New snapshot research from Zutec explores digital adoption challenges and opportunities.
Today, Zutec, a leading provider of construction and property management software solutions, reveals the findings of proprietary snapshot research, drawn from UK housebuilders.
It was undertaken by Zutec to evaluate the pace of data digitalisation and adoption across the sector, but also covers the motivations behind it, and the barriers to it, while looking at what’s next in terms of technology investment areas.
The findings draw on polling and conversations with some of the UK’s leading residential developers, and show a sector that is keen to go digital but still faces challenges.
Of the 50 respondents, it’s encouraging to see the overwhelming majority (81%) are well into their digital journey, with a third (32%) flagging they were already at an advanced stage. Given the historic perception of slow digital adoption in the construction industry, this is very encouraging, indicating more positive attitudes to the process.
Not only that, over half (53%) stated they were well set up to embrace and adopt new technology, whilst the remainder were making progress. This shows integration is becoming easier through better internal preparation and understanding.
The research also indicated tightening regulations were a motivator for adoption, particularly Part L, where 84% said they had adopted a Photographic Evidence Compliance solution. Software and applications for managing Quality Assurance (QA) inspections and checklists (77%) were a close second, followed by snagging and defect management (52%), and lastly managing health and safety (49%), to ensure correct safety measures are in place on-site.
Indeed, Part L compliance, with its photographic evidencing requirement, was singled-out by four-fifths (81%) as a particular headache, with a third saying this was due to getting the right quality of photos (33%), and the subsequent management of thousands of photos (19%), being the problem. It has become a primary reason for introducing digital data solutions in the first place.
Upcoming fire barrier evidencing requirements (37%) are also an emerging investment, and will no doubt influence future solutions and enhancements from quality and data management providers.
The survey also found the process of introducing new digital solutions has not been without challenges. Many highlighted the difficulties faced trying to establish a digital-first culture, stressing the importance of addressing the human factor when introducing digital solutions. Winning hearts and minds can be a struggle, with over half stating pushback from on-site teams (53%) as a challenge to technology adoption. 44% suggested entrenched processes and habits represented a stumbling block. Not only that, a lack of adequate, standardised training (35%), and technical/solution understanding (37%) were also issues if a clear definition of the benefits of adoption were not offered.
To overcome these teething problems, respondents wanted easy-to-use platforms (81%) and software with greater speed (72%) and accuracy (70%) and technical support (56%), to support the collating and managing of data and quality processes.
It’s clear the while the housebuilding sector has made significant progress towards digitising data, information and processes, there’s still some way to go. Upcoming digital investment areas include further QM digitisation for better QA processes (27%), and more technology investment going to regulatory areas such as the Building Safety Act (26%), to support the Golden Thread of Information.
Mike White, CTO at Zutec, says, “It’s encouraging to see such a positive approach to digitalisation, which was decidedly lacking a decade ago. Whilst safety and sustainability legislation are undoubtedly a crucial factor in adoption growth, it goes deeper than that. Many housebuilders want to do the best by their clients and the people who will occupy the homes they build by ensuring higher standards of safety, sustainability and quality across new homes.
“Zutec’s research underscores the importance of investing in more specialised training to ensure the successful adoption of digital tools and solutions. As regulations become stricter and construction activity increases in the coming years, training personnel at scale will likely be a more significant challenge than convincing the industry about the effectiveness of powerful platforms like Zutec.”
To find out more about Zutec’s Housebuilder-focused research, and its award-winning portfolio of Quality Management solutions click here.