Perhaps not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the
adoption of mobile apps on construction job sites, but integration
and data sharing with other apps or other company software is still
lagging, according to the 2020
JBKnowledge ConTech Report.
The majority (92%) of construction industry workers now use a
smartphone daily on the job, and one in five workers use six or
more construction apps in the field, the survey found. Mobile
devices are used for viewing project documents (78%), service
dispatch and billing (74%), creating project documentation such as
RFIs and emails (71%), entering time for payroll (71%), viewing BIM
models (65%) and viewing installation drawings (63%).
However, 27% of the survey respondents said that none of their
apps integrate data, and 34% say three or fewer apps integrate. As
such, half must manually transfer data¾44% use spreadsheets,
CSV (37%), custom built integration (29%), email (16%) or XML
(5%).
“ConTech influencers are rather candid in explaining how
manual entry and spreadsheets are the antithesis of
innovation,” the report noted. “Perhaps this notion
isn’t widely known yet, or people are unbothered by the
redundancies caused by manual entry and spreadsheets. The time has
come for smarter solutions, and placing integrations among the most
critical features for app and software solutions.”
Other key findings of the survey include:
- The top mobile apps for daily reporting were nearly identical
to prior years with Procore, Bluebeam (Revu) and PlanGrid returning
in the top three positions. All three showed increased usage in
2020 from 2019 (18.6%, 14.4% and 9.5%, respectively). Procore
gained nearly a 19% increase in reported users over the last
year.
- Nearly half (45%) of project management workflows are still
dependent on spreadsheets, including estimating (62%),
accounting/ERP (51%), bid management (36%), takeoff (27%), project
scheduling (27%), tracking data/performance metrics (26%), field
data collection (14%), project management (45%), client
relationship management (11%) and CAD/BIM (6%).
- Dedicated software for estimating, project management, takeoff
and bid management saw growth in 2020. “While the changes
aren’t staggering, the small conversions from spreadsheet to
software should not be overlooked,” the report stated.
“Whether it’s a better understanding of how to use
software or respondents finally appreciating the ROI of
software¾the needle is moving forward.”
- Nearly a third (29%) of the respondents do not bid on projects
involving BIM, while 12% outsource a portion of their BIM and 13%
outsource BIM entirely. Companies are using BIM mainly for
coordination/clash detection (61%), visualization (53%), project
planning (48%) and virtual mock-ups (37%).
- Hardware technology respondents are using include robotic total
stations (45%); 3D scanners (43%); HoloLens, XOi or augmented
reality devices (14%); virtual reality goggles (4%); RFID or other
tracking devices (6%); and TigerStop (27%).
- About a quarter (24%) of respondents used off-site construction
more often in 2020 than they did before due to restrictions
regarding the pandemic. Overall, 40% of those using pre-fabrication
say that it’s giving their company a strategic
advantage.
- 13% of respondents experienced a data security breach in 2020,
and less than 10% are not using any data security solutions.
Two-factor authentication, training and mobile device management
are being implemented by more than half of all respondents.
“It was disappointing to see simple yet invaluable
solutions like cyber liability insurance coverage, cloud liability
insurance coverage and cross-platform authentication
under-utilized,” the report’s authors said.