New Report Shows Workers More Willing to Go Digital than Their Companies

Workers are willing to go digital

The construction industry has a reputation for late adoption of new technology. Still, a new survey from Dodge Construction Network, a Dodge Data and Analytics subsidiary, says that 95% of office and field workers want new digital tools. In another question, 95% of respondents said that such tools would streamline their work.

Corporate won't prioritize

The disconnect seems to exist at the corporate level. For example, Dodge Construction Network reported that of the respondents, only 15% of employers use a digital transformation policy. Thirty-eight percent say that they don't believe a digital strategy should be a priority.

The survey gathered responses from 648 construction office and field workers.

Waiting for maturity

Dan McCarthy, CEO of Dodge Construction Network, expressed his optimism to Construction Dive. "One of the byproducts of the explosion of workflow is that there's a lot of partial data. And it's not necessarily as accurate, timely, or validated as good data deserves to be. The [construction] industry, like every other industry, has the right to say, 'I want good, accurate data.' That's a sign of industry maturity, and I believe that there's increasingly more demand for that."

However, corporate stubbornness can't account for everything; 49% of construction office workers spoke of problems with technology during implementation. 42% said that hardware or software issues caused delays. 39% said the digital tools made projects more expensive. 19% said that a worker problem—resistance to adoption—caused the issues.

"What's really behind the challenges is that it's hard to organize data and deploy it in a way that it can create value for companies," McCarthy said.

Widespread rejection of new technology could hamper forward movement in the construction industry.

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