Construction SMEs Struggle to Innovate

According to new research from Gridfox, more than 90% of SMEs in the construction industry that have restrictive budgets are struggling to compete with bigger organisations due to a lack of access to innovative technology.

Some 92% of small businesses in the sector have said that they are unable to keep up with the big budgets of larger organisations for technology innovation and digital transformation, with more than a third (39%) saying this has been restricting growth, and more than half (60%) saying it has impacted their ability to recruit.

Combined with the impact of COVID-19, a lack of fit-for-purpose technology options and prohibitive costs could lead to many SMEs in the sector losing out long-term if they do not take advantage of more flexible and cost-effective solutions.

Philip White, founder at Gridfox, said: “Our research shows that SMEs working in the architecture, engineering and building sector, many of whom have already had to rapidly adapt to change due to the recent impact of COVID-19 and Brexit, are feeling trapped between managing data in programs like spreadsheets or moving to products that aren’t fit for purpose. Historically, they just couldn’t compete with the big digital transformation budgets larger organisations have to tailor and adapt systems.

“Gridfox offers that adaptability, hosted in a secure cloud environment, without the significant costs usually attached.”

The new research suggests that 37% of small businesses in the sector are still relying on spreadsheets to carry out tasks such as tracking invoices (52%), stock levels (53%) and customer data (40%). Tech concerns moved beyond operational efficiencies, with more than 37% in the sector saying they feel they are exposed to cyber security risks by storing critical information on spreadsheets.

The research also showed SMEs in the sector need software to be accessible at any time (39%) to aid rapid response and support busy teams and to help improve existing internal processes (31%).

The survey was carried out by Gridfox, a newly launched flexible digital workspace that enables SMEs to build bespoke applications that match their exact needs in minutes, to understand where businesses could make efficiency savings.

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