As the famous quote by Heraclitus goes, “the only thing that is constant is change”; a point that was poignantly emphasised at our recent ‘Data in Construction’ event at the University of Westminster. This well attended occasion brought together a heady mix of Entrepreneur, Academic and Industry Professional and informed us of much, not least that we generally knew relatively little about the great changes that are afoot in relation to how we collect, manage and use data; and the huge resulting opportunities and impacts that these harbour for the construction industry.
The nature of data is changing; by its volume, variety, velocity, veracity and ultimately its value. There is much more data available to us, largely due to the increased digitisation of everything. It is delivered to us faster and more accurately and comes in more different types than ever before. As a result, it holds more potential value than previously seen, largely derivable from the potential ability to make better decisions through intelligence, insight and clever analytics. On top of this, there are a significant number of other technological developments that either depend upon or support ‘big data’. The development of robotic, augmented reality and drone technologies all have the potential to change the face of our industry.
Exactly how all this will unfold is not yet completely clear and it will take time for the true potential of big data and other technologies to be realised. It is possible that we could be witnessing an industrial revolution of the sort not seen for 100 years in terms of its impact on outcomes, and that is really exciting. There will be those that embrace it, those that run with it, those that are cautious and those that just resist it. But ultimately, as Wayne Dyer says “if we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change”; and boy could the construction industry use some change.
Help make this happen and join G4C now. You can watch our ‘Data in Construction’ event in full here:
