Construction industry behind curve in cutting-edge tech: KPMG

Despite substantial investment, the construction industry is struggling to reap full benefits of technologies, including advanced data and analytics, mobility, automation and robotics, a report from KPMG International today said.
Unveiling the key findings of the Global Construction Survey, 2016, annual report, it said that of the 200-plus senior construction executives taking part in the survey, just 8 per cent of their companies rank as cutting-edge technology visionaries.
Some 64 per cent of contractors and 73 per cent of project owners rank as industry followers or behind the curve when it comes to technology.
The annual state-of-the-industry report said the survey responses reflect the industry's innate conservatism towards technologies, with most content to follow rather than lead, said Geno Armstrong, International Sector Leader, Engineering & Construction, KPMG, US.

"Many lack a clear technology strategy, and either adopt it in a piecemeal fashion or not at all," Armstrong added.
KPMG said two-thirds of the survey respondents believe project risks are on the rise.

According to Armstrong, this is an industry ripe for disruption, but less than 20 per cent of respondents say they are aggressively disrupting their business models.
"Projects around the world are becoming bigger, bolder and more complex -- and with complexity comes risk," Armstrong said, adding that innovations like remote monitoring, automation and visualisation have enormous potential to speed up project progress, improve accuracy and safety.

Neeraj Bansal, Partner and Head, Building, Construction and Real Estate Sector, KPMG in India, said, "India is among the fastest growing construction market globally and is poised to become the third largest globally by 2025 with a size of USD 1 trillion."
The increasing size and quantum of projects is gradually driving complexities and unprecedented project risks in construction industry, he added.
KPMG took the line that the risks are rising as highlighted in the survey - more than 80 per cent of project owners and contractors in India believe that project risks are increasing rapidly warranting adequate project management strategies to address these evolving, more complex risks.

Select Indian contractors and project owners are now focussing towards adoption of evolved concepts such as centralised PMO (Project Management Office) coupled with project performance measurement and reporting systems such as Project Management Information System (PMIS) and the like, it said.
The survey also highlighted that to get real benefit from new innovations, engineering and construction companies and major project owners need a strong technology vision and should consider how they can better integrate technology into their processes and culture.
According to the report, engineering and construction firms and project owners are not taking full advantage of the volumes of data at their fingertips -- almost two-thirds of those surveyed do not use advanced data analytics for project-related estimation and performance monitoring.

"Moreover, only a quarter of respondents say they're able to push one button to get all their project information. And even fewer claim to have single, integrated project management information system (PMIS) across the enterprise," the study noted.
Integrated, real-time project reporting is still a myth, rather than a reality for most, according to KPMG's Armstrong.
A significant majority employ remote monitoring for projects sites, but less than 30 per cent say they make use of mobile devices routinely on all their projects while a similar proportion do not use mobile platforms at all.
"The fact that more than two-thirds of the survey respondents believe that their project controls are either 'optimised' or 'monitored' suggests processes are in place - but not necessarily delivering the required results. Only 27 per cent of respondents believe that their controls are truly globally consistent," it said.

The survey also found that less than a majority are realising the full benefits of Earned Value Management (EVM) to measure cost and schedule performance, with over 40 per cent saying they do not use EVM at all.