There was a great panel discussion last week at The Future of Construction Summit:
“Setting the direction and unleashing the transformation to digital in construction”.
The key messages were “Every business needs a data strategy” and “Your construction business's IP is now in your data".
I’ve been mulling the debate over for the last few days.
The first point is spot on. The second point however will continue to stifle the much needed innovation in the construction sector. To drive innovation, we must start thinking about openly sharing our IP and data.
When we look at the speed of technology today, we can see that patents and copy rights have often stifled opportunities for faster innovation in the 20th century.
We must move away from being scared of losing what we might think is our slight upper hand. We now need to start thinking about how successful we could be if we had the opportunity to collaborate with other likeminded and forward-thinking companies.
If you are a leading business, employing great people with the right culture, I can guarantee you will continue to be a market leader. You will move much faster than those that aren’t doing this. You don’t need to protect yesterday’s position when you are fully focused on tomorrows.
If others want to jump on your coattails, let them. Hopefully one day they will catch up and help you move faster too.
Not trying to sound like an Elon Musk fan boy, but the companies and people he is involved with are leading the way with innovation today. These companies are embracing sharing and open source. This is the sort of tide we need in the construction sector. A tide that lifts all ships, not just one or two.
We need to be safely sharing our data and ideas. Not trying to think we should sell it or hide it from everyone else.
It's for this very reason that Lentune collaborates with partners like Procore, Payapps and 1Breadcrumb. There is no shielded IP here. We are sharing ideas across the board. Product ideas, customer leads, even how we build great cultures in our businesses.
Don’t let fear hold you back. The tech is proven, the software is ready. You’re not cutting new ground by taking a leap of faith, it’s ready!