Just about everyone not living in a cave knows at this point that the quickest way to boost productivity, cut costs or clean up the environment is to give a project a good dose of technology. That usually means dealing with the latest and greatest in computer hardware and software. But the great advances made in this field over the past 20 years have resulted in a hodgepodge of approaches that makes interoperability of systems difficult. This sometimes has been deliberate so that software companies can cut out competitors and secure a cozy niche. But that means inefficiencies and higher costs for users of multiple systems, which is contrary to using the technologies in the first place.

A new report sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology pegs the cost of this irony at $15.8 billion a year for design, construction and maintenance of large commercial, institutional and industrial buildings, facilities and plants. The interoperability problems are caused by the highly fragmented nature of the industry, continued use of paper-based practices, a lack of standardization and inconsistent technology adoptions among firms.

Because two-thirds of these costs are borne by the owners and operators of these plants during ongoing operations and maintenance, the logical solution will come from that side of the project equation. Owners, who are the ultimate customer from the construction industry’s point of view, must demand that there be a seamless whole when it comes to the ability to manage and communicate electronic product and project data among collaborating firms and within individual companies. Such seamless communication must cover design, construction, maintenance and business process systems, all of which the study examined.This top-down pressure will help immensely in blasting away roadblocks to greater productivity and project cost savings, but the same companies also must wean themselves away from the paper-based culture of the past. That is harder than it sounds. The nation and the industry cannot wait for the passing of an entire generation of business managers to fulfill that interoperability mandate.

The mission is a difficult one, but not impossible. It is begging for leadership that has real leverage. There are many well-intentioned people and organizations working on the technical aspects of how interoperability may be achieved, such as the International Alliance for Interoperability and FIATECH, but unless customers demand it, interoperability is not going to happen soon.