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What’s the buzz? Wireless beams in on construction
industry
Contractors
may be adept at installing high-tech equipment for other businesses, but the
construction industry has been slow to embrace technology for its own
operations.
Part of the reason, it must be acknowledged, is that construction workers —
even those who use computers at home — have been reluctant to trade the
paperwork they’ve always done by hand for electronic records they may find
cumbersome and difficult to trust.
Equally problematic, however, is getting the necessary equipment to job sites
and then linking it to computer systems at home offices that may be hundreds
of miles away.
For contractors focused on setting up new job sites, running cable and phone
hookups for computers may be low on the priority list — particularly since
cell phones and pagers make phone hookups unnecessary on many sites.
Scarce software
In addition, software developers have largely ignored the construction
industry, leaving enterprising construction firms to adapt the few available
off-the-shelf programs as required or to devise their own programs if they
wanted them enough. Most didn’t, and the computer and construction industries
stayed on paths that rarely connected.
The times may be changing, however, as wireless technology becomes more
affordable and convenient and software developers begin to think they’ve
missed a market.
Wireless technology uses radio waves, infrared waves or microwaves to
communicate, rather than signals carried through cables. Portable computers,
networks, satellite systems, handheld digital assistants and location devices
— as well as cell phones and pagers — all can connect users without tethering
them.
Access on the run
Wireless systems are ideal for construction site crews, because the devices
can be used anywhere and everyone on the network can access and share the
same information from remote locations. That means, for example, that with
the right program subcontractors could monitor progress on a job and be ready
to begin their portions of the work as soon as the work in progress was
complete.
Such scenarios are becoming reality as software developers begin to exhibit a
newly awakened interest in the $800 billion construction industry. Companies
such as IBM and Receptive Technologies are recognizing the potential for
programs that give contractors real-time access to information from the
field, and are starting to introduce project management programs for
contractors.
The few such programs already available vary from basic setups that allow
site supervisors to submit payroll and similar records without leaving the
site to those that allow subcontractors, suppliers, architects and clients to
communicate, change delivery and work schedules and monitor progress from
wherever they may be.
But as wireless technology continues to advance — the next generation will
begin to support mobile Internet access and real-time video applications — it
is likely that software developers will begin to offer more advanced and
flexible programs for construction project management, as well.
Saving time and money
Companies that have used this software have reported significant time savings
and even more significant reductions in the number of phone calls project
managers must make. In addition, when they use systems that link billing and
supply chains, they can reduce paperwork and administrative time.
Finally, when customers can access the database they can track progress and
relay comments and concerns electronically, without tying up time and phone
lines at the site.
Such programs are just beginning to prove their worth, but it seems likely
that savvy construction companies will be looking closely at their
possibilities — particularly as wireless technology continues to give users
greater freedom to move about.
If contractors like what they find, the era of the low-tech construction
industry could be on the brink of extinction.
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