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AGC’s 2010 IT Forum Conference

Sharing experiences, generating tech solutions for the industry

By Brad Teague and Stephen Jefferson

Just after noon on Thursday, Aug. 12, more than 100 IT enthusiasts gathered in the Avenue Crowne Plaza in Chicago for AGC’s second annual IT Forum Conference. The conference kicked off with multiple discussion sessions that continued through the evening. Unlike last year, these sessions were held in an open format and allowed attendees to participate in one or multiple sessions.

Each session was geared toward major IT-related topics uniquely related to the construction industry, including SharePoint, Virtualization/Disaster Recovery and Jobsite connectivity. Attendees collaborated to dig up the latest problems, solutions, techniques and tools that could be beneficial to their company.

"It's nice to hear how other IT professionals in the construction industry solve issues," said Marc Kaufman of Hutton Construction.

The open discussion concept mirrors how the IT Forum’s online community brings construction IT professionals together to share research, ask questions and talk about their business experiences. Breaking into smaller groups gave participants more comfort to ask questions and talk about experiences on the specific topics – a definite plus for people looking for detailed information.

"The 2010 AGC IT Forum Conference was an excellent venue for the exchange of ideas and solutions and I feel like I brought a lot of valuable information home with me," said Duane A. Priest, manager of information services at Tarlton Corporation.

Mobile devices, tablet technologies and RFIDs were among the many topics at the conference. In that discussion – led by Walt Gamble – many people addressed recent workplace issues and solutions their companies had experienced. Some talked about switching to Apple’s new iPad in the field and how it contributed to productivity. Issues and solutions arose from that discussion, providing helpful tips to apply in the workplace or information on how and why they should use similar devices.

These strategies and secrets were all gathered collectively on the large notepad displayed at the front of the room, which gave attendees a visual understanding of the information presented.

At the Grand Avenue Ballroom, Henry Petree of Holder Construction opened a discussion on SharePoint 2010. Integration tools such as Nintex, OnePlaceMail, AutoStore and Bamboo were mentioned, along with dozens of software options for SharePoint users. Nintex provides innovative software that extends from SharePoint and helps guide the customer’s needs through existing SharePoint features. Attendees filled up notepads and seemed to have significant interest in most of the software introduced.

Tary Carlson, senior project manager at the Inici Group, hosted a full-house cloud computing discussion Friday morning, which brought together about a third of the attendees. E-mail hosting and project collaboration took over the session as people discussed individual company experiences "in the cloud."

Cloud computing seems to fill a void for contractors by allowing strategic collaboration across numerous projects, as well as within individual projects. Attendees said the ideal situation is to have separate e-mails and mailboxes for each project. These unique e-mails would be routed back to a primary e-mail to create a one-stop e-mail management system. The fact that this structure would be hosted in the cloud would help eliminate workload directed to staff members, who in turn would benefit by being more productive in their areas of expertise.

In between sessions, attendees took advantage of networking opportunities with IT professionals from around the country. A reception hosted by Pepper Construction provided a chance to connect while continuing to absorb information.

The IT Forum Conference is one of the construction industry’s newest and most valuable technology conferences, helping participants take advantage of learning opportunities from unique companies and perspectives. AGC and the IT Forum Steering Committee were astounded by the turnout and are working to enhance the conference experience for 2011.

Stay connected at www.constructionforums.org/itforum for more information on the 2011 conference. We hope to see you there.

What is the IT Forum Steering Committee?
The steering committee is made up of AGC contractors and dedicated professional associates who have an interest in information technology geared towards the construction industry. Through this shared interest, the steering committee seeks to guide growth and development of information technology in member firms and AGC chapters, guide discussions and make useful contributions to the IT Forum website.

Each steering committee member is considered the champion for his/her company and local AGC chapter and provides information and education on technology issues and initiatives brought up at steering committee meetings, which affect the construction industry.

About the Authors
Brad Teague and Stephen Jefferson contributed to this article. Brad is AGC’s director of IT and Stephen works in the IT department as a web associate at the Associated General Contractors of America.