By Kumar Gaurav
A wide range of impressive accomplishments, from stunning cityscapes and foundational infrastructure on a massive scale to sustained innovation, can be attributed to the construction industry.
But in the past couple of decades, poor performance has also plagued it. Even though the construction industry makes up 13% of global GDP, productivity has grown only 1% a year for the past two decades. This is vastly lower than the 3% rate for all other industries. This productivity difference results in lower profit margins, higher risk, and poorer project performance. Construction professionals spend a third of their time looking for project information, resolving conflicts, and dealing with legal, compliance, mistakes, and rework. The industry must consider sustainability, and there is no denial that companies will need to consider the environmental impact when sourcing materials, thus optimizing for sustainability as well as resiliency. However, there are other quick wins that shouldn’t be ignored, contributing indirectly and directly to sustainability.
It is not surprising that cloud computing has become increasingly important in the construction industry. Using this technology, construction professionals can access and share essential project information and documents from anywhere, at any time, using a range of devices. This approach can help improve communication and collaboration among team members, as well as improve the overall efficiency and productivity of a construction project. Cloud-based tools and services provide a central platform for storing and accessing project data, which is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. This allows project stakeholders to collaborate and share information much more efficiently, which can help improve project efficiency and reduce the risk of costly delays.
Cloud computing can help reduce the amount of paperwork that is needed in the construction industry. Construction professionals can avoid the need to carry around large amounts of paper by storing all project information in the cloud. This allows them to obtain the information they require quickly and easily. This approach can help save time and reduce the risk of important documents being lost or damaged. Consequently, avoiding being part of 98% of mega projects that become delayed or over budget, including 77% that are more than 40% behind schedule.
Cloud computing can not only help improve communication and collaboration, as well as improve the overall safety of a construction project. Construction professionals can easily share safety protocols and procedures with all members of the project team by using cloud-based tools, which can help ensure that everyone is working in a safe and compliant manner. Additionally, cloud-based tools can also be used to monitor and track the safety of workers on site, which can help identify and address potential safety issues before they become major problems. This could help save $1.63 trillion annually from productivity improvements.
The value chain delivers approximately $11 trillion of global value add and $1.5 trillion of global profit pool, so it is essential that the players in construction develop their strategies for dealing with or leading disruption. One of the most immense challenges in the construction industry is the amount of data that different project stakeholders, such as architects, engineers, and contractors, create. This data is often difficult to manage and extract useful insights from, partly because it is often unstructured. The Cloud Data Engineering tools and services can help overcome these challenges by providing a central platform for storing and managing construction data. This helps improve collaboration and decision-making by making it easier for project stakeholders to access and analyse the data.
The way the companies approach operations, design and engaging with partners can be changed by digital technologies. Smart building and infrastructure that uses IoT will increase data availability and can improve efficiency. This can be done by using building information modelling (BIM) to create a full 3D (a digital twin) and further integrate the design phase and the rest of the value chain. Cloud high-performance computing (HPC) is becoming increasingly important in the construction industry. Because High-Performance Computing can help speed up the analysis and simulation of complex construction projects, it can help improve project efficiency and reduce the risk of costly errors. It can also help improve the performance and efficiency of complex construction tasks, such as building simulations and design optimization.
In the construction industry, HPC has been used to perform tasks such as structural analysis and 3D modelling. The specialized hardware and software required for these tasks can be expensive and difficult to manage because they are computationally intensive.
The cloud-based HPC services can help overcome these challenges by providing access to powerful computing resources on demand. This enables construction professionals to perform complex tasks without the need for specialized hardware and software, and can help reduce the cost and complexity of HPC in the construction industry.
Furthermore, the cloud HPC can help improve collaboration and communication among project stakeholders. This is because cloud-based HPC services provide a central platform for storing and accessing data and results, which is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
It is without any doubt that the future of the construction ecosystem will be more standardized, consolidated, and construction processes will be more integrated. Improved communication, collaboration, and productivity are some benefits of using cloud computing in the construction industry. As such, it is an important technology for construction professionals to consider incorporating into their work. The implementation of cloud data engineering in the construction industry can help improve the management and analysis of construction data, which in turn can lead to more successful and profitable projects. Using cloud HPC in the construction industry can help improve the analysis and simulation of construction projects, which can ultimately lead to more successful and profitable projects.
Sources – NIST, McKinsey, UNEP, EIA, and Memoori