A vision for success: Key trends reshaping construction in 2024

By Jake Macholtz, CEO, InEight

Against a backdrop of high inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, and ongoing labor and skills shortages, the construction industry has remained buoyant. From oil and gas and renewable energy to water and transport, markets have continued to generate substantial demand for new infrastructure with the project backlog increasing in 2023. At the same time, we have seen a huge increase in awareness of the power of digital transformation, in part driven by the launch of platforms such as ChatGPT and broader industry modernization. 

As we enter 2024, organizations will need to balance delivering on the substantial backlog of projects, while progressing toward full digital transformation. 

Machine learning and data analytics to spur data capture

The potential of machine learning and predictive analytics to transform construction has become undeniable. Organizations want to know for themselves what impact they could have and whether their outputs will match their own experience. However, good quality data is an essential pre-requisite for those seeking to leverage historic project knowledge, improve risk management and make workforce productivity improvements. 

At present, less than half (48%) of organizations are using historic project data to improve project outcomes, according to results from this year’s Global Construction Projects Outlook (GCPO). Meanwhile, an inability to see current project status and data at a detailed level was the number one challenge for 57% of the contractors surveyed. As a result, in 2024 we can expect to see many more organizations putting robust processes in place to collect, cleanse, and store their data in standardized formats so that it can be used to inform project decisions. 

Collaboration and risk sharing 

Collaborative project delivery models and a shared approach to risk is expected to continue to grow in 2024 and beyond, driven by ongoing supply chain challenges and opportunities for greater data analytics. 

GCPO results indicate that contractors and owners are increasingly looking to move away from traditional project delivery formats. The use of integrated project delivery (IPD) is set to increase nearly 10% over the next 3-5 years with design-bid-build decreasing in line. 

Contractors and asset owners opting for IPD are reporting improved project certainty, with more projects delivered on or ahead of schedule than with other project delivery methods. Through collaboration, a much more accurate schedule-scope-risk profile can be developed, meaning projects from 2024 onwards have the potential to benefit from being rescoped and redesigned ahead of time, leading to better project outcomes. 

Digital transformation in bite-sized pieces

While a healthy pipeline of projects is always welcome news, the increasing backlog means that with staff busier than ever, companies have more limited resources to deliver digital transformation. In addition, according to a recent InEight snapshot survey, while 54% of professionals say their organization is holding steady on their current technology improvement plans, 21% say their organization is deferring planned investments until they have a better idea of what the future holds.

Rather than put digital transformation on the backburner, we can expect to see more organizations opting to take bite-sized pieces to address individual pain points with individual solutions in 2024. Those seeking to be smart about digital transformation will look for solutions that naturally form part of a complete end-to-end project delivery platform. Doing so will give an organization time to transform at their own pace, while also gaining the assurance that additional point solutions can be integrated seamlessly in future. 

Digitally transforming estimating, document control, health and safety, and quality management will all be top of the list for 2024 with many more organizations seeking to leverage previous project experience and forecasting capabilities.