Seeing drones and augmented-reality headsets up close isn’t the novelty it was for construction professionals just a few years ago. But attendees at the Oracle Industry Connect user conference in New York City on April 10-11 were still engaged, wanting hard answers on what this technology can do for their bottom lines.
“Construction is not exactly viewed as a leader when it comes to technology, but that is rapidly changing,” says Mike Sicilia, senior vice president and general manager for Oracle’s construction and engineering business unit. “There’s a lot of pressure on the labor supply chain right now, but there are trends that will help,” he says, citing augmented reality, robotics and other tools as force multipliers for industry workers.