Constructing success through trials

Construction is not the first industry that comes to mind when discussing digitalisation. After all, it is impossible to virtually bulldoze a building no matter how advanced technology gets. Yet, for one construction management company, digitalisation is key and their decision to embark on it is deliberate.

“80 percent of our daily work is manual work out in the field but 20 percent is administrative work. That portion can leverage digitalisation,” explains Tan Lih Woei, Director of Lih Ming Construction. “We believe if we can successfully streamline our processes, we can make our money work harder for us,” he adds.

The long-established construction company decided to participate in The FinLab’s Cycle 3 because they were keen to understand how to introduce this change and manage it within the company. The sharing by mentors and SMEs from different industries proved invaluable.

“It opened us to a wider perspective in running businesses. We learnt from our counterparts in other industries and we saw areas where we could apply these learnings and do things better,” Lih Woei says.

Lih Woei observed that good people management is one of the keys to getting tangible results from digitalisation, and growing the company.

“We tried many things and we failed lots of times at certain points. But at times we have been very successful and people are able to see the result. So, when people are able to see the result they know that it is going to work and then getting them to accept and implement the changes is quite simple,” he explains.

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