The Future of Technology: Hottest Trends in the Metal Construction Industry

By Dani Sheehan. 

By incorporating new technologies into your metal business, you can better manage your operations, expand your marketing reach and improve employee training.  

The industry is buzzing with the latest and greatest technology to add to your business. In an episode of MetalTalk, Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with John Kenney of Cotney Consulting Group, and Karen Edwards of Roofing Technology Think Tank and RoofersCoffeeShop® to talk about how to incorporate new technology and help you grow your business. 

Drones, artificial intelligence and virtual reality...oh my! Believe it or not, they all have a place in the roofing industry. Drones are already popular in imagery for measurements, but there are so many additional opportunities for them within a business. As John Kenney begins, “If you’re investing in drones and licensing somebody in your company to run a drone, use it for more than just going out and getting pretty pictures. Use it to monitor your operations and your safety program within your company. They’re great for training and learning and all the things that go with it.” When looking at adding additional technology, he suggests thinking about your growth pattern and what systems your company will focus on to see how and where technology can be an asset. 

Artificial intelligence has rapidly gained traction, and its possibilities feel endless. Karen shares how AccuLynx has rolled out an AI lead generator that helps you determine who’s most likely to buy. She says, “Say you’ve got 200 leads and your AI platform tells you these 25 are a ten out of ten on most likely to buy, and these 25 are a seven out of ten. So you’re going to know where to focus your efforts for your salespeople, and you can prioritize your leads better that way.” John agrees and adds an emphasis on its data collecting potential. He stresses the value of gathering data across your company not only for the benefit of increasing sales, but to assess operational data and crew performance. “With AI coming into the picture, it is going to be so much easier to put a program together based on artificial intelligence that reads your data with the parameters you want to get out of it.” Imagine having 20 years of data in the market at your fingertips to then applying it to your current business operations. 

Virtual and augmented reality are making it easier than ever to provide training in real life situations that better prepare your contractors for hands-on experience in the field. Especially with the younger generations, it’s pushing new employees past the learning curve so much faster than before. John also sees augmented reality gaining traction in solving problems. If a tech is on a job and may not be experienced in the repair that is needed, they can use augmented reality to “show [the problem], overlay it and actually be able to send it back to somebody in the office that is experienced and actually show them how to fix it.”  

These technologies and opportunities continue to grow in the industry, but as Karen advises, “Don’t implement a technology just because you think ‘I don’t have any technology right now in my company and I need something.’...look at what problem you are trying to solve and then look at what solutions are out there that can help you solve that problem.” We all want to have the edge with the biggest and brightest offerings, but it’s important to implement technology into your business the smart way. 

Watch the full webinar, listen to the podcast episode or read the transcript to learn more about technologies arising in the digital age and how you can utilize it for improving your business and marketing plans.