Owners Need To Demand Greater Interoperability.

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. A new report sponsored by the U.S. Department 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.