A three-part webinar series scheduled for May, June and July, titled "Mobile, Connected and Data-Driven: Exploring the Technology Trends in Heavy Construction," will provide insights from this study about challenges contractors face in the ways they currently conduct these activities, and where they see the greatest potential for technology to improve processes and outcomes in the very near future.

• May 16, 2018—"Field-Centric Cost Management: Managing Project Costs in Real-Time, Not Accounting-Time" focuses on technologies that allow contractors to manage costs where they occur—in the field—and respond more immediately to field performance data. Register

• June 13, 2018—"Field Data Collection and Intelligence: Better Performance in the Field Begins with Better Data from the Field" focuses on project performance, safety and employee time data capture in the field. Register

• July 11, 2018—"Fleet Maintenance and Management: Turning to Technology to Improve Fleet Maintenance and Management" focuses on the challenges and opportunities around maximizing equipment utilization and cutting maintenance costs for heavy construction fleets. Register

"The Dodge Data & Analytics study confirms that heavy contractors are struggling to capture data and use it to optimize project performance and resources, and that there are significant opportunities for them to improve in these areas through the right technologies and mobile capabilities," says Paul McKeon, founder and CEO of B2W Software.

The study finds that contractors believe a range of current and emerging technologies, from mobile devices and applications for project management to big data analysis, will help provide better data from the field and improve project management. The first webinar on May 16^th will provide more detailed insights into these trends that will impact cost management in the field, including findings around adoption of such technology by employees.

The study also finds that data captured in the field such as information on project and employee performance and safety must be both accurate and timely to be useful for effective decision making, yet latency and errors are reported as a major challenge in heavy construction. "This lag in the exchange of critical data between field and office, and the concerns about its accuracy, seriously interfere with heavy contractors' efforts to improve performance," says Steve Jones, Senior Director of Industry Insights Research with Dodge Data & Analytics, and a lead researcher on the study.

Reinforcing that point, a significant number of contractors surveyed believe that better and timelier data from the field would help them to complete their projects on budget and on schedule. The second webinar on June 13^th will reveal more about how contractors are currently gathering data and approaches that can help improve this process.

Another finding of the study is that tracking and maintaining fleets in the heavy construction market can be a significant drain on both budget and human resources. Despite this high cost, the study shows that many contractors are still relying on spreadsheets and paper for these processes. However, those using specialized software, telematics and mobile applications designed for this purpose find that they manage their equipment more effectively, can better optimize resource utilization, and increase equipment uptime, among several other benefits.