On this episode of Flintco Forward, we sat down with two executives who are making innovation management tangible by creating a technology working group for their construction companies: David Pounds PE, Director of Construction Support Services at Flintco, LLC, and Aaron Geiger, Chief Technology Officer for Alberici Group.

Tulsa-based Flintco specializes in commercial construction. The company is engaged in about 100 active projects at any given time. With that kind of volume, company-wide technology implementation has been sporadic.

Flintco isn’t alone. Construction as an industry has been slower than most in adopting and onboarding new technology and software for use in the field.

“The lack of connectivity [created] pockets of innovation, where there’d be only certain pockets that’d be innovative and try new things,” Pounds said. “But because they weren’t relying on any connectivity between the different software platforms, it never really would proliferate outside of their projects.”

Flintco created a technology working group to aid process management, decision-making, and timeline implementation. They soon became an industry leader with this innovative approach to adopting new technologies.

“We developed committees and organizations within our enterprise that help us remain aware of the trends and capabilities of tech, so we can quickly hear through the noise to find products or procedures that will add value to the projects we deliver,” Pounds said.

Meanwhile St. Louis-based Alberici Group, which offers design-build, general contracting, and construction management across a variety of industries, used construction technology robustly, but needed a better system for integrating them into their processes.

Geiger sought Flintco’s expertise in innovation management and together created a solution for construction technology implementation.

“Our technology working group is a combination of an innovation committee that looks long term, three to five years out for the next big trends to investigate as well as a group that meets once a month with a very focused agenda to look at short term — see where we are, evaluate things, and make decisions,” Geiger said.

Geiger believes technology working groups can help companies embrace new technological advancements by putting a process to the decision-making landscape.

“Because of a few forward-thinking players in this industry, solutions have become more easily connectable, integrated, and more like one solution for your team,” Geiger said.