Leading Through Digital Disruption Sample

Task 1

Background of Morgan Sindall

Morgan Sindall Group is a UK-based organisation operating in the construction sector with a revenue of GBP 3 billion and a workforce of 7,600 employees working across public, private and regulated sectors (Morgansindall, 2024). The organisation provides its services across five divisions including construction and infrastructure, urban regeneration, fit-out, partnership housing and property services (Group, 2024). Morgan Sindall is the second-highest construction company in the UK by market share after Balfour Beatty and it provides different products and services including housing, building construction, regeneration, maintenance, and infrastructure development initiatives for commercial and residential purposes (Morgansindall, 2024). The organisation is headquartered in the UK, offering its services across the country across a diverse customer base including private entities, government and individuals.

Technological opportunities to retain market competitiveness

The construction sector is comparatively slower than the other sectors regarding the integration of technology due to the complexity of operations and resistance to change. However, some of the technological breakthroughs available for Morgan Sindall to retain and improve its market competitiveness are internal things (IoT), machine learning and robotic automation.

IoT provides the opportunity for improving the safety and efficiency of construction operations with the remote and real-time monitoring of construction sites (Wang et al., 2020). This creates the scope for integrating smart sensors in construction equipment to improve the safety and efficiency of communication between machines. This promotes automated data sharing regarding construction activities for optimising resource allocation and improving the constant efficiency of project completion.

Machine learning algorithms support predictive analytics for optimising risk identification in construction and accurate planning (Na et al., 2023). This can facilitate the organisation to reduce the occurrence of unknown risks in construction projects for improving mitigation capabilities. The technology is suitable for enhancing the accuracy of time and cost estimation for improving profitability and generating client satisfaction.

Robotic automation is a crucial contemporary technology ideal for reducing safety and health hazards for construction workers while automating repetitive tasks (Bademosi and Issa, 2021). Automation can simplify construction processes without human intervention in labour-intensive processors while improving the precision in measurements and speed of construction for traditional and modular constructions.

Digital change objectives

The digital change objectives finalized for Morgan Sindall are significant to achieve the ambitions to improve customer satisfaction and generate higher revenue with simplified processes.

1. To improve customer satisfaction by using a customer-centric project management approach with digital technology for seamless, real-time transparent communication and feedback for continuous improvements in service delivery.
2. To streamline the existing operational processes with digital project management tools for scheduling, and budgeting automated project workflows to improve efficiency and optimisation of resource allocation for timely project completion.
3. To increase business revenue generation with the integration of innovative digital tools to offer differentiated services to clients through IoT and analytics powered by machine learning algorithms along with contracting for larger projects with market collaborations.

Task 2

Market change detection and insights about competitors

The digital business model framework facilitates the identification of market changes and grasping insights about the competitors with hyper-awareness for informed decision-making and fast execution of technology for digital business agility (IMD, 2016).

Figure 1: Digital Business Model by the Global Centre for Digital Business Transformation. Source: (IMD, 2016).

Morgan Sindall needs to use the framework for strategic evaluation with proactive monitoring of market changes, and competitor actions due to the sectoral volatility and susceptibility to external changes like health and safety regulations, weather conditions and economic price fluctuations.

The company can use data analytics for deriving market intelligence and evaluating the latest consumer preferences considering the regulatory changes for adjusting the operations. Analytics with machine learning can facilitate real-time information gathering regarding changes in the industry including competitive analysis with the compilation of huge amounts of market research data (Na et al., 2023).

Customer feedback systems can be utilised to understand contemporary consumer expectations and feedback about construction services (Sepasgozar and Bernold, 2013). The organisation can utilise digital tools for sentiment analysis to determine the rate of customer satisfaction and the gaps in the present operations that need to be addressed to improve customer engagement and satisfaction. This also requires the integration of agile and prototyping as a project management strategy for involving the clients in the operations and making adjustments according to the feedback (Albuquerque et al., 2020).

Competitor benchmarking can help Morgan Sindall analyse the scope of operations and strategies of the important market competitors to determine the areas in which they could improve and the opportunities that can be capitalised. Competitive analysis with digital tools can benefit the organisation in understanding how it can optimise its existing pricing strategies, service quality and expenditure management to enhance profitability and gain customer support (Sutrisna et al., 2022). Additionally, this can facilitate the finalization of technology advancements that need to be integrated for better performance. For example, Balfour Beatty a major market competitor of Morgan Sindall has integrated the IoT to improve construction efficiency and lowering carbon emissions garnering consumer support (Forconstructionpros, 2020). A similar strategy can be used by Morgan Sindall to catch up with its market competitor through the integration of the technology.

Technology recommendation for fast decisions and adapting to market changes

Innovative technology that can be used by the construction company for quicker decisions and adaptation to the market changes include artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality and robotic process automation.

1. AI is crucial for integrating machine learning and productive analytics for predicting consumer sentiments and market trends for real-time risk determination for better quality budgeting and project timeline to the assessment of historical data (Na et al., 2023).
2. Augmented reality can facilitate better monitoring of project sites and safety while improving the quality of project execution with real-time insights (Elshafey et al., 2020).
3. Robotic process automation is already utilised by construction companies for automating labour-intensive and repetitive tasks (Bademosi and Issa, 2021). Morgan Sindall can use the technology to improve worker safety and enhance the efficiency of manual work.

References

Albuquerque, F., Torres, A.S. and Berssaneti, F.T., 2020. Lean product development and agile project management in the construction industry. Revista de Gestão, 27(2), pp.135-151.

Bademosi, F. and Issa, R.R., 2021. Factors influencing adoption and integration of construction robotics and automation technology in the US. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 147(8), p.04021075.

Elshafey, A., Saar, C.C., Aminudin, E.B., Gheisari, M. and Usmani, A., 2020. Technology acceptance model for Augmented Reality and Building Information Modeling integration in the construction industry. Journal of information technology in construction, 25.

Forconstructionpros, 2020. Balfour Beatty Plans to Reduce Construction Site Carbon Emissions by 80%. [online] Available at: https://www.forconstructionpros.com/construction-technology/news/21207867/balfour-beatty-balfour-beatty-plans-to-reduce-construction-site-carbon-emissions-by-80 [Accessed 16 January 2024].

Group, M. S. 2024. Morgan Sindall Group plc. [online] Available at:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/morgan-sindall-group-plc/ [Accessed 16 January 2024].

IMD, 2016. Digital business agility and workforce transformation. [online] Available at: https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/digital/articles/digital-business-agility-and-workforce-transformation/ [Accessed 16 January 2024].

Morgansindall, 2024. ABOUT. [online] Available at:  https://www.morgansindall.com/about [Accessed 16 January 2024].

Morgansindallpropertyservices, 2021. Morgan Sindall Launches Innovative Machine Learning Software Platform for Social Housing Sector.  [online] Available at: https://morgansindallpropertyservices.com/morgan-sindall-launches-innovative-machine-learning-software-platform/ [Accessed 16 January 2024].

Na, S., Heo, S., Choi, W., Kim, C. and Whang, S.W., 2023. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Based Technology Adoption in the Construction Industry: A Cross National Perspective Using the Technology Acceptance Model. Buildings, 13(10), p.2518.

Sepasgozar, S.M. and Bernold, L.E., 2013. Factors influencing construction technology adoption. In 19th CIB World Building Congress, Brisbane.

Sutrisna, M., Ramnauth, V. and Zaman, A., 2022. Towards adopting off-site construction in housing sectors as a potential source of competitive advantage for builders. Architectural engineering and design management, 18(3), pp.165-183.

Wang, M., Wang, C.C., Sepasgozar, S. and Zlatanova, S., 2020. A systematic review of digital technology adoption in off-site construction: Current status and future direction towards industry 4.0. Buildings, 10(11), p.204.