By Phil Poje | CEO, TechOrchard
The Construction Tech Briefing was an exciting opportunity to discuss what is happening around the issues that are faced by staying mobile, and the exciting things that are developing in and around the mobility space. A roundtable was conducted, with participants including: moderator Ryan Johnson, director of IT at Builders Association; Ray Chen, director of information systems at Faith Technologies; James Robertson, VP of technology at TechOrchard; James Benham, president and CEO of JB Knowledge Technologies Inc.; and Dustin Burns, information technology director at McCownGordon Construction.
The first question posed asked, “What are the current challenges subcontractors are experiencing in relation to mobility?” Participants shared that finding the proper doc format can be a very challenging experience along with the issues of sharing the data. For example, how do you find a “standard” and keep from having to enter the data twice due to the fact there is no industry standard? The problems with the use of PDFs is that it does not have an interactive code. In turn, the owners are the ones delving into new formats and discovering the open formats that will lead the industry moving forward.
Question two asked, “What is something your organization is doing through the use of mobility?” McCownGordon Construction started handing out loaner iPads to contractors, which has helped with the improvement of saving time at the job site both with the contractor and in regards to communication within the project. Ultimately, this moves closer to producing an environment that will lead to greater buy-in for creating productivity with mobility. The issue is to view the technology like a construction project and stop gutting and rebuilding technology every year. Users must remember it’s a living, breathing focus toward an engaging mind on the workflow of a project vs. the complete destruction and further rebuilding. After all, why would we continue to do this if it does not work?
Further discussion centered on some of the issues with Bluetooth, including the low power of keyboards and problems with headphones and communication. But what about smart beacons, like NFC, QR codes, Wi-Fi or Tile active RFID? Using smart beacons to help clock in and out at the job site can be a useful tool. Yet, we must consider whether this type of technology, along with the necessary software, is available to use. And finally, is there a method of trading date to the device? The short answer is “yes,” but nothing there is nothing standard across the industry at this time.
The moderator then asked, “What is COSA?” COSA is the time date being passed around with the intent to use whatever content is being used and send it out to whatever cloud service is being used like BOX, Dropbox, etc., which could be taking off soon. The use of smart codes to download plan room data with mobility is saving time. The alliance of the businesses developing an open source standards in the the industry. An example of this is companies like Trim and Autodesk pushing and developing to be the leaders of StetchUp and Bimm into one product. These companies are using Augmented Reality, or AR, along with the use of GEO-located AR. One example might include pointing your mobile device at an ad in Times Square, followed by a car pulling out of the ad and driving off. This is where everything is happening, but if a standard is not developed, this whole idea will go nowhere. Developing an object and displaying an idea in construction is critical. The use of smart reality to be able to interact with a Revit mobile and scale it to size and scope in an impressive tool, and modeling of the object can be displayed depending on your point of view.
Finally, the discussion closed with the question, “So, how did you get your company started with mobility?” Panelists agreed that it cannot be dismissed for the need for more real time data is important. The importance of just getting started and diving into a fully developed and well thought-out process to be more lateral in agility and be able to have the best products in a fast and efficient manner is key. Mobility is not just handing out an iPad and expecting your employees have full integration and then expecting them to experience the product at it fullest. Rather implementation of training helps to move past the scare of hitting the wrong button. Most people jump into mobility via their phones, so before training there needs to be a discussion on what are you going to do with the mobile device. App design is at the heart of this with being able to work offline. If you don’t have mobility with clearly developed goals for moving forward, it’s unlikely you’ll remain competitive in your industry.
