Global construction growth is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. According to McKinsey & Company, the industry is expected to reach $22 trillion by 2040. This rapid expansion is exposing a structural weakness: Many construction companies have outgrown their legacy systems. The platforms that once supported the business—on-premises ERPs, disconnected spreadsheets, and custom point solutions—were never designed for today’s complexity.
Today’s construction environment is fundamentally different. Projects are larger, more interconnected and increasingly data-driven. The workforce is mobile, stakeholders expect real-time transparency, and financial and operational processes must be tightly integrated. At the same time, contractors face persistent headwinds such as labor shortages, supply chain volatility, cost inflation, and growing regulatory and sustainability pressures.
Despite these challenges, CIOs are under pressure to enable faster decisions, more predictable performance and a more efficient workplace. In this environment, the role of the CIO has evolved far beyond system maintenance. CIOs are now expected to enable growth, improve predictability, and create a technology foundation that supports faster, smarter decision-making across the enterprise.
Modernizing technology is now critical to this mission. The question is not whether to modernize, but where to focus. Here are six opportunities for construction CIOs to modernize to drive measurable impact and position their organizations for the next decade of growth.
Unify the data
One of the biggest barriers to efficiency in construction is siled information. Project data often lives in multiple systems spanning finance, procurement, human resources, scheduling, and field operations. This disparate data makes it difficult to get a complete view of performance.
By centralizing data on a unified platform, CIOs can eliminate duplication, improve forecasts, and enable faster, more confident decisions. When all stakeholders, from project managers to CFOs, work from a single source of truth, teams spend less time reconciling spreadsheets and more time executing.
A unified data model also lays the groundwork for advanced analytics, predictive intelligence, and AI-driven automation, and capabilities like these will be indispensable as projects grow in scale and complexity.
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new intelligent AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
Modernize the basic platform
Legacy systems impose hard limits on scalability and integration. They often require manual workarounds, lack mobile functionality, and cannot easily support new regulatory requirements or business models.
Modern cloud-based platforms, on the other hand, allow construction managers and contractors to manage more complex projects, expand into new markets and support mobile field teams without adding administrative burden. CIOs should evaluate options based on scalability, flexibility, and the ability to seamlessly integrate with modern financing, project management, and supply chain coordination tools.
The goal is to create an architecture that can evolve with the business.
Empower the field with digital tools
The field is where the success of the project is decided and one of the most difficult challenges to deploy digital tools. Unfortunately, this is also where many digital strategies stall. Paper inspections, manual reporting and inconsistent communication still dominate many workplaces.
CIOs can change this by implementing mobile field tools that streamline communication, reduce rework, and meet security and quality standards. Providing real-time access to plans, change orders and schedules enables field teams to make faster decisions, capture issues instantly and reduce costly delays.
AI strategies can be used to accelerate field enablement when done correctly. Designing the right user experience for field personnel can not only enable the field, but also accelerate data capture in the work area. Leveraging technology can make one of the most difficult areas of focus frictionless.
Digital tools do not replace human experience. Rather, they amplify it, giving crews the information and structure they need to deliver on time and on budget.
Strengthen workforce management
Labor shortages continue to challenge construction leaders around the world. Integrated HR, payroll, time tracking and workforce planning systems can help businesses navigate this reality with greater agility.
A unified workforce management platform improves compliance, reduces administrative effort and provides visibility into who is available, where skills are needed and how to forecast future labor demands.
In addition, leveraging modern tools and efficient processes will not only help retain vital talent, but also attract new and ambitious employees. Everyone wants to work for modern and innovative companies that offer modern technology and tools.
For CIOs, strengthening this foundation also enables better workforce analytics, helping organizations predict shortages, plan training programs and make more strategic hiring decisions.
Embrace AI for practical gains
AI is transforming every industry and construction is no exception. But success depends on focusing on practical, measurable use cases rather than experimental cases.
Start with areas where AI directly addresses productivity challenges, such as change order management, schedule optimization, risk prediction, or inspection analysis. These targeted deployments can generate rapid returns, freeing up staff to focus on higher-value work.
AI is becoming the new user interface for modern systems. Workers can interact with agents designed specifically to simplify tasks, automate transactions and minimize non-value-added work. Additionally, connecting AI to field devices and equipment can completely eliminate the administrative work currently burdening field staff.
In contrast, adopting AI without a clear business case can create more complexity than benefit. The most effective CIOs align every AI investment with a defined outcome: faster decisions, fewer errors, or improved cost predictability.
Develop the capacity for organizational change
Even the best technology will fail without user adoption. This is why change management must be incorporated into every modernization initiative.
CIOs must work closely with operations leaders to develop structured programs for communication, training and ongoing support. Drive early wins, identify champions in the field, and ensure continuous feedback loops between users and IT.
When employees understand the “why” behind new systems and are supported to make them work, the organization not only gains technology, but also a culture of continuous improvement.
The mandate of the modern CIO
The construction industry is entering a period of rapid digital acceleration. Companies that modernize their core systems, unify their data and empower their people will deliver projects more efficiently and attract the next generation of talent.
For CIOs, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. Systems that once simply “kept the lights on” must now drive execution, vision and innovation. By focusing on these six modernization priorities, CIOs can turn a cost center’s technology into a competitive advantage, capable of supporting the future of the $22 trillion industry.
John Hilborn is the Global Leader of the Engineering, Construction and Operations Center of Excellence at Syntax, a company that produces cloud-based and remote work and collaboration platforms for construction.
