Cultural change barrier halts digital transformation in construction

Surveying over 100 IT decision-makers across the construction industry, Zen's Bricks, Mortar and Digital Transformation report found that over half (55%) of large construction firms, and almost a third (28%) of smaller organisations are already using artificial intelligence (AI). The construction industry is looking at what technologies could help them in the future, with virtual reality (28%), cloud computing (24%), software-defined networking (20%), blockchain (19%) and Internet of Things (17%) all seen as key to future development by those in larger organisations. According to Tech Nation's 2018 report, technology is expanding 2.6 times faster than the rest of the UK economy, and yet the construction industry has been slow to implement digitalisation strategies that could bring increased efficiency and collaboration as well as reduced costs. Digital transformation appears to be a strategic priority for the leaders of construction firms, with CEOs (52%), CIOs and CTOs (32%) amongst the biggest drivers of such projects. Despite this top down approach, cultural change (51%) is cited as one of the biggest challenges to implementing a digital transformation project highlighting the need to get companywide buy-in. This is only topped by the importance of communicating the value of digital transformation to key stakeholders and investors (62%).