Low-cost (Shoestring) digital solution areas for enabling digitalisation in construction SMEs.

The adoption of digital solutions accelerated in the construction industry to increase the efficiency of manufacturing and construction processes. However, most construction SMEs face barriers to the digital transformation of their processes due to budget constraints and the complexity of the existing commercial digital solutions. In this study, we developed 58 digital solution areas for construction SMEs by adapting the Digital Shoestring Approach. These were generated through eight interactive digital requirement assessment workshops with 70 representative construction SMEs in the United Kingdom. The top fifteen priority digital solutions were identified based on the different operational requirements of Tier 1 (on-site construction SMEs) and Tier 2 (suppliers and off-site construction SMEs) SMEs in the construction supply chain. The findings showed that digital solution areas could provide cost-effective and evidence-driven digitalisation pathways for construction SMEs by systematically identifying their digital needs and priorities to meet Construction 4.0.