Thomas manages the Trackunit sales organization in EMEA. He is a stronger believer in the digitization of processes to create higher productivity. Thomas believes that the industry is on the next hop of its journey to digitization. There are lessons to be learned from other industries. Although it’s not an easy journey by any means.

Thomas has gained immense experience in simulation and environment modelling to improve real-life processes. Achieving those ‘eureka’ moments requires data, and often as much data as you can collect. Using data provides measurable return on investment and provides decision makers accurate data for their decisions.

Based in the US for 10 years, Thomas worked for a software company that created enterprise collaboration software. Through his work he realized that other industries had gone through this journey and had made great improvements.

Considering the construction industry, he knew, “Other industries have been where we are. They now share data, build models, test them, learn from it and continue developing the models.” Industries with higher productivity than construction have created platforms where data can be shared in a trusted environment to solve specific business problems. They are using data to provide new services to their clients.

The most exciting journeys, when you look back, are the ones that have the most challenges along the way, like climbing Kilimanjaro.

Thomas Bülow

Construction is the second least digitized industry. A key cause is the reticence to share data, as organizations views data as a competitive advantage. This lack of open collaboration and siloed approach is harmful to the whole of the construction industry.

The aviation example, all pilots and traffic control are being monitored and the industry is learning from their mistakes. Companies across the aviation industry uses the data to take action, update processes, systems and training, and develop new products and services, so mistakes are not repeated. Mistakes in aviation are reducing because of this analysis. Conversely, mistakes in the medical industry have increased, because it’s a sector where openly share data was not available.

It is time for a revolution in the construction industry. The industry needs companies to embrace the paradigm shift – to acknowledge what can be learned from other industries – And to build open collaboration platforms to provide the basis for massive positive change.

The technology is here and it’s super-exciting, however, people are holding onto data so tight, that they have white knuckles. Organizations need to release the data-fist and be prepared to collaborate. The better the data quality, the more the industry shares it, the further up the curve towards predictive analytics the whole value chain will go. And the closer the goal of Eliminating Downtime will be.