I was reading the other day that according to IBM, ninety per cent of the world’s data has been produced in just the past two years. It seems to me that very few organisations have been left out of this burgeoning swell in electronically stored and managed information that has over time eroded the traditional ‘paper trail’. The construction sector, a huge producer of data and information is particularly familiar with this and with growing usage of Building Information Modelling (BIM); this issue will become only more pertinent in the sector. But how do we make sense of it all? Electronic analytics refers to the analysis and review of structured and unstructured data and information. It can be a powerful lever for extracting additional value through making comparisons and aggregations to detect anomalies, patterns, and trends. It is vital that tools with the capability to carry out targeted analysis are deployed. Single e-mails can contain pivotal information but with over 100 billion business e-mails being sent every day in 2013 alone it is clear to see why finding these nuggets requires more than the human senses. It is obvious that this challenge will only continue to grow. I have seen first hand the benefits of deployment of e-analytics in honing a core of information that can be utilised for drawing insight and intelligence. In the construction sector there are many applications for using e-analytics and the benefits of doing so are significant including reductions in cost and time taken to undertake activities, increased quality of outputs and ultimately better outcomes and an increased return on investment. The amount of information and its complexity will only continue to grow in this ‘big data’ age. With this in mind, now may be the time that we all consider routine use of e-analytics techniques.
