Seamless collaboration is the future for many industries. But it is indispensable for the future of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry (AEC) sector. A recent McKinsey report found that 80% percent of average cost overruns come from change orders. Imagine how well the industry would perform if that statistic weren’t there. Years before the pandemic erupted, the AEC industry rapidly moved toward remote and hybrid work models. Competitive firms wanted to make it easy for the right talent to join their project teams.
According to the World Economic Forum, 98% of people surveyed want to work from home for the remainder of their careers. A Gartner survey found 82% of businesses plan to retain a remote work environment. Enabling remote work is only one part, albeit a foundational one, of an increasingly complex question. As more work goes on outside a corporate office environment, businesses will use cloud technologies to make applications and files available from anywhere on any device. The question is how to stay current and competitive with the rapid changes in the industry.
The AEC industry continues to undergo tectonic shifts away from labor-intensive methods to automation through digital technologies. The growth of digitalization paves the way for more rapid adoption of technologies such as Building Information Modeling.
The Promise of Building Information Modeling (BIM)
BIM is a computer-based tool used by architects, engineers, and builders to design residential housing to high office buildings. The time-saving and improved efficiency modeling potential is enormous where entire life cycles of buildings are manageable. Building owners can benefit from real-time monitoring of energy expenditure peaks and valleys, physical maintenance requirements, etc. Why not connect the smart features of the building into the BIM equation.
The power of BIM is growing as more and more cloud-connected technologies take collaboration and connectivity to whole new levels. Think about the integration of BIM so that cities can monitor civic resources like water and power consumption. Waste and recycling initiatives could become more efficient. But for all of that transformational power and potential to save money and build better and more efficiently, BIM is what Mitchell Hughes, author of the Future of BIM is Seamless Collaboration, calls a downstream tool. Hughes writes that architects, engineers, and building designers don’t want many upstream changes coming in from contractors.
Project team leads must make information and communication accessible across a well-managed, secure environment for architects and engineers to use what BIM offers fully. You want an easy-to-understand way for all project stakeholders, from the design captain to the contractor and building manager, to tap into the information they need. One way to do this is through the adoption of Desktop-as-a-Service (Daas).
DaaS is an evolution of the old Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
The difference, and what a significant difference, is that DaaS is cloud-based. The fact that a company’s IT infrastructure is in a cloud environment accomplishes many things, not the least of which is relieving the company of the burdens of daily administration, upgrades, patching, and troubleshooting that goes along with an on-premises VDI deployment. Let’s face it, an IT refresh and managing many desktops and mobile devices can eat up much time; and, therefore, money.
The custom fit of IronOrbit’s INFINITY Workspaces allows internal IT professionals the mental bandwidth and time they need to strategize with business leadership to develop initiatives that can have a direct and meaningful long-term impact on the company’s success. Not only improving efficiencies but also setting the stage for new digital innovation. Better Communication and Collaboration mean fewer change orders. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) would enable handling the necessary changes quickly and easily. The entire industry would become faster and more efficient.
The technology professionals at IronOrbit are passionate about helping companies unlock the full potential of being on the cloud. We’re also passionate about seeing the promise of BIM fulfilled. IronOrbit’s INFINTY Workspaces is not just DaaS, but a gateway into a multilayered cloud ecosystem offering unprecedented value and benefit.
Learn more about IronOrbit’s INFINITY Workspaces; download your copy of the INFINITY brochure.