While the construction industry has historically been slower to adopt new technology, businesses are increasingly turning to technology to help boost productivity and address business challenges. Major investments in the market have led to hundreds of innovative products that cover the spectrum of construction technology needs. The landscape is shifting, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution that’s going to be the best at everything.

Having so many options available helps ensure businesses can find the right mix of solutions that address their unique needs; however, finding the right technology is only part of the equation. Some businesses are finding that using multiple solutions can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. This is the case when a business uses disparate, unintegrated solutions, which creates a “double entry” environment, wasting time and labor.

Technology shouldn’t be a source of frustration—at least, not when it’s done right. The key here is integration. It is critical for technology providers to have open APIs. This makes it easy for their solutions to integrate with other industry-leading solutions their customers are using today or may use in the future. Having a tech stack built on true cloud technology will provide the most flexibility, giving businesses the power of choice to implement the solutions that make the most sense for them.

More technology vendors are beginning to recognize that it benefits the entire construction industry when they can integrate their solutions with the other solutions available on the market. There are initiatives under way to help make it easier for all technology vendors to work together. We are starting to see IaaS (infrastructure as a service) platforms emerge in the marketplace as a mechanism to promote interoperability. Having this interoperability would help ensure vendors could integrate with new solutions down the road to fit the ever-changing needs of the industry.

As an increasing number of technology providers strive to make their integrations as seamless and beneficial to their customers as possible, it brings us closer to our shared goals, including developing open-source integration standards, simplifying data transfer and increasing collaboration. When we work together, we can help improve the lives of construction professionals by transforming the way technology is utilized across the industry.

Dennis Stejskal
Director, Construction Strategy
Sage Construction & Real Estate Division