TRAINING & EDUCATION
sufficient when it comes to maintenance and preventing failures. Professionals will also have ready access to work history and information from previous site visits which will further ensure the specialist is equipped with the vital information they need, both before and during a visit.
So, for example, when setting out, a tiler could use smart glasses to measure the area to be covered. This device could then calculate the amount of tiles and adhesive needed and search the supplier databases and/or the internet overall for the cost options. It could also calculate the amount of tiles to be cut to size and shape, as well as working out the angles for these and relay this data to a connected cutting device.
Machine Learning and AI
With digital records, companies have been able to unlock the value of data to learn from interactions with people and from experiences with their environment. In doing so, they become able to keep pace with the complexity of the information gathered, identifying data correlations that would otherwise go unnoticed, which enables combining streams of data in new ways to get deeper insights as a result.
In a practical sense, this means leveraging any information that is stored about a customer or a job to draw out new correlations.
For example, an (extremely organised) tiling professional may have a customer database that they keep in a customer relationship management (CRM) system such as HubSpot or Pipedrive, record the amount of materials ordered and the costs related in a project management platform like Procore, WorkflowMax or Co-Construct and use another software program to store materials and pricing information. This would be the perfect situation for implementing machine learnings on the data to find out whether there is, for example, a correlation between jobs in a certain area and tiling materials used at certain times of the year, etc.
Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality
The Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) space provides interesting opportunities in the tiling industry, particularly around training for those new to the industry and for situations where practical training is not physically possible.
Virtual reality is currently used extensively in the medical field, for mindfulness, travelling, shopping, real estate, recruitment, entertainment, education, space exploration and construction. Companies like Hong Kong-based Gammon Construction Ltd. and San Francisco-based Bechtel are already using VR to train their employees and there are already companies in the UK that provide this as a service.
In day-to-day jobs, augmented reality could prove to be an essential tool in agreeing on the design decisions with the client. As many online interiors groups attest, the biggest challenge individuals have with tiling experts is communicating their design specifications, from dark grouting to edging choices to “floating” hexagon tiles
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intersecting into vinyl or wood flooring. Whilst some clients use platforms like Pinterest and Instagram to show their inspiration images, an AR solution might be able to project those design ideas into the clients’ actual site and also help the tiler explain why some ideas may not work in their space.
Market Networks
There is an important new category of digital company that combines the best elements of networks like Facebook with marketplaces like Airbnb. These marketplaces provide transactions among multiple buyers and multiple sellers — like eBay, Etsy, Uber and LendingClub. Similar to existing management systems from the likes of Oracle or SAP, these tend to be much more focused, simpler and available anywhere via the internet. By combining cloud-based job management software with the benefits of social media and marketplaces, market networks are expected to generate the next big area of growth.
The Virtual Reality
(VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) space provides
interesting opportunities in the tiling industry.
For tilers, this opens up a new source of customers, with platforms such as TaskRabbit and Fantastic Services expanding into further sectors, it is not long before tiling will become relevant to these (in fact, Fantastic Services already seem to take onboard tiling specialists). What’s more, going through market networks also gives the customers an additional layer of reassurance via the social reassurance of the rating systems, making them more likely to choose a higher-scoring tiling specialist.
Of course, this is but a cursory glance at the innovation taking place globally but it does serve to highlight that no industry will remain untouched by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The question is: how prepared are you to adapt to the changing world?
Path59 runs intensive one-day workshops and rapid innovation projects to help organisations get started with digital transformation and identify the key opportunities for leveraging digital technologies intelligently. I’d like to offer Tomorrow’s Tile & Stone readers a 20% discount on this workshop. Please quote Tomorrow’s Tile & Stone when booking.
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