When it comes to capital project success today, the watch words are adaptability and agility. This is because construction companies and project owners alike need to be willing to quickly identify gaps, find solutions and invest new resources where necessary.
It turns out, what’s good for construction companies is also good for construction technology companies.
Investment in the Future
To serve the EMEA market, InEight assessed its true needs and began to invest extensively in BIM, cloud-hosted solutions, and complete end-to-end interoperability.
“When it became clear about four to five years ago that our system was missing some of the localizations that Europe and the Middle East were asking for, we realized it was because this region is more advanced in its use of technology,” says Mike Paul, Managing Director for InEight EMEA. “So, we began to respond to a lot of those external interests directly.”
As a civil engineer with an MBA as well as having run his own construction company, Paul personally understands the unique logistical and financial concerns of the industry.
Acting as the liaison for InEight’s teams in over 20 countries on five continents, he has also witnessed the company’s response first-hand and the investment made in building out a complete platform for project life cycle management and expanding EMEA global operations.
While InEight initially expected to refresh operations in 2022, they were surprised that in 2019, large contractors in Europe began to reach out to InEight on their own. Why the shift?
“With Europe digitalizing faster than much of the world, the Nordics in particular have become world leaders in their use of BIM. The whole region is investing heavily in infrastructure post-COVID. They need an interoperable platform to execute under,” Paul explains. “We found out that InEight had become closest to satisfying those expectations. This has led to consecutive record sales years for InEight EMEA and expedited the company’s plan to establish itself in the region.”
All of this has perfectly positioned InEight to support this unprecedented digital growth.
“Having relocated staff during COVID in 2020 and formalizing our EU operations in the Netherlands in 2021, InEight is now busier than ever as word of mouth has gotten out about the company and our technology,” Paul says.
A Wealth of Experience
InEight’s vision for the region is enhanced by Elia Burgueño Rayo, Client Success Manager InEight EMEA, Amsterdam. Serving previously as lead SE for Veidekke, the largest construction and civil engineering company in Norway and fourth largest in Scandinavia, and holding degrees in building construction and architectural engineering, she understands the frustrations of the industry, inside and out.
“In my experience, what really happens is that construction companies try to find a software, a solution that helps them beginning to end for a project, and that is difficult,” Burgueño Raya says. “Here at InEight, we try to solve that by providing a platform that unifies and integrates processes together, all in one place.”
Originally hailing from Barcelona, Spain, she is responsible for developing customer relationships throughout EMEA, working closely with prospects and clients from pre-sales to services delivery, drawing on her practical construction background every day.
“Something that we would always look for is software that can address all our business processes,” she recalls. “Because InEight’s software is updated every nine weeks, improvement areas become obvious more quickly and updates can be made.”
How do they determine those updates? “By listening to our customers,” she says. “They know what they need to make our solution better because they live the daily construction issues in their own projects. Plus, most of my colleagues have real construction experience. That says a lot about InEight’s team, our spirit, knowledge and empathy for our clients.”
Capitalizing on Change
Jordan Cannon, Senior Solutions Engineer for InEight EMEA, agrees, and goes back to the vital importance of solutions that allow the industry to alter course to fit their growing needs.
“Being able to adapt and react to differences and changes is so important living in and supporting the EMEA market,” he explains.
Also located in Amsterdam, Cannon’s main focus is helping solve common, real-world industry challenges for customers, collecting project progress and providing key performance insights, all within the InEight platform.
Gaining deep experience in multiple managerial positions at leading construction firms including Blinderman Construction, Graycor, Kiewit and TIC The Industrial Company, he’s also assisted two construction firms in undergoing complete digital transformations, including the purchase and implementation of the InEight Platform. Currently, his time has been focused leading EMEA workshops and hands-on customer demonstrations.
While the financial investment InEight has in the EMEA region is impressive, for Cannon, the emotional investment is equally so, as it’s based on empathy drawn from a shared experience.
“Employees here have a real passion for construction and solving customer pains as we have lived in their shoes,” he explains. “Spending many years ‘boots on the ground’ allows us to connect with our customers and understand their process challenges. Working with so many individuals across various markets and customer types, InEight employees have gained an abundance of industry knowledge to share with our customers on best practices.”
Cannon feels that a successful business also takes the right combination of people, process and product.
“InEight truly exemplifies these core elements by having the experienced construction professionals, the ability to dissect customer processes and provide industry best practices, and finally, a modular yet interoperable set of powerful tools as our product offering.”
A Bright Future
Right now, the EMEA needs that are drawing attention to what InEight can offer include:
- End-to-end solutions
- An interoperable platform
- Modular implementation (in phases) that still connects to other systems in use
- Improvements in the use of BIM from InEight Estimate (3D) through to operations (6D and digital twin)
- More robust BIM/VDC and InEight Document solutions for megaprojects
- Cloud offerings for all products
- Continued new investment and robust ongoing platform support
And according to Paul, it’s only going to get better.
“It was just last year that we were saying ‘we can’t wait for 2022.’ But we needed to get out in the region. We needed to hire more people. We needed to put a physical location in place. And we did all that, we did it fast, and all during the pandemic,” he recalls.
“We’ve seen the last two years have tremendous growth, so far exceeding our expectations that we can’t wait to now enter 2022 with our resources in the region, with the language translations that we’ve done, with the additions to the product to support the region. We just think it’s going to be a win-win for us and all of our customers out there.”
