How Technology Drives Connected Construction

Project management information systems (PMIS) have improved processes and the exchange of data between owners and the project team. This study demonstrates the high level of satisfaction owners and contractors have for systems they are using now, and the degree to which they find that data connectedness in general has improved on their projects in the last three years.

The positive ratings are rooted in the owner's ability to manage their entire program, rather than individual projects, and the degree to which they improve the speed with which contractors get paid or great responses to RFIs and submittals. However, the potential for greater improvement is still very high, especially the potential of having the entire team on a single software platform. The study shows that 90% of the contractors have had to use an owner's PMIS system, which leads them to either their own PMIS system. This not only has cost and productivity implications, but it also can lead to a loss of valuable data for the contractors, and in this era, analyzing data is becoming increasingly more important for contractors to remain competitive. 

The findings in this study reveal that owners need greater awareness of this challenge and that the industry as a whole will continue to benefit as the flow of data gets easier between owners and their project teams.