1,300 cameras citywide. While these cameras provided extensive coverage, city officials wanted to go…
Much is changing in the world of construction. With fluctuating labor and material prices, advancements in new technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence), and a new federal administration, there are new opportunities to deliver projects faster than ever before. Of course, there will always be some hurdles to consider. Now, let’s look at what this means for construction infrastructure. The Civil Infrastructure Construction Index from FMI Corp., looks at the state of the infrastructure market quarterly. Now, we see 63% of respondents indicated backlogs that are at or exceeding internal expectations for this time of year. Construction companies must actively…
Can we trust our supply chains? The reality is third-party involvement in cyber breaches is growing, with 30% of breaches linked to third-party involvement, which is twice as much as last year, and driven in part by vulnerability exploitation and business interruptions, according to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report. The report analyzed 22,052 real-world security incidents, of which 12,195 were confirmed data breaches that occurred inside organizations of all sizes and types—and the data it found is enlightening, pointing the spotlight on supply chains. The research shows third-party involvement in breaches was an ever-present subject in incidents throughout the…
For the construction industry, risk is a big part of the success equation. Mitigating risk can lead to greater success for the business, and ultimately to more sustainable, resilient homes, buildings, and infrastructure. Understanding and identifying risk, then, becomes a critical step in ensuring success for a project. Let’s consider just one example. $368 billion. This is the economic losses resulting just from global natural disasters in 2024. $368 billion. This number is so crazy high to me. Now, imagine if there was a way to mitigate some of that risk. A new report from Aon, the 2025 Global Construction…
How much of your workweek do you believe is spent on ‘work about work’ instead of doing the work? Work about work could be status checks, updates, emails, or other things that are required to stay aligned. This is precisely the question that was asked in a recent survey of 1,000 technology workers, team leaders, and managers across the nation, and the results are eye opening. The survey was powered by AlphaROC, which is the data science company behind occam, a machine-learning powered market research platform, and was presented at a summit organized by the University of Maryland’s Project Management…