Greg Ceton, CSI, CDT, CSI director of strategic initiatives and special projects, has been writing a series of articles examining how emerging technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Smart Cities, and Blockchain will-or already has-affected the construction industry.
A recent question on the CSI Community page asked, “What new technology is having the biggest impact on how you work and why?”
Anne Whitacre FCSI, CCS, CDT, LEED AP, Senior Specifier at HOK in San Francisco, was clear in her response:
- 1) We are working on bigger projects with shorter timelines. We use collaborative tools (Bluebeam, for one) to "collaborate" between the various parties on the project—from consultants to owners, and also contractors and subcontractors. For some reason we think using all these tools means owners will make decisions faster; and that contractors can now review 6 projects in the same time that they used to review one.
2) Much of the cloud based sharing is dependent on having a reliable Internet connection. While that could be a valid assumption in an office, it’s not always a valid assumption anywhere else. Because our server is half-a-continent away, my nighttime connection is harder to work with. I might save the entire Bluebeam session and make my comments, only to have to transfer them the next morning.
3) With people traveling all the time, we end up with endless WebEx sessions to discuss ‘assumptions’ that shouldn't be assumptions. I see bid responses from contractors completely unrelated to what they are looking at because the schedules are so compressed. Blockchain? Not even remotely an issue. We’re more concerned which of the 12 different types of wallboard assemblies the subcontractor has assumed for the corridor walls in the back of house areas.
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