You’re not thinking big enough.
OK, I’ll say it. The acquisition of PlanGrid by Autodesk feels weird. No, really. It’s kind of strange.
There is so much overlap between BIM 360 Docs and PlanGrid that it’s very easy to assume this acquisition is just about buying the customers. But then, it seems like an awful lot of money to spend for acquiring their customer base.
One would hope that $875 million would not be spent on buying something you are going to squash. RIP PlanGrid? I would think not, but stay tuned. Autodesk has a certain, let’s say reputation.
Something else making the whole thing strange, is all the noise that Autodesk has been making about focusing on construction. Especially when it comes to bringing lessons learned from manufacturing to the construction space. Again, this is just my opinion, but I can’t help but wonder what Autodesk could have done with $875 million if it was spent on modernizing Revit, or better yet, extending the development of the Forge platform’s cloud-based modeling capabilities. Fusion 360 for AEC anybody?
In a recent statement, Autodesk and PlanGrid are claiming that this acquisition will (paraphrasing here) “change the landscape of construction technology” Now, I would argue that focusing technology investment on a solution that is built around drawings, is doing very little to push the construction industry as a whole forward.
Why are we still focusing on drawings?
The quality of drawings is abysmal. Rather than continuing to do the same thing over and over, it would be a real step forward to improve the quality of BIM and Project Data.
The very reason PlanGrid has been able to succeed in gaining adoption in the industry is that it asks the end-user to do nothing new. Basically taking a paper based process into the digital realm, albeit with all the benefits that brings yes, but still the process remains unchanged.
The technology is not the problem. The Process is.
That the construction industry will be fixed by improving the flow of information from the office to the field, is a myth. If you are standing on the job site looking into a pit in the ground, wondering what you need to do, neither paper nor tablet is going to help. You have already done something wrong.
To move the construction industry forward, not by small increments, like digitizing blueprints, but in a transformative way, we need to focus on producing much better Data for the project.
Data that can be used in efficient production control, taking lessons from manufacturing and other industries. Only then we will be able to leverage automation and robotics in the way that other industries have.
For the Construction industry, now it’s the time to think big.
It’s not enough to apply new technology to do the same thing over and over. It is now time to look at technology and ask: What does this technology enable me to do better?
Let’s leverage that technology to get away from email and spreadsheets.
Into an environment that provides a search engine for all of your project data.
Allows you to collaborate with your team in a contextual way without having to remember who you need to include in an email thread, but based on roles and responsibilities.
A full digital audit trail of everything that happens on the project for better or for worse.
Let’s use the technology to enable automation of repetitive tasks. Be they in the design process, the construction planning, or in fabrication and installation.
Let’s use that technology to manage the supply chain and integrate it into the design and pre-construction, so then we can build with much more confidence, and with budget certainty.
Let’s use that technology to leverage Data from sensors and cameras on the job site, and automatically capture metrics about the work being performed, instead of having to enter them manually whether it’s on a piece of paper or an app.
Only then will we start to improve on the $1.6 trillion we lose out on globally every year because of inefficiency.
As a venture play, the acquisition by Autodesk of PlanGrid it’s a great success. I’m sure lots of money was made by some people. If The goal was to create a company for sale, Job well done. But if the goal is to move the construction industry forward, I am afraid this does very little.
The one thing this does accomplish, however, is illustrating the disconnect between incumbent technology companies and the industry’s needs. As an AEC professional, you can not rely on software vendors to have your best interest in mind, as they often conflict with what makes most business sense to them.
You must curate your own tech stack of tools that work together to accomplish what you need done and solve your pain-points. Modern Cloud Technology makes this easier than ever, and getting easier by the day.
At Builderbox.io we are builders, and maker’s of the world’s most advanced Project Management and Production Control tools. We help companies and projects globally to digitize their processes so they can Communicate Effectively, Record Everything, and Make Data Driven Decisions for better outcomes.
