Transformation through people and culture
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APRIL 2020
PCL Construction: transformation through people and culture WRITTEN BY
WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY
JAKE MEGEARY
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PCL CONSTRUCTION
Mark Bryant, CIO at PCL Construction, describes how the company’s vision and “innovate or die” philosophy is helping to shape the modern industry
F
ounded in 1906 in Stoughton, Saskatchewan, PCL Construction is a construction company operating primarily
in Canada, the US, Australia and the Caribbean. Now headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, the 100% employee-owned company currently 04
employs over 4,000 full-time professional and admin staff and more than 10,000 hourly tradespeople. Operating primarily on heavy industrial, civil and building construction, PCL has attained consistent results and broad geographic diversity to ensure its continued success. The company works on 700-800 projects each year, and is the largest contracting company in Canada and the seventh largest in North America overall. Mark Bryant, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at PCL, joined the company seven years ago with the aim of helping the business understand how IT-based solutions could bring benefits and drive efficiencies. “I’ve always had an entrepreneurial vibe and a big interest in technology,” he explains. “I’m one of those guys that’s always bridged IT
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PCL CONSTRUCTION
“ There’s a lot of opportunity for change. If you’re open to change, it’s a pretty cool place to be right now” — Mark Bryant, CIO, PCL Construction
and business, even when I started at Toronto Dominion Bank, where I spent the first nine years of my career.” Having the fortune and talent to work for some of the largest, primarily Canadian, companies in the market — Davis & Henderson, and WSP — Bryant found that one thing consistently attracted
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him: great work culture and great colleagues. Regarding the honour of being named the 2019 ‘Canadian CIO of the Year’ by ITAC, Bryant was clear on what he regards as the key to his success. “It’s a pinnacle award for me from a career perspective,” he says. “But if you don’t have an amazing team around you, you don’t win ‘CIO of the Year’. My team at PCL has been instrumental in executing the vision that I’ve had.” For PCL, that vision meant making a fundamental shift away from ‘legacy IT’ and towards becoming an integrated business technology group. “Initially, IT was focused on keeping the lights on,”
PCL’s Digital Transformation CLICK TO WATCH
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2:22
07 says Bryant, describing the limitations
management applications, the com-
of the previous tech culture’s scope.
pany has striven to be an active
“One of the things that I’m most proud
participant in the change, rather than
of is my team’s transition to realise our
merely reacting to it. According to
new strategic vision.” More specifically,
Bryant, there is a reason for this. “The
Bryant has spearheaded a new range
construction industry historically has
of products and services for PCL to
been underserved by the software
drive productivity, efficiency and safety.
development community. As one of the
This approach has proved crucial
oldest industries in the world, a lot of
in an industry that is typically slow to
practices in construction haven’t
adopt the latest trends in digitisation.
changed.” Due to the nature of the work,
Bucking the trend, PCL has been
which requires a vast amount of manual
focused on developing this aspect of
processes to function, cvonstruction
its operations for over 30 years. From
has been among the last industries
homegrown estimating software to staff
to embrace the digital revolution. w w w.p cl. com
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APRIL 2020
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PCL CONSTRUCTION
However, with investment capital
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for efficiency, as was integrating its
starting to flow into the industry,
technology more intelligently to allow
a huge influx of new thinking has
innovations a quick gateway into daily
opened doors for IT and business
operations. “If something new comes
professionals. “There’s a lot of oppor-
along that’s better, faster, or makes
tunity for change. If you’re open to
more sense for our business, we can
change, it’s a pretty cool place to be
rip out the incumbent technology and
right now.” The digital transformation
plug another one in. An integration
for PCL began with what Bryant calls
framework allows us to be very agile.”
the ‘four pillars’: cloud, integration,
This shift away from a ‘waterfall
mobility, and data analytics. Shifting
development cycle’ also means that
the company’s large volumes of data
applications and services can be
from its hundreds of yearly projects
brought out in weeks or months,
to the cloud was a significant move
rather than years.
E XECU T I VE P RO FI LE
Mark Bryant As CIO, Mark is responsible for the strategic and innovative advancement of information technology (IT) within the PCL family of companies. Mark has over two decades of IT expertise, having served in the financial services, software, manufacturing, and AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industries. Prior to joining PCL, he led the technology operations at a century-old financial services firm and was CIO at a leading planning, engineering and consulting firm. Mark received his business administration accreditation from Sheridan College in Ontario and additional credentials related to ecommerce from the Ivey School of Business. He completed his CIO MBA at Boston University.
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Mobility and the ability to collect
and utilised in fascinating new ways,
data from the field is also crucial to
such as monitoring conditions at the
PCL’s operations. With the advent of
work-face of construction. “The IoT
smartphones and tablets, the company
platform is 100% data driven, enabling
was able to find a way to gather this
real time alerts to anomalies and is
information more simply. More data
extremely extensible, allowing for the
also meant that an overhaul of the way
addition of new capabilities quickly.
the company performed data analysis
It allows us to make better decisions
was crucial. The launch of PCL’s smart
because now we’re doing something
construction platform Job Site Insights™
with data that wasn’t historically avail-
— a key Internet of Things (IoT) based platform and one of the core focal
able.” says Bryant. Another great example of data
points for the company in 2020 —
being an enabler is a hazard inspection
meant that data could be collected
safety application exploiting AI w w w.p cl. com
PCL CONSTRUCTION
“ PCL Construction is a juggernaut of innovation in the industry” — Mark Bryant, CIO, PCL Construction
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Taking Safety into the Digital Realm CLICK TO WATCH
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2:27
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technology to scan photographs and identify hazards. PCL has been able to reduce the time and labour spent on a crucial task — safety inspections — without sacrificing quality. His goal is nothing short of the total digitisation of the construction industry, including how it measures quality, safety, financials, work schedules, performance and more. Data is the essential element of the large-scale
“ Our people and our culture really are the difference. I am passionate and excited about what we’re doing. I couldn’t find a better company to do it at” — Mark Bryant, CIO, PCL Construction
improvement PCL is striving towards, as are close relationships with the
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Providing Project Insight CLICK TO WATCH
|
2:24
15 partners and suppliers with which
a partner with a vested interest
the company works. Emphasising the
in helping us drive efficiencies.”
collaborative nature of the construc-
Microsoft will also be instrumental
tion industry, Bryant believes that
in PCL’s integration of blockchain into
PCL’s business relationships in 2020
its logistical operations, as well as
are going to be of paramount impor-
billing and receiving.
tance. “I’m really focused on continuing
Similarly, Pype has a special
to build a partner ecosystem of compa-
relationship with PCL; the company
nies that want to share our vision and
leverages Pype’s ‘AutoSpecs’ product
success as we digitise construction.”
to enhance operational efficiencies.
“We have a fantastic relationship
“They’re a great example of a startup
with Microsoft,” he explains
in the construction industry that is
(Microsoft provides PCL’s cloud-
using artificial intelligence (AI) to
based services). “They’re not
review submittals and show us areas
a supplier to us, frankly. They’re
that we should focus on.” w w w.p cl. com
PCL CONSTRUCTION
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D I D YO U KN OW ?
• The IoT platform is 100% data driven • PCL work on between 700-800 projects each year • 4,000 full-time professional and admin staff and more than 10,000 hourly tradespeople
“ I’ve always had an entrepreneurial vibe and a big interest in technology” — Mark Bryant, CIO, PCL Construction
Another partner offering exciting solutions to PCL is Australian company Willow, providing ‘digital twin technology’ to create a virtual model of assets, processes, systems, and other entities. “The concept of a digital twin has been in the airline and automotive industries for years,” says Bryant. “It has not been applied to construction, so Willow will be a significant partner for us in their smart building strategy.” Even though he has established an exciting technological vision, Bryant hasn’t forgotten that changes in the construction industry are not easy to introduce. With new technologies being introduced at breakneck speed, it’s possible that staff will reach a saturation point in their ability to adapt. However, it is by fusing the knowledge w w w.p cl. com
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PCL CONSTRUCTION
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“ Digitisation is not an option. Digitisation is an absolute necessity” — Mark Bryant, CIO, PCL Construction
and experience of its field staff and technology staff, who have been working on-site for 40+ years, with the latest IT tech that PCL hopes to gain a major advantage in the market. Adopting a ‘crawl, walk, run’ philosophy of introduction, Bryant is confident that PCL will add new digital aspects at an appropriate pace. “It blows my mind how complicated our business is and how our people do such an excellent job,” he states.
1906
Year founded
$6.95bn Revenue in US dollars
4,000+ Number of employees
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This represents the crux of PCL’s
difference between those companies
digital transformation for Bryant: “Our
that realise this and those that don’t.
people and our culture really are the
PCL Construction is a juggernaut of
difference. I am passionate and excited
innovation in the industry and, to me,
about what we’re doing. I couldn’t find
that’s super exciting.”
a better company to do it at.” Thinking about the journey that PCL is embarking upon, Bryant considers the upcoming change to be inevitable. “Digitisation is not an option. Digitisation is an absolute necessity. You’re going to see a big w w w.p cl. com
9915 56th Avenue NW Edmonton T6E 5L7 Canada T 780 733 5000 www.pcl.com