Expect the unexpected. That’s a mantra every construction manager could do with heeding. But it’s easier said than done. The one thing we don’t want is the unexpected.

The toughest job in corporate America, says Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, is the CIO’s. While I agree with Hurd’s assessment, I also believe that business-minded, forward-looking CIOs have an incredible opportunity to play leading roles in the digital/physical revolution that is transforming every facet of our lives.

CIOs of the world, it’s time to jump into this revolution fearlessly and joyfully because your backgrounds, your perspectives, your expertise, and your imaginations are needed desperately by your companies as they attempt to engage deeply in this richly blended digital/physical mix—or risk slipping into a nonstop decline marked by unfixable difficulties, growing irrelevance, and, ultimately, oblivion.

As the new year approaches, we wanted to inform you of a couple of items that warrant your attention.

First, as these are the early days in regards to the Affordable Care Act, one of our astute Spectrum clients noticed an issue in Spectrum that came too late to make a product change. This is connected to the 1095C forms and the need to print and collate those with the W2's. Unfortunately, Spectrum does not have the option to print W2's and 1095C's utilizing the same sort order so it made it difficult to collate a large number of employee W2's and 1095C's. To provide a solution, two of our consultants created custom reports that now sort the 1095C in either SSN or Name Alpha order to mirror the options for W2 printing.

The impact of maintenance on the bottom line has never been greater. By skimping on maintenance, you run the risk of increased downtime and decreased revenue generation.

Millions of dollars and the success or failure of critical projects are on the line every time a skilled craftsman lays a wrench on an important piece of machinery.

Similarly, maintenance is tasked with keeping equipment running longer and more efficiently as the combination of an aging infrastructure and many new plants coming online challenge a diminishing maintenance work force.

As a result, maintenance and reliability teams are being asked to do more with less.

In September 2015, the US government pledged US$160 million in new funding as part of a sprawling smart cities initiative. It came on the heels of new commitments for new infrastructure projects throughout the world, including China’s announcement that it will spend US$1.1 trillion dollars for roads, bridges, and other resources in the years ahead. In the following interview, Oracle Director, Industry Strategy and Business Development for Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Guy Barlow explains how public sector agencies throughout the world can derive the most value from large-scale infrastructure investments while mitigating risk.

The average engineering and construction firm only wins one in every four bids for capital asset projects. For a $1 billion company, that’s around $75 million wasted on failed bids every year.

If nothing else, construction and engineering projects present ample opportunity to fail. Complexity in assets, supply chains, finance, workforce skills and client requirements all present risk that could jeopardise success. A small slippage or error in any of these areas can easily cascade through the project to contribute to catastrophic failure. It’s little wonder construction and engineering project management is such a tough job.

The challenge in ensuring that all project information is shared with suppliers, contractors, and project management teams is a reality felt by many. The risks associated with this are great. Now is the time for a solution that can provide complete project insight

Successful Strategy Execution requires disciplined Project Portfolio Management

If you don’t know where you are, you don’t have much hope of arriving at your planned destination. C-suite executives and senior management understand this only too well when they tackle their number one problem: executing on strategy.

Capital industries feel pressure on all sides

All industries need to keep pace with changing economies, disruptive technologies and public policy. But for companies building and operating large capital assets – whether in engineering and construction, infrastructure, energy or transportation – the challenge is different. While there is pressure for continuous improvement, projects take time.