NEWS: Why Deliver 21st-Century Infrastructure Using 20th-Century Technology?

The infrastructure industry is notoriously slow to adopt new technology and consequently has missed out on the benefits that other sectors have realized through modernization. With the goal of future-proofing the U.S.'s transportation infrastructure, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) places considerable emphasis on modernizing our roads and bridges as well as the processes and systems the industry uses to build them.

Provisions in the US's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) that provide incentives to adopt advanced digital technology will likely lead departments of transportation and engineering firms to begin exploring new solutions that will improve efficiencies and productivity in the coming years.

Why Adopt Technology Now?

The design, construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure still relies in large part on processes and forms that relegate valuable data to silos, rendering it unwieldy at best and hidden or useless at worst. The industry that manages our infrastructure, often with outdated processes and antiquated systems, now faces the daunting task of delivering billions of dollars in projects without the advantages of robust data collection and insights that come with digital solutions.

Our first steps toward delivering the IIJA program will determine the industry's success and have the potential to create exponential change down the road. As they say, we need to sharpen the ax before chopping the trees.

The full integration of proven technologies into the processes of building and managing infrastructure can establish a foundation from which the industry can adopt and benefit from evolving technologies for the long-term. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) in the construction market, valued at $466.9 million in 2020, is expected to grow during the term of the IIJA legislation to over $2.3 billion by 2026, according to Modor Intelligence. AI and machine learning (ML) have the potential to deliver powerful insights that improve over time based on data utilization. By increasing the volume of data captured now, the industry is laying the groundwork for a day when ML-enabled technology will leverage stored data and proactively flag insights and trends to stakeholders throughout the infrastructure ecosystem.

Effectively Encouraging Adoption Of Technology

Although this program will be years in the making, the industry can create a sense of urgency for it by highlighting proven successes and immediate benefits. For example, we worked with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development as it adopted a visual-based inspection technology, which resulted in the capture of twice as much inspection information, productivity increases of nearly 30% and claims reduction of more than 75% on projects using the technology. These benefits translate to more efficient use of workers' time and taxpayer dollars.

ALSO READ: Digital technologies will power the shift to Infrastructure 4.0

While some in the industry have moved to adopt digital tools, there will likely be a desire among others to cling to the familiar, assuming it will enable efficiency—especially with the daunting tasks of the IIJA ahead. However, quite the opposite is true. Incorporating and expanding the use of proven technologies such as electronic ticketing tools, visual-based inspection, 3D modeling, digital twins and drones will help deliver projects in a more timely and efficient way and convince skeptics of the value of innovation. According to research from the McKinsey Global Institute, digital transformation can improve productivity by 14% to 15%.

Paving The Way For A Smooth Transition

There are two key steps organizations can take to smooth the transition.

Having an executive champion who is committed to the overall vision and the long-term investments necessary to change the way business is done is critical to success, particularly in a system still deeply rooted in traditional systems. However, demonstrating this commitment to investing what is needed financially and creating space for experimentation and research is just the first step in redirecting an organization to adopt a new way of doing things.

Input from staff in the field will ultimately be the measure of how fast an organization can move in a new direction. Selecting a champion for this implementation and engaging with the actual users of the system early and often at multiple levels within the organization is critically important to driving success.

In addition to clearly defining champions, it can be beneficial to demonstrate technology's modularity by making small incremental changes. This can be done by starting small and identifying where there's an immediate need and an opportunity. Pilot programs are the ideal proving ground for a solution.

There is a reason for this industry to rapidly accelerate its adoption of technology as we prepare to implement this once-in-a-generation investment in our nation's transportation infrastructure. In the end, our success will be determined by our first steps on this journey. Industry-wide adoption of advanced digital solutions can reap improved efficiencies, productivity gains and better data-driven project insights both now and in the decades to come.

Accelerating the industry's digital transformation will enable greater data capture, improving efficiency and productivity throughout the implementation of the IIJA program. Real-time sharing, on-demand access and intuitive searchability of that data can measurably improve workflows and relieve the administrative burden that costs professionals valuable time that would otherwise be spent resolving problems and driving projects forward. Not only will the industry accomplish the ambitious goals of the IIJA more effectively by accelerating its technology adoption, but capturing data now—from the inception of the program—can deliver better insights into the progress and success of the IIJA.

The infrastructure design, construction and management processes involve the capture of enormous amounts of data, such as plan modifications, job site observations, daily progress reports, payment information, materials quantity and quality data, compliance data, and many other types of vital project information. Collecting that data offers limited benefits without the ability to share it, interpret it and aggregate it to inform and accelerate action around its meaning. Innovative technologies can help bridge the gap between the capture and use of data.

Source: Forbes