Читать книгу The Construction Technology Handbook - Hugh Seaton - Страница 25

Within weeks of the lockdowns caused by the Covid‐19 pandemic, construction companies and their technology providers were adjusting to the need for social distancing by conducting many more meetings remotely, and were beginning to apply on‐site sensing technology to monitor social distancing.

Companies like StructionSite, that provide 360° photo management of job sites, provided their services free or at reduced fees for construction clients who were adjusting to social distancing, and who were suddenly less keen to send non‐essential staff anywhere. Similarly, like everyone else, construction teams have become much more willing to hold meetings over digital teleconferencing software. After months of this, many have permanently changed workflows and processes to be more digital and remote.

The length of the social distancing requirements during lockdown and gradual re‐opening has meant that many processes will change forever, and the coming years will see the effects of that change as new features on existing products, as well as entirely new products, are introduced to address these changes, and in some cases make new workflows possible. As an example, we expect that virtual and augmented reality will both find swifter acceptance and adoption in a world where being together physically is much less valued than it once was.

Across industries, we have seen company after company report that the Covid‐19 pandemic has led to a decade of technology adoption happening in a few months. It has caused cherished assumptions, like the need to be physically in the same space, to be challenged and proven wrong, making other assumptions open to re‐evaluation. We cannot yet know the final impact of so large a change, but Covid‐19 has already led to big changes in construction's use of technology.