Construction Digital Transformation: Essential Tips for Collecting Better Data & Unlocking Major Productivity

Chapter 1: What is Digital Transformation?

No doubt about it, digital transformation has become the hottest trend in construction.

What is digital transformation? It simply means rethinking how your organization uses technology, people, and processes to go after new business and increase revenue. The pandemic dramatically increased the speed of “digital everything” and forced leadership teams across all industries to reinvent their companies with digital solutions.

The construction industry’s IT budgets certainly tipped in this direction. Research from IDC Market Perspective confirms that construction firms are now dedicating more than half of their IT budgets to digital innovation. 

Quality leadership plays a big role here. To drive useful transformation that leads to business results, construction leaders must embed the right technologies into the right parts of their workflows and business models. Today’s modern construction industry leaders need to innovate and execute the options that technology enables. 

In a McKinsey survey of 1,140 business executives, many respondents recognize that their companies’ business models are becoming obsolete: 

• Only 11% believe their current business models will be economically viable through 2023. 
• Another 64% of those execs say their companies must build new digital businesses to stay economically viable.

By adopting new practices, leveraging new technologies, and investing in new projects, builders and developers can win more contracts and enjoy profitability. 

In the following chapters, we’ll explore why the construction industry is modernizing, the pillars of a successful digital transformation, and how to use technology to maximize growth and unlock productivity.

Chapter 2: How the Construction Industry is Modernizing

Construction still has a long way on its road to recovery from the last two tumultuous years.

Technology is the way forward for construction. Connected construction is taking hold in the industry and it will be increasingly harder for holdouts to compete. 

Specifically, construction companies are using technology to better connect their office and site teams for end-to-end knowledge bases and analyses of operations. 

The construction industry is now automating project progress, equipment maintenance, and job site conditions on a frequent basis. This allows contractors to identify and correct issues quickly before they become a more costly problem down the line. In order to do this, contractors need solutions to gather loads of data from the field. 

However, there are several construction-related challenges rapidly changing the global market. 

Rising supply prices will likely continue for years, while regulatory changes will cause intense scrutiny on workplace safety and climate change adaptation. 

Plus, skilled labor shortages will remain a constant struggle for the construction industry. Getting data from the job site will be more critical than ever, as contractors begin expanding their crews and equipment fleets to complete these large infrastructure projects. 

While the construction industry has been adopting techniques to manage a frontline mobile workforce for a while now, the pandemic has removed a “centralized administrative office” from the equation. Construction companies are now tasked with adapting processes to accommodate both the frontline and information mobile workforce. 

According to the International Data Collection (IDC) forecast, the U.S. mobile worker population will increase from 78.5 million in 2020 to 93.5 million mobile workers in 2024. That’s nearly 60% of the nation’s total workforce. This is not only changing how companies must collect data from the field but also how they configure data retrieval workflows. Delivering paperwork to the back office is no longer an option. Companies will need to digitize their data to streamline operations and maintain a productive mobile workforce. 

Chapter 3: Core Reasons to Go Digital

Modernizing operations is the first step to maximizing growth and unlocking productivity.

Speed, efficiency, and growth are critical for your bottom line. 

Embracing a digital-first mindset will help to connect the people that matter to your business – and grow your business with key data insights. It also will eliminate tedious manual tasks and redundant requests. 

In some ways, construction is still finding its legs in technology. That means it’s important to get everyone on board (even non-technical users) without significant support from IT. Streamlined tech will get everyone on the same page and includes countless benefits: 

• Increase employee productivity 
• Promote a culture of workplace safety
• Standardize how data is collected 
• Enable staff with insights and analytics
• Ensure data is never lost 
• Increase employee retention 
• Ensure client satisfaction 

Plus, custom software allows you to create safety and training reports customized to your unique needs. 

Sure, the technology captures the data you need for better efficiency. But in the construction industry, you can’t deny that automation and digital tools improve worksite safety and compliance record keeping.

For example, what would happen if your company were to experience an injury, illness, or accident? Not only would you have to deal with a potentially catastrophic event, but you also have to report it ASAP. With OSHA rules, every minute counts! OSHA has incredibly strict deadlines about when to report (i.e., within 8 hours). A better data collection tool can automate and streamline record-keeping.

In addition to reporting accidents themselves, the importance of tracking near misses can’t be overstated. Documented properly, near-misses can help to identify hazards or weaknesses in risk management programs, reduce workplace accidents overall, and increase company safety culture. Near misses are “symptoms” of undiscovered safety concerns – and a valuable source of information. Put another way, given a slight shift in time or position, there was potential for more serious consequences. For example, events where a safety barrier was challenged, such as a worker bypassing a machine guard, and/or events where potential environmental damage could have resulted. 

Construction Site Safety: Get Proactive, Not Reactive 

As part of your digital transformation, have a plan for improving compliance with laws and regulations; reducing costs (including potential reductions in workers’ compensation premiums); engaging workers; and enhancing overall business operations. 

GoCanvas’s custom form software allows you to create safety and training reports customized to your unique needs. It even lets teams access and work without an internet connection – ensuring that everyone is able to log in anywhere, anytime, to document important near-miss data as well as site injuries or accidents. 

Not sure where to start on your tech journey? 

In the next chapter, we’ll outline how the road to efficiency starts with good record-keeping, simple-to-use software, and real-time business insights that will power your company’s growth.

Chapter 4: How to Get Started on the Digital Transformation Journey

To maximize available resources, many are turning to automation and “no-code” digital tools.

According to MIT Sloan Management Review, companies supporting their business teams with “no-code” software development platforms have been installing simpler apps faster, enabling them to keep up with changes occurring at a previously unthinkable pace. 

The MIT Sloan article notes that: 

“Empowering teams to be their own developers by designing and implementing applications themselves allows companies to make technological progress without hiring more technology staffers. No-code platforms provide visual, user-friendly capabilities that allow non-developers to design, develop, and deploy enterprise-class applications. Simultaneously, they free up professional software developers to tackle more difficult problems, like modernizing core platforms.” 

Cloud-based software like GoCanvas offers these exact no-code/low-code solutions to streamline how your teams: 

• Create custom digital forms 
• Collect data from construction sites (via any mobile device) 
• Disseminate information quickly among teams

4 Pillars to a Successful Digital Transformation

A key decision maker 

Follow the leader. Who owns your digital transformation project? As we discussed in Chapter One, quality leadership plays a big role, so every digital transformation project needs an owner. 

An organized, accessible backend 

Look for flexibility. How are you setting up your databases and tools? Check that the software features a high level of customization to fit your unique business requirements so you can truly unlock critical operational & customer insights. 

An easy-to-use front end for inputs 

Look for easy-to-use software. As mentioned above, you want something “no code” or “low code” so that even non-technical users can create and distribute things you might use, like work orders, inspections, time sheets, daily field reports, and safety reports. 

Company-wide buy-in 

Show the tangible benefits. Some employees will be hesitant! Communicate with them frequently about how this operational change will positively impact their jobs. Provide onboarding and training. Some SaaS providers, like GoCanvas, have dedicated customer support teams to help your team to onboard, configure, and sync the platform with existing systems.

Chapter 5: Putting Technology at the Center of Your Outlook

Here’s the million-dollar question: What’s your competition doing right now to maximize growth and unlock productivity?

Amid these unprecedented times, those who flourish will find new ways to modernize operations, despite the construction industry’s ongoing shortages and delays. Sometimes digital change comes down to capturing the right business insights and making them actionable. Understanding these construction trends – modernizing operations, improving efficiency, and saving time – is important for any construction firm. 

But focusing only on digital – and not transformation – could set you up for failure. That’s why today’s construction industry leaders must innovate and execute the options that technology enables.

Software Integration Examples to Kickstart Your Digital Transformation

Here are just some of the many possible integrations:

Quickbooks

You can use GoCanvas to automate invoices in QuickBooks (and save your accountant the hassle of manually entering invoices). Or use real price data from QuickBooks for parts and materials inside your GoCanvas forms to create the proper totals on your customer charge documents.

Google Drive

You can extract images from your GoCanvas form submissions and store them in Google Drive. For example, every time a customer-facing form is sent from GoCanvas, you can also automatically generate and store an internal-only version of the same form to Google Drive for compliance documentation.

Zendesk

You can manage your customer communication, and support system, and follow through efficiently by connecting your GoCanvas forms to Zendesk. For example, you can create Zendesk Support tickets with the necessary information every time a GoCanvas form submission is completed. Even better, you can even send Zendesk tickets to mobile users in the field using GoCanvas Dispatch.

Salesforce

You can also combine two completely customizable solutions — GoCanvas and Salesforce. The possibilities are endless here, as this integration can save you thousands of hours of lost time across your organization: 

• Dispatch necessary details automatically once an opportunity is closed, so other teams can do their part to help your customers. 
• Allow your mobile users to have the latest Salesforce contacts appear in their GoCanvas forms on their devices. 
• Automatically attach GoCanvas form submission documents to your customer accounts in Salesforce to eliminate data entry errors or forgotten documents.

Netsuite

Last, but certainly not least, you can send dispatches automatically from Netsuite into your GoCanvas account and assign them to a person’s mobile device. 

Prepopulate a list of customers, addresses, or jobs inside your GoCanvas form with list data from Netsuite – no manual data transfer is required.

Checklist to Maximize Growth