Tech Adoption in Construction

The construction industry is often said to be slow to embrace technology. Small construction businesses, in particular, may be less rapid adopters compared with other industries.

A new survey from Kabbage, a digital lender that offers lines of credit for small businesses, polled 800 small-business owners across several industries about integrating technology into workflow. The survey revealed that some builders lag behind other businesses.

When asked whether they plan to invest in technologies to remove manual processes, reduce paperwork, and amp up productivity, about half of surveyed builders said yes, a lower than average response compared with other small-business owners. Builders also trailed other small businesses in terms of investing in cybersecurity to protect their company and customer data—also lower than all business owners surveyed.

Mobile technologies, such as apps and mobile advertising, were less popular among construction business owners than others, as 34 percent said they plan to make such an investment. Of all the owners surveyed, more than half said they plan to invest in mobile technologies. The least popular tech strategy among construction business owners was real-time digital analytics, or “big data” solutions. Just 23 percent said they would invest in such technology.

Victoria Treyger, Kabbage’s chief revenue officer, notes that the trend is telling in light of current U.S. labor shortages. Kabbage conducted the survey to gain insight into business investment outlooks for 2018, including how business owners intend to invest in growth strategies.