Financial Technology helps solve payment disputes in construction

Financial technology such as Progressclaim.com has proved vital in revolutionising the payment claims process for the Australian Construction industry. Here’s why it was necessary.

Contractors in the Australian construction industry are discovering that financial technology (FinTech) can help them settle their payment disputes. This is an industry that is “plagued by disputation” the Prime Minister says.

Progressclaim.com is a platform that helps to avoid such disputes and reduce processing costs and is being used by major builders including 2construct, Icon, Mirvan and Grocon.

The software is cloud-enabled and allows successful management of payment requests and approvals whether you are a contractor, subcontractor, developer or consultant.

The construction industry has experienced major issues with payment disputes. The Australian Bureau of Statistics claims that in 2015, 44% of Australia’s lost workdays came from the construction industry. While the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation found that payment disputes add on average 6% to construction costs per project and cost the Australian economy an estimated $7 billion a year.

Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian Prime Minister, has called for the restoration of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The financial technology sector is experiencing important changes, caused by the implementation of blockchain, the technology behind crypto-currency Bitcoin. New market research by Marketforce for Pegasystems shows that of the global financial services retailers that have existing knowledge of blockchain, 60% think it will be the sector’s most important technological development since the Internet.

Graham Lloyd, Director of Pegasystems and Industry Principal of Financial Services said: “there’s no longer room to be complacent about such a potentially significant source of disruption” and that “banks and insurers must prepare themselves for the day when they might have to manage blockchain-stored customer data”.

Progressclaim.com software is now available in the UK.