Last year, in the July/August CFMA Building Profits issue dedicated to technology, I made the not so astute comment in my message that the pandemic had caused there to be an acceleration in the use of technology. That has certainly proven to be even truer over the last year. A confluence of events, including work-at-home mandates due to the pandemic as well as contractors realizing that technology efficiencies are a reality, have pushed the industry to embrace technology in ways I have not seen in my 30-year career in the construction industry.
Let me fill you in on how we have embraced technology at CFMA’s headquarters in Princeton, NJ.
CFMA HQ
We have been working remotely successfully because of the use of technology since the middle of March 2020. We had already started using Microsoft Teams about six months before the pandemic hit, but for the last 15 months, it has become an absolute necessity. This, along with Zoom and other IT-related process improvements, has allowed us to work remotely without missing a beat. Ironically, I sometimes feel we are more efficient now than we were before the pandemic. Of course, the real dilemma for many of us is figuring out how to justify coming back to the office when our staff has performed admirably while working at home. And I don’t think I’m the only one facing this dilemma.
CFMA’s 2021 Hybrid Conference
There is no question that our preference would have been to hold our 2021 Annual Conference & Exhibition completely in person. However, when we needed to make decisions on the direction to take this year, there was still too much uncertainty about holding a live conference.
So, we decided to hold a hybrid conference – a new term in the conference world – due to the uncertainty surrounding the implications of COVID-19.
While most of you attended CFMA’s Hybrid Conference virtually on July 19-23, there were four locations – Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix – where attendees could network and interact with their peers in person. The Conference continued our tradition of having timely and interesting speakers. Attendees will have the potential to obtain up to 60 CPE credits, including the opportunity to obtain on-demand CPE credit for specified recorded Conference sessions, which will be available in September.
Future Conferences
While technology allowed us to once again hold a virtual conference, it goes without question that all of you are looking forward to future conferences live and in-person. Our 2022 Annual Conference & Exhibition will be held in Atlanta, GA from May 14-18. And, unless there are drastic changes to the current environment, the good news is that most of our chapters are planning to hold their regional conferences in person in the fall; a listing of these can be found on page 13. And we fully expect this year’s AGC/CFMA Construction Financial Management Conference to be held in person on November 3-5 in Las Vegas, NV.
Slowly but surely, we are getting back to normal. It is without question that we could not have survived this last year without the support of technology. Take a look at some of the relevant topics in this issue of CFMA Building Profits to enhance and protect your technology investments.
Copyright © 2021 by the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA). All rights reserved. This article first appeared in July/August 2021 CFMA Building Profits magazine.