Technology

The Amazing Integration Race

Construction companies can benefit from a fully-integrated tech stack. When software works in unison and speaks the same language, it can drive operational efficiency and effective decision-making.
By Michel Richer
June 15, 2021
Topics
Technology

It’s no surprise that construction software and technology has gained significant momentum in the last year. The COVID-19 pandemic not only forced construction teams to collaborate digitally, it has also had a significant impact on most contractors’ backlogs and created an increasingly competitive bidding environment.

The pandemic has also put added pressure on leadership and operations teams to retain their workforce, keep projects moving forward and keep everyone safe. The result is that more and more contractors are looking to software and technology to help better manage their projects and workforce. According to a report by IFS, even in light of the pandemic, more than 75% of contractors are planning to increase spending on digital transformation.

The investment in construction technology also reflects the move towards digital transformation. According to McKinsey & Company, investment in construction tech increased from $8 billion from 2009-2014 to $25 billion from 2014-2019. However, with more point solutions being made available and adopted by contractors, the feedback for most software solutions has been fairly consistent.

Where Are the Fully-Integrated Solutions?

While construction technology and software can certainly drive the efficiency of specific processes, the lack of integrated solutions leaves data fragmented in multiple systems. Fragmented data can actually reinforce corporate silos and stifle collaborative efforts. In the new age of remote work and digital collaboration, it’s crucial that internal departments are able to leverage collected data from multiple sources to make informed, data driven decisions.

JBKnowledge’s Construction Technology Reports from the last decade report that:

  • 22% of respondents reported using three construction software applications on a daily basis. The number of applications used has more than doubled since then with 22% saying they use six or more today.
  • In 2012, 41% said mobile integrations were “not very” important. That percentage has seen a steep decline with only 10% taking the same stance today.
  • The number of applications that don’t integrate data at all has also seen significant movement. 40% of applications being used did not integrate data in 2012, compared to 27% today.
  • How does data get transferred when applications don’t integrate? In 2012, 52% indicated that transferring data was a manual process and 18% just didn’t bother with it. In 2020 though, manual transfers decreased to 49% with only 13% saying they don’t transfer data.

This indicated that the importance of integrated solutions is growing and contractors want their data to sync through multiple systems. However, the fact that so much data still has to be transferred manually means there’s still big improvements that need to be made to eliminate data fragmentation and siloed information.

With the importance of integrations growing, construction technology companies are shifting development priorities to meet the demands of the industry. For example, Bridgit Bench was launched as a point solution for resource management and workforce planning. With labor availability being foundational to other departmental processes, customers naturally began expressing the need for automated workflows with project management suites, like Procore, that more team members had access to.

This year, on top of scheduled product updates, construction software companies will be working to integrate with the leading construction software from Procore and Autodesk solutions and to non-construction specific software such as BambooHR and Azure AD.

Major players in the tech space such as Touchplan and Alice Technologies are also shifting their integration development into high gear to ensure a seamless flow of decision-making data. It’s expected that the entire contech community will be putting an emphasis on automating workflows with their respective tools to eliminate siloed data.

On top of ensuring data accuracy, having a fully-integrated technology stack can also:

  • improve team member productivity by eliminating inefficient, disjointed processes;
  • lower IT costs by reducing the maintenance of siloed systems; andoffer real-time visibility that supports data-driven decision making.

Common Integration Offerings

Integrating software will require support from the software provider, but that shouldn’t be a reason to hesitate. Requesting an integration with a provider should be a good indicator whether integrations are a top priority or not. Contractors should be clear about the workflow and data they’re hoping to automate. Software providers that are willing to build an integration will likely come back with a couple options to automate workflows:

  1. Use an API. This is the most customizable integration as it will be built from the ground up. It also happens to be the most complex method of integrating software and will require support from a software development professional and can take months to get right. According to JBKnowledge, less than 1% of surveyed respondents have used APIs for data that does not integrate.
  2. Third-Party Automation Platforms. Automation platforms such as Workato and Zapier come fully loaded with hundreds of different software integrations that can be built relatively quickly. However, the integration is limited by the data points made available in the respective tools. For example, a contractor may want to automate the flow of project information from its estimating software, but that estimating software doesn't have project data points available for the third-party application to automate. When compared to building an integration from scratch with an API, third-party applications can be a much easier alternative.

It should be noted that there are potential costs associated with both options mentioned above. Integrations take time, energy and money to build out properly.

Construction technology, while having come leaps and bounds, still has a way to go. These are the formative years for a lot of contech solutions. On top of whatever value proposition a software provides, the ability to fully integrate with software already being leveraged by construction companies will help the industry start defining the best-fit tools for every process in the coming years.

If a contractor is curious about which software solutions are leading the way, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the Procore App Marketplace and Autodesk Integration Partner Ecosystem. As giants in the construction tech world, the software they’ve chosen to partner with is usually a good start when looking for best-in-class solutions.

Whether it’s estimating, customer relationship management, bidding or workforce planning, the entire organization will benefit from a fully-integrated tech stack. When software is all working in unison and speaking the same language it can help drive operational efficiency and effective decision-making.

by Michel Richer
Michel Richer got his start in the construction industry at an early age with a local restoration company. Michel is driven to propel the construction industry forward by helping to eliminate outdated, ineffective processes. 

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