THE Philippine construction industry is beginning to show its promise as it embraces technology, according to a report released by Procore Technologies Inc., a leading global provider of construction management software.

The report, titled “How We Build Now 2022 – Tracking technology in Asia Pacific Construction in 2022,” looks at the five markets in the Asia-Pacific region — Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. It gathered insights from more than 1,100 respondents within the construction industry from these five countries.

It examined the general sentiment of the industry, the digital maturity and adoption of construction technologies, as well as

the challenges and opportunities that businesses face.

The construction industry continues to face significant headwinds, with top challenges cited being the increasing cost of raw materials and equipment, maintaining safe working environments and increasing productivity.

However, almost all respondents in the Philippines expressed confidence about industry conditions over the next 12 months, with an overwhelming majority also expecting an increase in the number of projects over the same timeframe.

Technology is key

Construction firms in the Philippines understand that digital transformation is required to overcome these challenges, with 26 percent of construction businesses already being digital-first and 56 percent being “well on the way” in their digital transformation journey.

In fact, 2 in 3 Filipino construction decision-makers reported an increase in their digital investments during the last 24 months. Further research also found that Filipino respondents recognize the benefits of construction technology, in particular the reduced reliance on human labor, the ability to handle more projects and resource efficiency through less rework.

However, the digital transformation journey is not without obstacles. The report found that top barriers of digital transformation include changing established behaviors and overcoming concerns around data security. These are followed by the costs involved to transform digitally, inadequate software solutions, and a lack of support from technology providers and vendors. More than 1 in 3 respondents also cited the challenge of informing and educating those in the industry.

“A key issue with construction technology lies with a history of it being built by tech people, not construction people. This creates a mismatch of expectations between what businesses want technology to do and what it can actually do,” said Bruce Wells, vice president of Asia, Procore.

“Procore understands the pain points that the industry faces, and we build solutions to directly address them,” said Wells.