JBKnowledge recently released the 8th Annual Construction Technology Report. From the amount allocated to IT investment and training satisfaction, to the continued prevalence of spreadsheets (even when there is dedicated software) and the factors that limit technology adoption, here are our top take-aways from the report.

First, a brief overview of respondent demographics:

Article written by Rob Preston and appears on Forbes.com

Speed. Security. Agility. Innovation. Automation. Insight. These are the words leading CIOs keep coming back to when explaining their technology, business, and organizational priorities.

Article written by Chris Moor on ConstructionExec.com

The construction industry is ripe for improvement and brimming with potential. It’s also expected to be a 10 trillion-dollar industry by 2020. Today, construction constitutes 13% of the global gross domestic product, yet it’s well documented that productivity growth remains dramatically low. In reality, construction is emerging from old ways of thinking and challenges that span people, processes and technology. 

Survey Says: Contractors Committed to Tech, Industry Still Faces Hurdles

Highlights from JBKnowledge’s 2018 Construction Technology Report

Article written by Andy Holtmann on the Viewpoint blog.

Now in its seventh year, the annual Construction Technology Report compiled by JBKnowledge is one of the most impressive surveys in the industry, providing the latest trends on everything from construction software, IT budgets and workflows, mobile apps, emerging technologies and more. The 2018 Construction Technology Report is now available and we recommend checking it out.

Here are some of the key highlights and themes we saw throughout:

Article written by Rob Preston and appears on Forbes.com

CIOs head into 2019 amid a relatively strong, though volatile, global economy. This volatility will only further unsettle their often-precarious position of having to take on new digital projects and innovate at an accelerating pace while also having to lock down costs. It all makes for a “schizophrenic” state of affairs, notes one CIO.

As in past years, CIOs have to make hard choices. Principal among them: how to shift the investment balance from legacy systems to new, mostly cloud-based applications, capabilities, and technologies (artificial intelligence, blockchain, data analytics) while improving security, reliability, and scalability. Oy.

In this, our seventh annual list of the 10 most important challenges CIOs face and opportunities they must grab in the year ahead, we shine a spotlight on several new priorities, but we also update certain ones from past years. As we noted in past years, real change doesn’t happen in discrete annual steps.

Your priorities may vary—based on the size of your organization, your industry, and/or your management’s appetite for change and ability to invest. But consider these 10 a starting point.

Press release from AGC

Seventy-nine percent of construction firms plan to expand their payrolls in 2019 but an almost equal percentage are worried about their ability to locate and hire qualified workers, according to survey results released today by the Associated General Contractors of America and Sage Construction and Real Estate. The findings are detailed in Contractors Remain Confident About Demand, Worried About Labor Supply: The 2019 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook Report.

“Construction executives appear to remain confident about their market prospects for 2019 and plan to add headcount to cope with the added workload,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. “Even as they are optimistic about growing demand, contractors are concerned about finding qualified workers to execute projects.”

Article written by Rob Preston and appears on Forbes.com

CIOs across the globe are constantly evaluating a fusillade of emerging technologies, business models, and economic movements being fired at them. Machine Learning. Blockchain. The Internet of Things. Industry 4.0. The Subscription Economy. Autonomous Everything. Digital Transformation.

No question, as we begin 2018 the priorities in front of CIOs are daunting, just as they were last year…and the year before that.

But no CIO can ignore the considerable business opportunities those technology-based advances present: lower costs; more efficient supply chains; more secure networks and data stores; more dynamic and reliable products; more personalized customer service; and—if CIOs and their teams get it right—more abundant, loyal customers.

In this, our sixth annual list of the 10 most important challenges CIOs must take on and opportunities they must seize in the coming year, you’ll notice some priorities return from last year, with important updates. As we said last year, real change doesn’t happen in tidy annual increments.