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In the view of the increase in the scale, complexity and number of construction projects, use of information technology has become critical for emerging infra companies, writes Syed Ameen Kader

The advantage of having IT solution in place is now fast being realised by emerging construction companies in India as well. Although the big companies have been early adopters of IT solution, a lot of mid-sized and smaller companies are not ready to miss the bus now, thanks to growing competition and emergence of complex projects. India is experiencing a huge surge in construction activities and these are likely to intensify further in the years to come.

With more number of complex and difficult projects taking place in India, the situation has thrown open a new challenge for construction companies. So, should they accept the challenge or remain out of the competition? That’s the question that many companies are asking themselves. Interestingly, they are ready to take the challenge. “I am positively surprised by the way Indian companies are adopting Information Technology (IT). This is happening not only within big companies but also in case of small and medium companies. Medium sized companies are surprisingly moving fast,” says Satish Pendse, Chief Information Officer for Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) which is one of the service providers in this sector, HCC helps implement IT solution along with its partners such as SAP and HP.

But how should a construction company go about it, especially, when many of them in India are traditionally been run as family business without much exposure to IT. Should it invest in IT? Will its staff be able to adapt to the new environment? Which software or solution it should go for? Which solution will be best suitable for its business? The questions list might grow even bigger for a novice company who has not started using IT till now.

But, thanks to service providers and vendors, those concerns can well be taken care of. Experts suggest there are two ways one can go about it - hiring an implementation company; or buy solution directly from vendors/IT companies.

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You can hire an implementation company with construction background to study your requirements and suggest what system you should buy. Such companies along with IT vendors can help study your requirement, suggest the right system and help you with implementation process. “IT solution can be implemented either from a technology perspective or from a business perspective. The differentiator that we bring to the table is the business perspective,” says Pendse who has implanted a number projects for companies like Oriental Structural Engineers, Monte-Carlo Construction, Pratibha Industries, Neptune Developers, JSW Severfield Structures, Lloyd Insulations, Ahuja Group besides others.

Pendse says an IT solution can be deployed in multiple ways and it’s crucial to determine the most appropriate way to deploy it. “Many times, what is technologically optimal may not necessarily be workable in the construction industry, considering its nature of operations and the mindset of its people. Since we have the legacy of 80+ years of industry experience, we possess a knowhow of what will work for the construction industry personnel,” he adds.

Pendse recommends companies to go for world-class IT solutions/platforms and not to settle for anything lower. “This is because the industry is growing at such a rapid pace that the organizations become big even before they realise it and then the non-world-class IT solutions become a limitation. It’s very difficult to change the IT platform at that stage,” he adds.

There are a number of IT companies who provide customised solution for infrastructure sector. IT companies say over 90% of the IT automations that fail in any environment are due to poor adaption.

It is important to note the demographics of the average employee in a construction/infrastructure company. “These people are mostly in the mid 40s and 50s, with extensive domain experience in construction and some exposure to the computing world, mostly CAD, Windows, Microsoft Office Excel and maybe MS Project or Primavera. This demographic is true the world over and not just in India. We have designed and built Aurigo BRIX specifically keeping this demographic in mind. As a result, the ‘Ease of Use’ and ‘Industry Ready’ features figure in our highest priorities, which makes a world of a difference in adaption and eventual success of the solution deployed,” says Balaji Sreenivasan, Founder & CEO, Aurigo Software Technologies.

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