Connected Construction with Mark Bryant - CIO, PCL Construction
In this episode of our connected enterprise series, we spoke with a special guest, Mark Bryant – CIO, PCL Construction – Canada’s largest construction company and top 15 in North America.
Mark is a pioneer and trailblazer for digital transformation in the construction industry. He is now in his 10th year as the CIO of PCL Construction where he leads their 4 prong digital strategy which has transformed not just PCL Construction but the overall construction industry.
PCL’s people-oriented culture and the clarity in their digital strategy has set a benchmark for other heavy asset and project intensive industries to follow.
Introduction to Mark Bryant and what got him into construction industry?
Here’s a quick introduction to Mark’s career and how and why he got into construction and more specifically PCL Construction.
A game-changer and a trailblazer, Mark has set the template for how the conventional industries need to embrace digital transformation.
You need a Mark in every conventional industry to make technology exciting for the business!
How did Mark see construction industry as a digital transformation opportunity?
Construction has historically remained a laggard only ahead of agriculture when it comes to technology adoption. Mark explains how he saw that as a great opportunity to make a major impact across one of the oldest and most important vertical industries.
Mark further elaborates how transformation is more about the people than technology and why making people part of the mission is critical for the success of any transformation initiative.
4 Pillars of PCL's digital strategy
Mark explains how 10 years back, he defined PCL Construction digital strategy around what he calls the 4 legs of the stool:
- Cloud
- Mobility
- Integration
- Analytics
Construction has typically remained a laggard in terms of technology adoption, ahead of only agriculture. However, companies like PCL Construction and leaders like Mark Bryant are changing that fast.
There’s been more technology introduced in construction in the past 5-7 years than the whole history of construction combined.
Key business drivers behind PCL's digital strategy
Key business drivers behind PCL’s digital strategy and their Crawl, Walk and Run approach as opposed to Big Bang!
Mark elaborates on Safety, Quality and Operational Efficiency at the Job Sites being the key business drivers behind PCL’s digital strategy.
What's "The Next Big Thing" in construction technology?
Top picks for Mark are Drones, Robotics, Wearables, Digital Twins using Internet of Things, Meta-verse and Augmented Reality.
“There’s been more technology introduced in construction in the past 5-7 years than the whole history of construction combined.”
Mark Bryant – CIO, PCL Construction
Mark's advice to other CIO's and VPs of IT in construction and heavy assets industry?
- Experiment often and don’t be afraid to fail
- Get your people involved. They’re your most critical asset
- Be transparent with your executive team and board
- Make IT a marriage with the business for collaborative problem solving
- Rebrand yourself to be more integrated with business in a collaborative fashion not a PnL fashion
- Businesses cannot survive without a solid information technology strategy.
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