Electrification, carbon removal, and the onshoring of manufacturing has created an abundance of construction and field service opportunities. And with the rise of digital infrastructure, data is now collected, processed, and analyzed at every point in the asset lifecycle. Even so, data collection and analysis can’t turn a wrench. At the end of the day, insights from data must be communicated to front-line teams to drive action in the field. In this final section of the Digital Infrastructure Deep Dive, we cover Data Utilization Platforms – software that is used to transfer insights from analytics teams in the office to operations teams in the field, allowing assets to be built and maintained safely and efficiently.
Data utilization platforms are digital tools that drive action in the field when building, operating, or maintaining distributed carbon assets. For example:
Entrepreneurs are recognizing that digitization in climate industries like construction and HVAC is lagging. Fortunately, we can pull forward digital adoption in these climate industries by applying analogs from sectors that are more digitally mature. For example, in the software development industry, Atlassian’s Jira project management tool enables teams to plan, track, and support new projects. Similarly, in the construction industry, Sitetracker* enables infrastructure developers to plan, track, and maintain EV charging stations.
Because we have been building infrastructure for centuries, many of the opportunities in this sector do not require the creation of new markets or significant behavior changes. Instead, these solutions can access existing budgets set aside for current manual processes. By digitizing existing processes, and using the insights gathered from data collection, management, and analytics, we can pinpoint actions to streamline work and can execute projects faster, safer, and at a lower cost.
Today, the pace of project completion has never been more important. Demand for new infrastructure combined with an influx of capital available for climate asset investment has led to a generational increase in construction spending. However, projects continue to be bottlenecked by soft costs in project management. This is where a robust digital infrastructure is essential, activating tools to improve visibility into project performance or streamline communication between stakeholders. These simple strategies can improve construction productivity and help deploy more assets faster.
End-to-end project management platforms drive efficiencies in easily digitized tasks (i.e., scheduling, bidding, invoice management, design collaboration). But in construction, variability at the jobsite itself can prohibit scale. A common saying in the industry is, “every project is a prototype.” In other words, each project consists of new blueprints, new contractors, and new regulations in each jurisdiction. Finding ways to standardize offerings by automating repeatable workflows is the quickest way to build an efficient business in project management. For example, companies like DroneDeploy* automate drone flights, enabling project managers to easily collect project data repeatably and at scale.
It’s no secret that labor and materials prices are high right now. The inelasticity of supply combined with the increased demand for new projects has created a “hair on fire” problem for contractors and material suppliers. Fortunately, software tools are playing a role in closing the labor and materials gap. Platforms like UpSmith that help contractors find qualified workers are gaining popularity as companies begin to search for efficiencies in the hiring process. Moreover, materials suppliers are rapidly adopting software like Handle and Prokeep to manage the sale and financing of construction materials and respond to increases in demand.
Finally, recent digitization efforts in the field have led to efficiency gains on the jobsite. Quite literally replacing pen and paper, software today is used to dispatch workers, prevent safety incidents, and track success in the field. Most software in this category is provided to subcontractors for free but is paid for by the general contractor that has hired them. This allows the software company to sell once to the general contractor but access a user base of thousands of subcontractors. The tools that succeed have a simple interface that promotes usability and provide enough value to generate network effects when subcontractors move to new jobs. Leaders in this space include Urbint*, which uses AI to identify threats to workers and infrastructure in the field.
Software platforms can magnify the impact of climate assets by streamlining manual processes during construction, maintenance, and operations. By applying data utilization tools, climate industries are reducing their own soft costs and completing projects faster. In the attached report, we dive deeper into data utilization technologies and highlight the macro trends driving entrepreneurs to build the digital infrastructure for the sustainability transition. Think there is an area we missed or a technology you’d like to explore more? Reach out! mtomasovic@energizecap.com
*Energize portfolio company
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