How Owners Can Advance Their Capital Project Management

Originally aired on 7/21/2020

42 Minutes

Request A Demo

Today’s capital project owners often find themselves disconnected or distant from what is going on with their projects and contractors. What’s worse, there seems to be a continuing lack of any remedy for this present situation. 

With the help of several industry experts, this webinar takes an educational/agnostic look at various and critical evolutions in technology aimed at creating awareness for owners of just what tools are at their disposal – many of which they may not even be aware of yet.

TRANSCRIPT


AJ Waters:

Well, good afternoon, everyone. And welcome to our webinar today. We are going to be talking about advancing capital projects specifically from the view of an owner and looking through the lens of maybe some new technologies that haven’t quite made their way to the owner’s purview, as far as, maybe they’re being held at a distance by their contractors. Maybe there’s just not the transparency that they’re hoping for? And or maybe they just haven’t gotten access to some of the new enhancements or changes that contractors have been undergoing over the last year or five years. So with me today is an astute panel of experts in the industry. And our goal is to have a discussion about some of those concepts, those technologies, the way things are changing, to educate and or help owners out there that might be looking to take the next step.

AJ Waters:

So with that, we’ll go ahead and we’ll introduce the panel. And as you go through your introductions, if you would offer your background a little bit, your role here at InEight and your experience. And so I’ll go first as an example, and then we’ll get to our panelists. My name is AJ Waters. I’m the Director of Industry Solutions and I’ll be the host today. And, that gives me the pleasure of discussing with this great panel these topics. My background is in construction as a structural engineer, then time in the vertical building segment, and then also a stint with a large capital projects owner that builds data centers, and that’s where I learned a lot of what we’re going to talk about today. As far as our panel is concerned, how about we start with Mark and then we’ll go to Rob and then wrap up with the most interesting background of the day, Rick.

Mark Edwards:

Starting from least interesting to most. That’s good. I’m glad I get to be the first.

Rick Deans:

I think he’s got that backwards, Mark.

Mark Edwards:

I don’t know about that. Thanks for joining everybody. I’m excited to be a panelist here and talk about this great topic. My name is Mark Edwards. I am the Chief Delivery Officer for InEight. Basically what that means is, I worry about everything from enhancements, all the way to development delivery, turning it over for our services folks to turn out for our customers. So it’s great because I get to see our enhancements really take shape and be used across all of the domains that we support.

Mark Edwards:

My background, I’ve always been a software guy, but for the last several years, the software that I’ve been working on has been used for large construction projects, not only for … but other big customers across the globe. So I’ve had a great opportunity to work with a variety of customers on how they use our software to build more efficiently and give some visibility that they’ve never seen before. So I’m excited to talk about it. Thanks, AJ. Rob?

Rob Bryant:

Thanks, Mark. So I’m Executive Vice President for APAC for InEight. It’s my pleasure to lead the team through this part of the world, a particular focus on the go-to-market side, which gives me the opportunity to work with a lot of our key clients and ensuring that we maintain a clear view of their business requirements and making sure that we address those with our solutions and the way that we deliver our service. My background is from working across a number of industries in digital transformation, over the last 20 odd years, everything from publishing through to business information, and the last eight years or so spent working across the sector of engineering and construction, and building up that exposure to the industry and seeing how some of the solutions are being adopted and certainly how some of those requirements have been evolving over that time as well. Over to you, Rick.

Rick Deans:

Thanks, Rob. My name is Rick Deans. I’ve been working with different iterations of these tools for more than 20 years. I look after what we call industry engagement. So on any given day I’m working with a variety of our customers helping to solve some of their business challenges through the use of our technology.

AJ Waters:

Fantastic. Thank you all. So we’ll kick off with a softball, and Mark, I’ll start with you. It’s become cliche, but everybody says it, software has come a long way in the last 10 years. From the launch of mobile devices all the way to the cloud. There have been significant changes. But even so, what specifically do you think the capital project space is seeing, or maybe still trying to fully understand thanks to all of these upgrades to technology?

Mark Edwards:

It’s a good question. We’ve seen a significant movement over the last probably three to five years with engaging owners in the capital project delivery process. And it started and probably rightfully so given the state of software at the time, but it started with things like IPD or integrated project delivery, where you’ve got everybody staring at a white board, you’ve got the subcontractors, you’ve got the general contractor, you’ve got owners, you’ve got everybody collaborating on what’s going on with the build. And that process really is driving. And there’s several in that same spirit. But that process is driving transparency across the different stakeholders involved in the build, and that includes the owner. And so the owner through that has been able to see what is really going on. And so the data that they get to see the day-to-day status where we are on tracking work, it’s just all open and visible to everyone. And I think, we now take that from a software perspective and it becomes even better.

Mark Edwards:

So you might have, one of the key parts of IBD is physical co-location and the software has really helped us, basically continue to do that collaboration, but in a much more remote way. And then on top of that, the utilization of the tools and the outputs of assigning tasks and seeing how we did on earned value throughout the process and how subcontractors are playing into it, the data that falls out of utilizing our tools and the reports that get generated are a direct reflection of work that happened that day.

Mark Edwards:

We don’t have to go create a bunch of reports, I’ve got this weekly status with the client and I have to go do all these things on the side to generate the information for that meeting, that the output is generated automatically and it is in real time. And so the data is becoming so much more important when we’ve, on every customer roll out, initially it’s about capabilities of the tools and quickly the capabilities turn into what data are these tools delivering and how do we use that data better than we ever have. So a really exciting evolution in how our tools are used and helping owners as well as general contractors.

Rick Deans:

That’s a really good point, Mark. And from my perspective, there’s really never been a shortage of data. People have had data, going back to three-ring binders and access databases in Excel spreadsheets. I think the game changer today is that data is no longer siloed and it’s made available organizationally. So as an example, an owner can put together an estimate for a capital project based on validated benchmarks of what that work has cost in the near past. So I think it helps to kickoff projects with a little bit more intelligence and a little bit more intuition based on the ability to harness and leverage that data.

Rob Bryant:

I think it’s the ability to harness it, Rick. I would say what I’ve observed is definitely an enablement through technology that’s really started to spur that along. The scout of the projects that certainly that I’ve seen, means that there is more data than ever before. There’s the opportunity to gather more data than ever before. You see that in every aspect of construction these days, there’s data available at just about every turn and every point through the construction phase and through the whole life cycle of those projects.

Rob Bryant:

So enabled by technology and driven by demand with an increasing amount of data that’s available, it’s really causing a need as much as anything for owners to find a way to gather that information and consolidate it, and then turn it up for analysis and review, because once you collected it, then you got a bucket load of data that you’ve got to sift through and understand. So actually being able to organize it becomes one of the major challenges that owners in particular have as they try to get some understanding of exactly where the project is and how it’s performing.

AJ Waters:

And Rob, you deal a lot with government entities as well, and as you mentioned, very large scale high profile projects. What are some of the benefits that they’re seeing from removing these silos and being more collaborative and getting all that data in one place?

Rob Bryant:

That’s true AJ. Some of the biggest factors we see across that government sector in those large scale infrastructure projects are often the things that are driven by the funding of those projects in the way that they’re structured as well. There’s an increasing amount of accountability that’s required from the owner of the contractors and of the parties that come together. So making sure they understand the exact status of the project, is a key factor. But one of the really interesting ones for me is that those government owners in particular are understanding the value of the digital asset that sits there as part of the project.

Rob Bryant:

So it’s no longer about just the physical route or road structure. It’s about all of the data that sits around that as they move through the life cycle of the project and into that operation and maintenance phase. It’s incredibly expensive for owners too, and there’s a lot of hidden costs, where owners have to go out and get surveys redone, get data re gathered, get measurements taken again, on sites and on sections, and surveying where that data is available at the point of design and at the point of construction.

Rob Bryant:

And if it could be gathered, organized, and maintained, then they don’t need to spend that money. They’ve got that data available at their fingertips. They’ve got a much better ability to then maintain the asset. So it’s a different view that’s being taken by owners, that is really driving that demand and that need for data to be organized through the whole project life cycle.

Rick Deans:

And I think one of the things, Rob, that I certainly see is that by implementing a lot of these collaborative systems, we’re seeing those silos break down. We’re seeing a common language being spoken, not only across the organization, but with third parties, such as contractors and material vendors as well. And even the ability of sharing human resources across business units as demand ebbs and flows from one business unit to the next. I’m also seeing because of this transparency and these collaborative systems, I’m also seeing owners and contractors, and this goes back to what Mark talked about, having everybody on the same side of the table, where they’re looking at things more strategically and saying, how can we share some of the value that we might be able to generate by doing things in a more efficient format?

Mark Edwards:

Rob, you can probably talk to this better than anybody, but we’re seeing, especially in APAC, and it happens in North America as well, but, owners are starting almost to dictate the systems that they want to be used on a project for exactly the reason you’re saying. They see the value of the output. And so leaving the decision to the general contractor or general contractors, depending on the size of the project, the owners are like, hey, I know I’m going to get value and it’s primarily driven by transparency and data. So this is how we want you to run this project because not only will it benefit you guys, but it also benefits us. And you’re right. We’re seeing that more in your region than anywhere else right now.

Rob Bryant:

We really are. In fact, we just started working the last few months with a major state water company that have done exactly that, Mark. They’ve adopted our solution. But what they’ve done is that they’ve actually gone to the three parties that the regional delivery consortiums that are working with them and said, “These are the systems that we want you to use. These are the ways that we want you to deliver information to us.” And the reason they’ve done that is they’re working with these parties over the next decade. So they want to collect that information together from three different consortiums across billions of dollars-worth of work over 10 years. So you can imagine the complications that would exist otherwise if they were relying on individuals and individual companies within those consortium and individual consortium to provide that information up. So they’ve been very specific about what they want and how they want it.

Rob Bryant:

So once they’ve made those decisions, they can lay out the structures, everything from the cost breakdown structure, when they’re looking at the estimates to the work breakdown structure, through the construction phase and so on. So they can have a common thread of data to analyze things, compare and monitor and track. And so you’re absolutely right. It’s, we’re seeing it come together here, faster than ever. And I think that’s because of the scale of projects. The scale of those projects is bigger than any one person or any one company can get their head around and manage the data for.

Rob Bryant:

And also we’ve got the issue of a marketplace where labor is in high demand and where capacity of companies is stretched. So we’re seeing those consortium and alliances has come together. So you no longer have one contractor that’s delivering, you’ve got contractors coming together to work together. So now you’ve got to decide where do we have a demarcation zone of data for a contractor, so that it’s not contained in their language and their space as well. So it really means the owner has to take control of the information that exists around a project.

Mark Edwards:

I think it’s a pretty exciting set of pressures. You’ve got the demand for physical resources. You also have given the time of the world we’re in right now, a significant amount of pressure on capital spending. A lot of companies have cut their capital spending. So every dime that they spend has to be absolutely spent the right way and get the value from that dime. And so you put all those pressures in place, and I think the bright light is shining right on however work is run and the data that the information that comes out of those, and then back to Rick’s point, you do that for a few years and you’re going to have the best benchmarking data you’ve ever had.

Rob Bryant:

It’s true.

AJ Waters:

And so, Mark, putting a bow on that subject. You’ve got extensive experience in the contractor space. Are they on-board with that level of transparency to their owners?

Mark Edwards:

It is absolutely an evolution, but I would tell you that without fail, once a project team or one of our customers gets over that, everybody’s on the same side of the table and whatever is there is there and we make the decisions together. The larger contractors I’ve worked with really started buying the tools that we’ve been developing to make themselves more efficient. They want to beat their estimate, and our tools absolutely help with that. And you can see and get more and more efficient as they use the tools on job A and then, you’ve got a project team goes to job B, uses the same tools and they get more and more efficient. So that efficiency, it has driven contractors for, to your point in the last several years. But there has still been a lot of work around on the side to take that and manipulate it in a way to give to an owner.

Mark Edwards:

And now our tools are able to roll that stuff up and provide that view to an owner. And so not only is it a win on the side of the general contractor, because some of that overhead work just goes away. You don’t have the overhead that you used to, and then you’re not cutting a bunch of stuff out, you’re actually gaining because you now generate the information needed through our dashboards and reports and a variety of things that we have to provide that data, without spending a lot of people time doing it. So it’s absolutely a win for the owner and a win for the contractor and soon, and the contractor see that, and the flywheel just starts to turn. And it’s really exciting to see.

AJ Waters:

Would you guys agree, Rick and Rob, is that what you’re seeing as well?

Rick Deans:

Well, I think from my perspective, as Mark pointed out, it’s really not an event. It’s more of a process or an evolution, but yes, by all means, I think contractors are on board with this because there are less surprises when I can sit next to a client and show them what the earned value curves and the commodity curves and the completion curves and the productivity curves look like, we’re all in agreement as to what the next step should be. So I’m seeing a tremendous amount of efficiencies and collaboration as a result of these tools.

Rob Bryant:

It’s certainly the case and we’re seeing it helping to address a lot of international standards as well. So there’s the standards of transparency, standards of reporting, workflows that organizations want to see put in place. And by adopting a common solution, they’re able to actually maintain and set those standards much more easily than they would have done previously. We’ve got examples where consortiums are putting together their monthly report. It used to be a 40-page report that would take the best part of a week and a team of people. So they’re going through that cycle effectively every three weeks to start the process of gathering the information so they can present it up at the end of each month.

Rob Bryant:

So moving from that to virtually live dashboards of data, where they can pull that information together and share that across five or six dashboards either through a native analytic tool in the solution or through Power BI, then it saves a lot of time and it provides a lot of transparency. So there’s this cost saving, there’s time saving, and there’s just a more accurate reflection of where the project really sits.

Rob Bryant:

So what it uncovers for the owner is all of those hidden costs that traditionally have been part of a project that never get unearthed. And from a contractor’s point of view, it’s those hidden costs that also mean they’ve often settled for really quite ordinary margins on work. I mean, here in Australia and through this region, our contractors typically operate on smaller margins than those in North America. They are unfortunately less efficient historically. So finding ways to improve that efficiency and improve that profitability, not only helps them, but ultimately it helps the owner in ensuring there’s a responsible and realistic cost associated with the project.

AJ Waters:

So one thing that at least our team on the solutions engineering team likes to try to keep in the back of our mind with each one of these conversations that we have is, software isn’t a tool… Excuse me. Software isn’t day solution, it is a tool. It enables solutions or even automate solutions, but software in and of itself is not necessarily the solution. So, Rick, I know you’ve been doing this a long time, especially with several iterations of our particular software. What’s one of the biggest struggles that you have seen in companies that maybe try to place too much emphasis on the software?

Rick Deans:

That’s an excellent question. I’ve been taught by our customers that software in and of itself is not necessary a solution. You can install software on your server, but unless you’ve got fundamental business processes that are well thought out and well-communicated throughout the organization, you’re not really going to be able to leverage technology as that enabling tool that it really is. So what I’ve learned is that, implementations and organizations are much more successful when there is a set of underlying business processes that are communicated throughout the organization that people understand. And then the software is laid on top of those business processes to facilitate those processes. The software in and of itself, as great as we think it is, it’s not going to solve business problems unless people really implement it effectively. So that’s one of the big takeaways that I’ve learned over doing this for a couple of decades.

Mark Edwards:

That really hurts as a software guy. Come on.

AJ Waters:

Rob. I see you shaking your head.

Rob Bryant:

It’s a bit of both for me. I think I agree that it’s not, the software won’t do it on his own, of course. So it does require adoption and that’s one of the reasons that we often find ourselves getting engaged with change management as part of the implementation of the solution, because when you got potentially hundreds of thousands of users across a project and particularly across its life cycle, change management and adoption is a very important part and that’s why any good vendor needs to concentrate on UI UX as part of that whole process. But the thing for me is, is where workflows and best practice does become part of the software. So it’s back to those hidden costs and the things that have traditionally taken place on a project, that are processes and activities that don’t necessarily demonstrate an immediate cost to the project, but actually have a lot of inefficiency included in them.

Rob Bryant:

So it may be the way that activities pass from one person to another, or the way that information is timed and delayed, that causes things to not be as efficient as they could. It may be the scheduling and the planning that doesn’t take into account the history of similar projects and utilize the data that’s available to say, actually, we can be more accurate in how we’re costing and how we’re scheduling these projects.

Rob Bryant:

So it is possible to leverage the software as a solution in bringing in some better practice and with the use of the AI component, actually providing suggestions for people working on those projects to plan, to schedule and manage things better. And then to report things better as well with standard dashboards, things that people may not have considered in the past to provide that transparency. So I think it can help, and it can bring a different approach. It’s just ensuring 100% that there’s adoption because unless you’ve got the data being collected effectively, then it’s like, you forget to plug it in. If it’s not plugged in, it’s just sitting there and it ain’t being utilized as well as it could.

AJ Waters:

And so Mark, the software guy, on the same token, we often hear in sitting down with customers, they lay out their process and maybe there’s a couple of extra steps in there that we could trim off. And it’s the, well, we’ve always done it that way. So from the other side of the coin, what is the danger in the, we’ve always done this mentality?

Mark Edwards:

All kidding aside. I fully realized it’s not just about the software. But I think we’ve touched on this topic a couple of times over the last few minutes, that it is an evolution. And I think what I’ve seen most successful as you go through the workshops that we do as we’re turning up our software for a given customer, and you have all of the flow charts and you realize, maybe I can get rid of a couple of those boxes. Generally the project teams, the building teams are reluctant to do that. And so we use our software, at least in the initial implementations, we often use our software to implement a process that has been there for a long time. But what happens is the project teams then begin to realize themselves that those steps are likely not needed.

Mark Edwards:

We talked about the efficiency gains from a contractor. And so it’s much better for them to realize that let’s cut those out and then you evolve to becoming more and more and more efficient. One of the things I talk about quite often is that very first project you’re so worried about, okay, I’m going to use this product for my daily planning. I’m going to use this product for my estimating. I’m going to use this product for my contracts and my change management, et cetera. And you’re very focused on the software. And what are you going to use in the software, on your project.

Mark Edwards:

That next project you start to realize, what’s the output I’m looking for? How I’m I going to run my project every day, whether it’s a dashboard or report or set of them? And then based on that, the output that you want to run your work with, you swim upstream and say, okay, in order for that report to be as accurate and give me what I need, I need to do these three things with tools. And then that becomes how you lay your process out. So the way we’ve always done it, just so slowly goes away and you get that creativity in that process and the tools support of the process rather than driving the process.

Mark Edwards:

And the way we’ve always done it, it just sorta goes away. It’s not an event. It just dissolves. And it’s a really, really cool thing to see when you go meet with a customer that’s running their third project on our tools and they’re like, “Holy mackerel,” because you get to see the value of their evolution.

AJ Waters:

You touched on it briefly, but there was a huge point in there, the whole begin with the end in mind, right?

Mark Edwards:

Yes.

AJ Waters:

Know what you want out of this system before you really focus on how you get there.

Mark Edwards:

That’s right.

AJ Waters:

Because what you want may change how you get there. That’s a great point. So, before we run out of time, I’m going to ask one more question of each of you, specifically, and then we’ll do some closing thoughts. So if it’s not your turn, be thinking. Mark, I’m going to have you go first. As you continue to work with and consult new companies, what is one key thing that you would want them to know or understand before they get started? Maybe something that could help them avoid some of the struggles we’ve talked about. What’s one key tip or takeaway or thing that you wish people knew before they even tried to dive into a full digital transformation?

Mark Edwards:

Well, I guess to start with, it’s not for the faint of heart. But, with that being said, I would say, I mean, I just touched on it when I talked about what is… let’s think about how you want to run your work every day. And then based on that, let’s go figure out how to generate that output with the activities you’re going to do day in and day out all the way from, whether it’s material, whether it’s scheduling, whether whatever it is, equipment. How are you going to run that work, and then let’s go talk about how we’re going to make the tool support that output.

Mark Edwards:

And I can’t stress enough that, we’ve seen time and time again, where you don’t start with how you want to run the work and you start with, the software and the capabilities of the software, and then you get to the place you’re like, “oh shoot. I want to run my work this way.” And now you’re going crazy to figure out how to put the output in place that you want. So, spend time thinking about what the output is going to look like, and then let’s go after the capabilities of the software.

AJ Waters:

Awesome. Rob, what about you?

Rob Bryant:

I think I agree with that, Mark. I think the key thing for me would be, I would say to them engage early. And by that, I mean, as an organization, as the owner organization, engage with stakeholders early to make sure you’ve got your requirements well understood and the whole objective of what you’re about to set out and do understood and requirements gathered. But at the same time, engage your prospective contractors and the contractors that you select early in the process, so that you give them an opportunity to start organizing their thoughts, their resources, and their information in the way that you need it to be.

Rob Bryant:

One of the hardest things we see is when an owner moves through that selection process with a contractor and then announces to them that, now you’re on board. Now you’ve mobilized. This is how we want you to present the data. And suddenly they have to swivel and start changing their practices, their thought processes, as even the skill sets that they’ve got within their teams. So my key tip would be engage early internally and engage early with your contractor and your external stakeholders as well.

AJ Waters:

Perfect. Mr. Deans.

Rick Deans:

Well, I would love to add fresh content. I think these two have said it great. I’ll just summarize it maybe in a slightly different way. The idea behind rolling out a new set of software tools is not to make your end users experts in those tools. It’s the ability to give them access to some resources that are going to allow them to do a better job of what they do. And absolutely to Mark’s point and to Rob’s point, let’s find out what those metrics are that are important to us, and let’s work backwards to make sure that the work processes and the data support those metrics. And then it’s this self-priming pump that just continues to run and run and run.

Mark Edwards:

Real quick. One more thing I would add and Rick just touched on it, but the data that you put in the system, once you figure out how you’re going to use it, the data you put in drives what comes out. And so just realizing and making sure that you’re putting in good stuff up front that will generate good stuff at the end, spending some time on whether it’s ways to categorize work in a standard way. It doesn’t take much. It feels like the task is overwhelming, but I always tell our customers little things are big things. You don’t have to change much to really get a significant benefit out of it. So the quality of the data that once you figure out the whole, well, I’m going to run it, with the quality of the data, I can’t understate that enough.

AJ Waters:

That’s a good point. And with just the sheer volume of capital expenditure on the horizon, it almost feels like now or never to get on board with some standardization to the data that you’re tracking. So that’s great. Any final closing thoughts or comments from the group? It’s been a pleasure spending some time with you all this afternoon.

Rob Bryant:

From my perspective AJ, I’d say, that certainly in this part of the world and in the current environment, as we are in 2020, we fully anticipate the continued path of large scale infrastructure projects to help stimulate the economy in this part of the world. And we do face challenges in terms of, as I mentioned earlier, capacity within the industry. So I think it’s more important than ever that owners of these large scale capital projects consider the data that they want to begin capturing and the way that they want to operate those projects, but also consider fully how they want to manage and operate those assets that are being constructed and designed at this time, to take a long-term view of the management of that asset and make the life of the contracting parties as they come together, as easy as you can to deliver on your requirements and for them to measure performance as well, because they’re under pressure from a capacity point of view.

Rob Bryant:

Everyone’s going to be under pressure from a cost of project point of view, that rarely changes. But by managing the data appropriately, you’re going to give your project the best chance of success. And at the current time, when there’s more scrutiny than ever, I would say that’s a key consideration for any project owner is to really think about how they can use the product information to manage the efficiency of the project and provide transparency, because that reduces stress in the end. We’ve seen that reduce project stress by actually having transparency all the way through. I think that’s going to be a key thing moving forward.

AJ Waters:

Hey Rob, there was a whole other topic in there that you touched on that we could probably spend hours on, the duration of the construction versus the overall life cycle of the asset is so small to that owner. But getting things right in that moment has such a huge impact throughout the remainder of that asset. That’s a great point.

Mark Edwards:

Absolutely. I think we are at the cusp of a significant change here and I’m excited to watch and be a part of it. Because I think the stuff we talked about early on, how the owners are getting more involved, we’re transparent, we’re seeing more and more transparency across general contractors, subcontractors, everybody that is involved. And I think it’s only going to get more and more that way. And I’m excited because of what that’s going to do to our industry and be able to spend those infrastructure dollars. And if we can save enough to do more work, save enough on a bunch of projects, because of that transparency, it’s going to be amazing. And I’m pretty doggone excited and the way we’re going to play, as we see that unfold. So I couldn’t be more excited about what’s going to happen and being a part of it.

Rob Bryant:

And I share your enthusiasm, Mark. And I think especially we’ve mentioned it a couple of times, 2020, there’s a whole lot different than 2019. We took for granted some things that were readily available and relatively inexpensive and the next day, they were hard to find and if we could find them, they were very, very expensive. So I think by leveraging technology and being able to identify those trends and to be able to act on those trends, is really going to put those organizations at the forefront that are really, really leveraging that data analysis. And I share your enthusiasm. I think there’s a lot of great stuff coming. This is a great time to be in the industry and I’m super excited about it.

Mark Edwards:

Last thing I want to talk about real quick is, we’ve talked a lot about data and information and humans are visual creatures. You want to see a chart rather than a whole bunch of matrix of numbers. And you’ve seen things like Tableau and Power BI and even Google Earth or whatever, they’re so engaging because it’s a visual thing. And the tools that we can now use and put visualizations around that data, I think is going to make it even more exciting. Because an owner is going to be able to look at hotspots about 10 projects that they have across the world and be able to quickly see where they might have an issue so that, bad news is never good news, but it gets better if you find out early. And so those kinds of tools are going to give us those capabilities and be able to see them much more quickly than looking at an Excel spreadsheet full of numbers. So it’s a pretty cool time and in many ways.

AJ Waters:

I couldn’t agree more. Although I was the math major in college. So what do you got against numbers, Mark?

Mark Edwards:

I don’t have anything against numbers, but you’re also a mad guy. So I know you like visual stuff.

AJ Waters:

That’s an excellent point. Yes. Well, I want to, again, thank you all for your time today, for your insights and your experience on this topic. It’s been educational for me. Hopefully it’s been educational for all of you attending and we appreciate you all joining us today. Don’t forget, InEight has a full slate of webinars available, and coming up real soon, just next week, is a customer story that Mr. Deans is offering up with Rural Electric. So be on the lookout for that one as well. Thank you all and have a great rest of your day.

Mark Edwards:

Thanks guys. Thanks AJ.

Rob Bryant:

Thank you.

Rick Deans:

Stay safe everyone.

Show full transcription

REQUEST A DEMO

Thanks for contacting us. A member of our team will follow up with you shortly.