For the second half of our blog series on hot construction technology, we are looking at how technology can enable process, procedures, and business practices. Things like collaboration, project management, scheduling, accounting, estimating, and more. All of these have existed in construction before the dawn of technology but are now being enabled by technology in new and interesting ways.
Last week we dove into the topic of project management and discovered AI (artificial intelligence) is playing a bigger role than ever before, as technology providers are also aiming to created integrated project management platforms for construction. Today, let’s look at an offshoot of project management: scheduling.
Gantt charts have been trendy long before the advent of the internet, with Henry Gantt popularizing the bar chart that illustrates a project schedule back in the late 1800s. CPM (critical path method) has been used since the mid-1900s—which is a method for managers to see where potential breakdowns might occur and what resources are available to deal with them if that happens. Both were later spurred by the use of technology.
Today, technology can help with scheduling in myriad ways. By leveraging software, construction professionals can prevent delays, minimize budget overruns, and improve project quality. A schedule starts at the very onset of a project and continues through project turnover, meaning the data needs to flow through the entire project as well.
The market is projected to grow too. As the demand for the IoT (Internet of Things) and AI continues to grow, so too will the technology for construction. The growth of machine learning and deep neural network technologies will spur adoption of new innovations. For example, the development of AI-powered IVAs (intelligent virtual assistants) for professional conversation are highly effective in providing services and performing business functions such as appointment scheduling and consulting across various industries. Companies are launching products that enable an app or device to act as an AI agent.
Grand View Research suggests virtual assistants can help with managing company emails, managing business correspondence, scheduling, and more. While construction scheduling is a bit more nuisance than other vertical markets, the advent of such technology means projects manager can get back to the task at hand of construction. The analyst firm suggests the global intelligent virtual assistant market size was valued at $5.82 billion in 2020 and it is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 28.5% from 2021 to 2028.
The bottomline is the right technology can improve communication across a construction project, while enabling project managers to assign the right tasks at the right time. In the end, it will help with the ultimate success of future projects.
If you have a scheduling solution for construction companies, tell us about it for the Constructech Top Products award! We want to know all about the latest innovations in construction technology.
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