B Swaminathan
According to a recent report by KPMG, the demand for construction projects has already fallen due to poor sentiments, lowering operating surplus, and incomes, diversion of funds for COVID-19 management, and credit and liquidity problems. Bipradas Bandyopadhyay is a technology leader, with close to two decades of experience, feels that the Indian construction sector has a long way to go when it comes to technology adoption. Having a wide experience in tech, academics, he is currently the CIO of Zuari Infraworld. In a quick chat, he shares the ways, the transformations in the construction sector post-COVID and technology adoptions.
What are the ways, the construction sector is impacted by the lockdown?
The onset of COVID-19 pandemic has given a huge jolt in the operation of the construction sector and has impacted both Sales and Construction fronts equally. Social Distancing, lockdown measures, job losses, disruption of supply chain and movement of people have forced all the real estate developers to extend their timeline of completion of ongoing projects. With national and international economies bearing the brunt of this pandemic, there lies a very uncertain and tough time ahead for the real estate developers across the country where the need of the hour will be to re-organize and re-structure their operations to sustain their businesses. As people mindset in this pandemic situation will tend towards conserving their money due to the uncertain future, sales of residential units across the country are expected to diminish to a great extent in the year 2020 and beyond.
In general, what is the level of dependency on technology by Indian construction companies? How is it different from counterparts from other nations?
It generally depends on the construction company and their inclination towards investing in technologies appropriate to the industry. As such the standard project management software like MSP, Primavera are commonly deployed by mostly all of the companies and some of them would also use different ERPs such as Oracle, SAP, Navision to meet their operational requirements. In the construction activities per se, usage of technology by the Indian companies is not high as they still think it a labour intensive.
In contrast, the international construction companies have already moved ahead and deployed many advanced technological tools such as robots, sensors, automated tools (like plastering injector machines) in the field to carry out safer and faster construction work in a shorter time period. They also use advanced tools in project management activity which makes all approvals inside and outside the company, reviews, communications paper-less, and provides efficient tracking and monitoring systems. Usage of ERPs in those companies is widely spread with more focus to generate correct MIS and Financial reporting including the statutory filings as in those countries Governments have made a statutory filling online a long time ago.
What is the technological transformation you notice in the coming days specifically to the people-driven construction sector post-COVID 19?
Post COVID-19, a lot more focus is expected on the use of available technologies in construction activities such as the use of robotics, automated tools to replace the loss/reduction of manpower as workers have migrated to their homes, and may not be returning soon. In the sales front, almost all the activities will now move to Digital front such as virtual site visit, online booking, payments, online document management, property registration. Back office work in companies will become more technology-driven with a focus on making the paper-less office a reality soon.
How, from a support role IT teams in the construction sector had transformed into a cost-cutting and then later to a profit-making role, Since generic ERP Suites doesn’t handle practical Industry nuances of yours, how do you manage the same?
IT team in the construction sector has currently many-fold activities to execute apart from the usual ‘keeping the systems on’ for IT infrastructure. The team has increasingly participated in Digital Transformation initiatives where their technical skills, resource management, and innovative skills have been fully utilized to make businesses agile and responsive to the market conditions. One key segment where IT teams have contributed heavily is the Digital Marketing medium where through the use of data analytics they have complemented marketing teams to make their strategies operational in an effective manner.
It is true that generic ERPs don’t suit construction sector requirements (like Mbook, Indent, Work Order, RA bill, etc.) as they were designed initially keeping the manufacturing sector as a template. On that front, locally developed ERPs have played a significant role in suiting the requirements of the sector by providing a customized version of their ERPs. In this regard, it has been observed that in some of these locally developed ERPs the reporting or data consistency is lacking thereby making it difficult for companies to take decisions. Microsoft Dynamics (Navision) has captured the market quite well in recent times by being flexible to the requirements of the construction sector and providing its partners (like CETAS) authorization to deliver custom modules particularly suiting the need of the companies in India and outside.
What are the key suggestions/ advice you will provide for the graduates entering the IT teams of the construction sector?
As the graduates are fresh with no baggage in their minds, it will be easier for them to learn new technologies and make a mark in their career. The following are some of the key suggestions which would help them:
1) Ready to un-learn
2) Be Innovative to deliver product/service as per changing business requirements.
3) Be quick in your response (whether accepting/rejecting)
4) Be firm in your decisions but suitably backed up by data
5) Ready to take advice from your seniors.
ADVERTISEMENT
