As we look ahead to 2020, it's time to embrace the fact that traditional project planning tools must evolve to meet the changing needs of planners and help them work smarter, not harder. Today's advanced planning solutions that incorporate both artificial and human intelligence enable planners to work more efficiently and create more achievable plans. The current state of project planning needs an overhaul, and I believe it should be in the form of what's called predictive planning. Think about it: You don't have to do things like manually check your Word document for spelling errors, explicitly type an entire recipient's email address, or calculate the miles of a trip every time, do you? That's because today's computers can store and, more importantly, recall knowledge.

For decades, the necessary technology tools have been available to generate more and more data, as it relates to various processes in construction such as project management, scheduling, job costing, and more. The challenge is, with the influx of data, in the last few years, it has become more difficult to use that information well. "It hasn't been centrally stored and there hasn't been computing capability, even if the information was centrally stored," explains Dan Patterson, chief design officer, InEight, www.ineight.com, "That information is very loosely structured; it is not a uniform format. It is very difficult for computers to then mine that historical information."

Construction remains one of the top five industries driving the world economy. Yet until recently, it's been lagging behind virtually every other sector in the adoption of technology. In this in-depth interview, Dr. Dan Patterson, Chief Design Officer with InEight, explains why the construction industry is now turning to technology solutions that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to solve long standing and deep-rooted challenges. Q: Can a traditional industry such as construction embrace technology quickly enough to take advantage of platforms such as artificial intelligence? DP: Historically, the construction industry has lagged in its adoption of new technology.

Chief Design Officer InEight Dan Patterson founded BASIS, a company that developed an artificial intelligence (AI) planning software tool that was acquired by InEight in 2018. Following the acquisition, Dan became a member of InEight's executive leadership team. He now focuses on expanding upon his vision of creating next generation planning and scheduling software solutions for the construction industry. As a globally recognized project analytics thought leader and software entrepreneur, Dan has more than 20 years of experience building project management software companies, including Pertmaster and Acumen. Throughout his career, Dan has focused on solution innovation and project management, including advanced scheduling, risk management, project analytics and AI.

AI (artificial intelligence) is perhaps one of the biggest trends to watch in the months to come, with many analysts predicting growth and technology providers making big moves in this area. PwC even suggests that global GDP will be 14% higher in 2030 as a result of AI, which is the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion. One big area in construction that is set to change is scheduling, with a new acquisition that happened this week. InEight announced it acquired BASIS, a company that purpose-built an AI planning software tool for the construction industry. The software captures insights and learnings from prior projects and uses the knowledge to make informed suggestions during the planning process.

AI (artificial intelligence) is perhaps one of the biggest trends to watch in the months to come, with many analysts predicting growth and technology providers making big moves in this area. PwC even suggests that global GDP will be 14% higher in 2030 as a result of AI, which is the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion. One big area in construction that is set to change is scheduling, with a new acquisition that happened this week. InEight announced it acquired BASIS, a company that purpose-built an AI planning software tool for the construction industry. The software captures insights and learnings from prior projects and uses the knowledge to make informed suggestions during the planning process.