Research Overview

Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) are highly urbanized markets with large infrastructure expenditure by governments and high uptake of collaboration solutions in the construction industry. However, the use of cognitive solutions and the “innovate to zero” concept (for example, zero defects, emails, and emissions) are still nascent. Beyond cloud computing and mobile solutions, artificial intelligence, big data, augmented reality/virtual reality, and five-dimensional (5D) building information modeling (BIM) are next-generation digital transformation opportunities. These technologies are critical to drive business efficiencies in the construction industry, but limited activities and applications in the ANZ construction sector are currently focused on these technologies.

Challenges in the overall construction industry in these countries include growing project complexity, construction cost pressures, decline in productivity levels, increased compliance and reporting obligations, and firms’ reluctance to change. Some of these key market restraints, such as reduced construction activity and lack of awareness of collaboration software, restrict the construction collaboration software market growth and hamper the uptake of such solutions. Nonetheless, there will be growing opportunities for construction collaboration solution vendors to support customers in addressing these internal challenges with robust, flexible, and scalable software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions.

Collaboration remains a key enabler to achieving optimal outcomes in the construction ecosystem. While the construction sector has been slow to adopt digital tools in the past, the case for using cloud-based collaboration software is more compelling today than ever. Construction collaboration software, delivered either as an on-premises solution or more often a SaaS platform, offers project management solutions to the construction industry. The solution provides tools that facilitate document and asset management, process/workflow management, BIM and design management, bid and tender processes, field management, and asset handover. Frost & Sullivan estimates the ANZ revenues of SaaS-based construction collaboration software as virtually doubling between 2013 and 2026, growing at a rate of 10.4% from 2020 to 2026.