Technology Consumption

The world is entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Processing and storage capacities are rising exponentially, and knowledge is becoming accessible to more people than ever before in human history. The future holds an even higher potential for human development as the full effects of new technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, energy storage and quantum computing unfold.
The exponential speed of developments; disruption across all major industries; and the impact on entire systems of production, management, and governance are what differentiates these developments from previous industrial revolutions. However, while all these developments will bring benefits, they also carry risks. If managed well, they have the potential to give rise to innovation that will drive growth and social impact.

If not handled appropriately, challenges such as the rising threat of cyberattacks that expand into the physical world, privacy issues, and the polarising effects of technologies on labour markets, could derail the benefits. Countries and businesses that embrace developments, anticipate challenges, and deal with them in a strategic way are more likely to prosper, while those that do not will more likely fall behind.

Information and communication technologies are the backbone of this revolution

Information and communication technologies are the backbone of this revolution. The future of countries, businesses, and individuals will depend more than ever on whether they embrace digital technologies.

Since 2001,

The Global Information Technology Report

series published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in partnership with business school Insead and Cornell University has measured the drivers of the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution globally, using the Networked Readiness Index (NRI). The Index has evolved over time and currently assesses the state of networked readiness (the measure the propensity for countries to exploit the opportunities offered by ICT) using 53 individual indicators. For each of the 139 economies covered, it allows the identification of areas of priority to more fully leverage ICT for socioeconomic development.

The 2016 edition of the NRI placed Singapore as the number one country in the world for networked readiness. Finland, which topped the ranking in 2014, remained in second place for a second year in a row, followed by Sweden (3rd), Norway (4th) and the US (5th), which climbed two places. The UK sits in 8th place.

Position of the UK in networked readiness

8th

Four important messages emerge from the report this year. First, innovation is increasingly based on digital technologies and business models, which can drive economic and social gains from ICT if channelled in a smart way. Second, the way businesses adopt ICT is key for leveraging them for development, so encouraging businesses to fully embrace the powers of digital technologies should be a priority of governments. Third, both the private sector and governments need to step up efforts to invest in innovative digital solutions to drive social impact. Last, but not least, a sustainable digital economy will depend on quickly evolving governance frameworks that allow societies to anticipate and shape the impact of emerging technologies and react quickly to changing circumstances.

Worryingly for the UK, the this year found that Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Israel, Singapore, the Netherlands and the US are leading the world when it comes to generating economic impact from investments in ICT.

The UK is in danger of being left behind

Global Information Technology Report

On average, this group of high-achieving economies at the pinnacle of the report’s NRI economic impact pillar scores 33% higher than other advanced economies. The UK is in danger of being left behind, the report concludes.

The seven are all known for being early and enthusiastic adopters of ICT and their emergence is significant, says the WEF, as it demonstrates that adoption of ICT – coupled with a supportive enabling environment characterized by sound regulation, quality infrastructure and ready skills supply among other factors – can pave the way to wider benefits.

Against this background, New Civil Engineer has worked with Bentley Systems to gauge the UK infrastructure industry’s readiness to enter this fourth industrial revolution.

“There is no such thing as a digital future – there is simply no future without digital.” So says Crossrail head of innovation John Pelton.
Crossrail has, famously, driven the digital engineering agenda by becoming the first major infrastructure project client to mandate building information modelling (BIM) throughout. It will be the first infrastructure asset to go live supported by an entirely digital equivalent. It is hoped the investment, while bearing fruit in the construction phase, will really reap rewards in operations and maintenance.

There is simply no future without digital

Crossrail head of innovation John Pelton.

Bentley Systems has supported Crossrail throughout its BIM and digital engineering journey and it can see the beginnings of a convergence of technologies that could really see a leap forward in the way infrastructure owners operate and maintain their assets.

“There are clients and owners who have said that they can’t possibly afford the capacity increases that are needed, but they don’t seem too worried,” Bentley chief executive Greg Bentley tells New Civil Engineer. “Maybe the biggest takeaway is the notion that we can’t possibly get there, even with greater efficiency in building capacity. These clients say we can’t build our way out of it.

“So there is this need for having our infrastructure work smarter, and in effect getting ‘synthetic capacity’ through information technology (IT) and brain power,” he says.

“There’s a convergence at this time. We have access to IT and have operational technologies (OT) hooked up to sensors, controls, and providing intelligence. Tying things together you can start to make decisions using big data.

“So you have OT, and IT, and to make it all work, to make this synthetic capacity, we need the engineering technology (ET). The DNA in all of this is the engineering knowledge, used to create the asset performance models.

“Engineers can take advantage of these models to provide new services for their clients,” adds Bentley. “Asset owners or operators may want to own the data, but engineers can show them the possibilities and provide the analysis to get the most from their assets.”

This could, by extension, lead to engineering firms selling not people’s time to carry out surveys or work up designs, but to sell serviceability of the asset.

Asset owners or operators may want to own the data, but engineers can show them the possibilities

Bentley chief executive Greg Bentley

Cloud-based digital engineering models are critical to realising the benefits, and it is by extension crucial that engineers grasp the value of cloud-based computing. New breakthroughs in reality modelling, enabled by way of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), digital imaging, and innovative software are making the continuous creation of as-operated digital engineering models possible for every infrastructure asset – but again engineers need to be comfortable living in this world.

Are they though? Bentley Systems vice president for civil and reality modelling, design modelling Dustin Parkman thinks they are.

“I do think the market is primed,” he says. In the civils space we’ve been in the 2D world for a long time. 3D models have been there but as a method to produce something, and usually that’s to squeeze some savings.

“The key is trying to take advantage of cloud-based advances,” he continues.

“We’re trying to make a quantum leap beyond traditional desktop applications where people still spend a lot of their time,” adds Parkman. “How do you bridge that chasm?”

First the good news. Our survey showed that 90% of engineers consider themselves proficient with technology. Interestingly this percentage was consistent across all age demographics groups too, suggesting more experienced engineers are no less confident working and living in a digital world.
The smart phone is the most popular way to access the internet with 37% of all survey respondents, and this increased to 57% in the under 45s.

Percentage of engineers who consider themselves technology proficient

90%

Engineers are clearly app-hungry, with those surveyed revealing they have installed an average of 41 apps on their devices. The majority of these apps were installed on the device, or a mixture of cloud based and device.

Asked when all apps would be cloud based, just under a half said that it would be in the next five years and a substantial 39% thought it would ‘some time’ in the future. However, these responses change significantly by age demographic with 75% of the under 45s with believing all apps would be cloud based within five years.

Ninety per cent of all the survey respondents thought they had everything they needed to be best informed outside of work, with the most popular apps being news and weather apps, closely followed by search tool apps. Not surprisingly 37% thought it “very important” to have 4G when out and about.

But this all changed when respondents were asked about technology consumption within the work place.

In the workplace the laptop was most prevalent, with 90% of respondents saying that was the device they used most often. Sixty percent also had smart phones supplied by their employer, but only a fifth have been given tablets for work use. Maybe not surprisingly only 5% say they use their tablet more than any other device at work.

Far more concerning, not all engineers surveyed felt they had access to the technology to be effective. In fact a third of respondents said they did not have access to the devices and technology they thought they needed for their job.

When asked if respondents believed their personal development and career prospects were being enhanced by their understanding of technology, 36% agreed while 53% thought it made little difference or wasn’t a factor. Just under 7% believed they were being held back by their lack of understanding.

More worryingly, 44% of respondents thought their organisation did not consider training in technology important, and only a little more (48%) considered it was part of their firm’s culture.

When it comes to software packages at work, predictably most used were email and office type packages, with data management and collaboration applications coming a close third. The survey asked a supplementary question about whether respondents faced problems sharing data with other parties on projects. Most did – 93% said this happens sometimes or often, with 4% more saying it always happened.

Encouragingly 61% say that BIM is a key element of everything their company does, with 44% believing their company is already working at Level 2. A further 14% believe their firm to be operating at Level 3 – despite there being no formal government definition yet.

BIM is seen as important though, with nearly 60% of respondents believing BIM will be used for planning, delivering, operating and maintaining every infrastructure project over the next five years.

Just as well, as over half of our respondents said they worked in excess of 40 hours a week and two thirds said they were feeling the pressure to work more efficiently.

Those who felt under pressure were using a number of tactics, including managing time better, and collaborating more effectively. An encouraging 25% said they were relying more on technology to increase their capacity.

Talking about the infrastructure industry, 78% of survey respondents thought it was driving the adoption of new technologies either quite well or averagely. Some 32% thought the industry was doing it quite badly or badly.

When asked how well did they think their organisation was driving the adoption of new technologies, the results were as positive, with 82% believing their company was doing this averagely, quite well, or very well.

But blockers were identified. And the biggest of these, according to the respondents asked what affected their own adoption of technology, were: lack of authority to change (60%), and security concerns (54%). Economic climate was a lesser concern, cited by half of respondents, followed by lack of connectivity or suitable digital infrastructure connectivity (48%), and training (47%).

The ageing workforce does not appear to a blocker, with just over two thirds saying it had not affected their organisation’s adoption of technology.

And the UK and Europe appear to be leading the field when it comes to the adoption of technology on infrastructure projects, according the survey respondents’ experience. Over half thought the region was most advanced, with a fifth naming the US and Canada. China and the Far East just pipped the Middle East with 15% of respondents citing those regions.

The transportation infrastructure world is changing. The speed and volume of data collection and creation is accelerating at a rate never seen before, and is not something that will slow down. Put simply, there is no future without digital technology – it is changing all our lives, work, society and the environment.

The use of technology to derive additional value, provide context, insight, and accessibility, transforms data into valuable information. The evolution of building information modelling (BIM), its growing importance and adoption around the world has been interesting to observe. Once confused with 3D modeling, CAD, and often associated with just buildings, today it is more widely recognised as a methodology enabled by technology. When embraced by all, BIM can be used to manage process and deliver value to all associated with the design, construction and operation of any infrastructure asset.

Leveraging technology to manage, shape and share data not only makes it easier to collaborate and deliver projects more efficiently, it can enable different and better business models. For example, connecting engineering models with sensors that measure asset condition to create an ‘internet of things’ can increase the availability and reliability of transportation assets throughout their operational life. Intelligent infrastructure could include predictive analytics hooked up to real-time measurement of performance, enabling more effective operational decisions based on captured data.

This report discusses how engineers’ use of technology in everyday life can help us understand what is driving adoption and focus in their work lives. First it explores the trends and potential effect of new technologies including but not limited to wearables, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and cloud-based computing. Second, at the business drivers and what is generating the need for us all to work more efficiently and smarter through technology. Finally, it looks at the rate of adoption, blockers and risks to a fully digital future.

We hope you will find this report valuable.

Technology is relentlessly consuming more and more of our time both at work and at home. But how much, and how fast? We wanted to find out. New Civil Engineer editor Mark Hansford explains.

There are plenty of stats out there for the general population. Take Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2016, published this Autumn. It found that such is our dependence – addiction even – that one in three adult internet users (34%), equivalent to 15M people in the UK, has sought a period of time offline. The rise of this so-called ‘digital detox’ comes as faster internet access is more widely available than ever before, with take-up of superfast broadband2 and 4G on the increase.

And with people better connected than ever before, they can spend more time doing what they love online – such as watching the latest on-demand series, or chatting with friends and family via instant messaging services, both of which have seen a recent surge in popularity.

Three in four internet users consider the web ‘important’ to their daily lives. Nearly eight out of 10 agree it helps keep them up-to-date about current affairs and social issues, while almost two thirds credit it with inspiring them to try new things such as travel destinations, restaurants, recipes or entertainment.

As a result of the internet’s importance in many people’s daily lives, adult users in the UK currently spend an average of one day per week (25 hours) online; 42% say they go online or check apps more than 10 times a day, while around one in 10 (11%) access the internet more than 50 times daily.

Most internet users (59%) even consider themselves ‘hooked’ on their connected device – while a third (34%) admit they find it difficult to disconnect.

That’s the general population. But what about infrastructure professionals?

We know technology is increasingly part of the engineer’s professional lives. Indeed, New Civil Engineer relaunched in January this year by asking how the industry can deliver differently by making better use of emerging technology.

This research shows that engineers and infrastructure professionals are not so different to the general population: heavily dependent on technology in their home lives and, indeed, looking to use technology as a means of personal development and a way to improve their career. Over a third saw their technology skills as career-enhancing; only 12% saw it as not a factor.

But what about the companies they work for? Well, here is where the gap is.

Less than half of all our respondents (42% in fact) said that their firm saw training in technology as a key part of its work culture. Only a little over half (55%) said BIM was a key element in all their organisation does.

No wonder then that not one survey respondent rated the civil engineering industry as very good at driving the adoption of technologies, with far more saying it is doing badly than doing well.

Engineers rated their own firms as doing better, with twice as many saying their firm was doing well than saying their firm was doing badly.

Yet issues remain. Almost a third of civil engineers said they felt they lacked access to the devices and technology to be at their most effective at work, and that is significant given that by far the biggest influencer on the choice of technology used was the employer.

Lack of authority to change the way things are done was cited as the biggest blocker, with security concerns a close second.

So it seems the survey supports the impression that the construction industry is behind the curve; resistant and unresponsive to change.

But the simple fact that so many infrastructure professionals have a hunger for technology means that this just cannot be the way forward. Technology is advancing so fast that firms are simply going to have to get on board.