Apr 08 2011

NEC in the spotlight on Monday

At the generous invitation of Sypro, I will be attending Monday’s annual NEC User Group conference, held at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London. It promises to be an interesting event, with a keynote from the UK government’s chief construction advisor Paul Morrell, plus presentations and case studies on use of the NEC contract on London Olympic projects and London’s CrossRail, among other schemes.

As a construction collaboration technology watcher, I will be interested to see what the various firms who are exhibiting will be presenting to delegates. Five vendors are due to attend: 4Projects, BIW (both Thomas Telford licensed content providers – post), CEMAR, MPS and the afore-mentioned Sypro – who I know will be telling attendees about their new release, which has tailored its web-based NEC contract administration platform specifically for ProCure21+ health-related projects. This is being released to coincide with the NEC User Group conference, and according to Sypro’s latest e-shot (received yesterday):

“… these enhancements mark the completion of the first part of our 2011 development roadmap. Next, we will be focusing efforts on supporting mobile working for NEC3 contract users.”

RICS/Davis Langdon published a survey last year (February 2010) which, based on 1370 construction projects which started work on site during 2007, suggested JCT’s share of the contracts market had increased since the previous survey in 2004. JCT was used on 79 per cent of projects by number, followed by the New Engineering Contract (eight per cent) and GC/Works (six per cent), though NEC use represented 14 per cent by value of the projects surveyed (61 per cent for JCT).

I suspect a similar survey focused on UK public sector projects would reveal a very different picture, as NEC adoption is being encouraged by the Office of Government Commerce, and the proportion may well increase further if Paul Morrell is successful in encouraging the AEC industry to adopt more collaborative approaches, including BIM, appropriate for a 21st century low carbon economy. Indeed, last year’s IGT report on Low Carbon Construction (recommendation 6.13) says the industry should “work with Buildoffsite to update its lexicon for inclusion in contracts used by the industry, adopting terminology relevant to a 21st century industry, to facilitate the transition to low carbon”. I will be interested to see on Monday if the NEC community is responding to this challenge.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/04/nec-in-the-spotlight-on-monday/

Apr 05 2011

Aconex Blog Central

Unlike 4Projects which last month seemingly suspended its blog and Twitter presence, Australia-based SaaS construction collaboration technology vendor Aconex looks to be about to launch a more committed Web 2.0 presence. It has created a new blog site, Blog Central, as:

“a single spot for sharing the latest news on Aconex technology, products, customers, and the industry. The hub is the home of our blogs, resource for sharing good practices in online project collaboration, and a candid forum for you to engage in real conversation.”

It draws threads together from previous blogs, some of which were latterly used only sporadically (for example, Built on Collaboration had only six posts last year, much reduced on its 2009 output). It is also aiming to be a channel for “other influencers and thought leaders in the Construction, Engineering, and Energy & Resources industries”, with Aconex calling for some “lively interaction”.

I suspect this new site is still at an early stage – the URL currently points to a staging address “http://aconex-blogs.staging.reactive.com” at international digital agency Reactive Media – and it isn’t (yet) linked from the main Aconex website (the existing blog link in the Aconex.com site map still points at Built on Collaboration). Also, there is a link to a new Aconex community page on Facebook which is practically empty (currently just two ‘likes’ – compared to 370 for its product/service page). However, the Aconex YouTube page is more mature; it currently features 29 uploads which have accumulated nearly 28,000 views.

It certainly seems like Aconex is about to embrace social media much more concertedly, though it is not the only firm that has been developing its Web 2.0 presence over, say, the past 21 months (ie: since I wrote about Extranet vendors getting social). Asite created a user community in June 2009 (post), for example, but both it and Aconex still lag behind their younger UK-based rival Woobius whose management team remain enthusiastic bloggers and Tweeters (making them one of my front-runners in last year’s Construction Computing Best Use of Social Media category – post).

Update (08 April 2011) – Seems like what I wrote about earlier this week was “work in progress”. The look and feel of Aconex Blog Central has been polished and it’s no longer accessed via a ‘staging’ URL. The links to the different categories are now big graphical buttons, and an “industry voices” news feed has been added. There is also a new ‘Blog Central’ tab on the navigation of the main Aconex website. Much better, guys 🙂

 

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/04/aconex-blog-central/

Mar 31 2011

P45s at 4Projects

SaaS Handbook blog imageDuring my presentation at Friday’s ICT4Contruction event (post), I briefly mentioned 4Projects as an example of a construction collaboration technology vendor that had started to use social media, with a blog, TheSaaSHandbook.com, and an associated Twitter account. However, the blog has disappeared (visitors are now simply channelled to 4Projects’ home page), while the Twitter account has not been updated since 11 March.

It seems both have been discontinued following a recent rash of redundancies among the marketing team at the Sunderland, UK-based firm. Sadly, VP Marketing Clare Watson (who helped engineer 4Projects’ revamped web presence, and who I have met several times through her inputs to Constructing Excellence) is among those now seeking alternative employment and freelance opportunities (her profile no longer appears alongside the rest of the team).

We know 4Projects downsized last year (see 4Projects’ revenues down but profits up), partly through cuts in sales and marketing, and it appears the increased focus on north American operations (described by Steve Spark at Friday’s conference), and a 4Ps push into Poland (also announced last week), is being funded through further reductions in the same domestic team.

Meanwhile, 4Projects’ UK PR outputs continued with news this week of an enterprise deal with UK contractor Morgan Sindall.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/p45s-at-4projects/

Mar 29 2011

ICT4Construction: a post mortem

Rant alert!

As regular readers may know, I was (I think, constructively) critical of the first ICT4Construction event last October, and as a result of my feedback organiser Recep Saffet asked if I would chair the next edition, on knowledge and document management. After some deliberation, I agreed, and also helped publicise the event through this blog and other channels.

The event

However, the conference – which took place last Friday, 25 March – was (again) poorly attended. Worse, there were administrative glitches on the day that could easily have been avoided by better organisation. I understand some of the (excellent) speakers at the event were also dissatisfied with the event, and I am now having to make it clear that I was only the conference chairman and that I was not involved in its direct marketing, planning or administration. I have also made my views clear to the organiser, who seems to think little was wrong apart from being short-staffed and getting less than 40 people attending. I wrote to him yesterday:

Dear Recep

As you will imagine, I regard this as a poor return for the time I put into your event. I expended considerable efforts (unpaid) through my blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and on Be2camp.com, and also provided you with a free place at the Be2awards/ConstrucTALKs event to help you market the event. I also prepared two presentations and devoted an entire day to the event itself. …

Clearly, your own telephone and email marketing was inadequate. This latest ICT4Construction event was (again) poorly attended, yet document/knowledge management clearly remains a topical issue (I received tweets during the day from architects and others who’d wished they’d known about the event beforehand). I counted barely 40 attendees (last minute cancellations are no excuse – they happen at every event), and a high proportion of the delegates were from vendor businesses. Indeed, by the final session, there was just one client left in a room, outnumbered 20-fold by software providers!

There were numerous event management niggles before and during the day:

  • As discussed, I tend to avoid holding events on Fridays, particularly whole-day affairs
  • The website was not kept updated with changes to the agenda
  • You were late arriving at the venue (as conference chairman, it surely wasn’t my place to be helping exhibitors, sorting out the projector, and being quizzed about internet access?)
  • I, and several attendees, had no delegate badges
  • A delegate pack is not a carrier bag of sponsor literature
  • There was no delegate list
  • There was no complimentary coffee or other refreshments upon arrival (I had to go and buy my own coffee in the adjacent cafeteria)
  • I had to provide my own laptop and presenter device for use by most of the speakers, and therefore had to appeal for speakers to make sure they provided me with their presentations (why hadn’t you asked for these to be sent to you or me by at least 24 hours earlier?)
  • There were no speaker microphones, meaning some of the Q&A was barely audible without a roving mike
  • Until I pressed the need for it, there was no wifi access – these are technology events attended by people who need to remain connected to their daily working lives
  • You disappeared at lunchtime, and were rarely present in the conference room during the sessions (when I organise events, I make it my business to sit in and observe and evaluate speakers, keep an eye on technology, check timings, etc)
  • If you were ill, then you should have organised temporary staff to help run the event
  • I had no information from you about evaluation forms or about availability of the presentations after the event …

I will spare you Recep’s full response which accuses me of “nit-picking”, chooses to view this as a “whole list of rattling complaint after complaint”, and is disrespectful of a speaker’s contribution, but if you were at the event, am I over-reacting? Was this nit-picking? Did this event deliver what you expected?

The content

Being more positive, I did think this event saw some good discussion of speakers’ presentations (something I was keen to encourage as chairman). And despite the lower-than-expected turnout of delegates, some interesting questions were raised and there were some thoughtful contributions from the speakers and the audience:

  • Bentley Systems’s Neville Glanville talked eloquently about ‘Big BIM’ and ‘Little BIM’ and about ProjectWise
  • Alistair McLeod of Waterstons delivered an engaging presentation (both he and Neville referenced the Latham and Egan reports, and Alistair also quoted from the more recent Constructing Excellence document, the Wolstenholme Report, “Never Waste a Good Crisis”), including a mini-case study on housebuilder Stewart Milne’s use of MS SharePoint as a knowledge management hub
  • 4Projects’ Steve Spark delivered a wide-ranging presentation, having decided not to compete with other speakers on the subject of NEC3 contract administration
  • Asite’s Paul Markovits gave a good account of how vendors needed to forget about chasing individual projects and capitalise upon the opportunities arising from developing enterprise agreements.
  • Union Square’s Stuart Bell entertained with his references to “fast red Hondas” and “dogs in uniform” (you had to be there!)
  • I really liked Kenny Ingram, from IFS, and his football analogies regarding forecasting performance
  • Andrew Woolstone (Causeway Technologies) talked about OpenText and how collaboration might embrace social media, and
  • Stuart Kings (Sypro) gave a great talk on how delivering a really user-friendly interface might improve contract administration.

But, sadly, I find myself blogging about the event not about the content (and this is a much toned-down rant from one I wrote the day after!). I don’t normally come away from events feeling destructive, but there are times when event organisation leaves one feeling very frustrated.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/ict4construction-a-post-mortem/

Mar 28 2011

Aconex looking for SF-based senior VP, sales and marketing

For a few idle minutes on Friday, I started contemplating a move to California –Australia-based construction collaboration technology vendor Aconex had just advertised an attractive sales and marketing role based in San Francisco (see LinkedIn jobs). Reality then kicked in (I have a business, wife and kids in the UK), but for the right person, this could be a great chance to play a key role in helping Aconex strengthen its position, both in the US and globally. And if this interests you enough to apply, please let Aconex know I told you about it! 🙂

Update (28 May 2011) – I understand that, while Aconex has done some interviews for this sales and marketing post, they are still open to new applications.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/aconex-looking-for-sf-based-senior-vp-sales-and-marketing/

Mar 23 2011

SnagR: mobile but not SaaS

SnagRIgnore the marketing hype about SnagR being “the first its kind innovative Web and PDA-based site inspection and defect management system” (both BIW and BuildOnline – now part of Sword CTSpace – had PDA-based defects management systems in 2006), but SnagR is a user-friendly digitised system designed to speed up the process of capturing, reporting and rectifying on-site construction defects, mainly using mobile devices.

The application is focused on managing inspection-related activities across a site, providing tools that relate reporting processes to the location of the issue(s) being discussed – with access through PDA-type devices and ‘ultra-mobile’ ruggedised tablets (the website says SnagR is available for Windows 7, Android 2.2, iPhone and iPad). Plans and elevations, in PDF format, are first loaded into the SnagR system, and the project’s reporting structures, categories and processes are configured to suit the companies involved. As the user undertakes an inspection tour, he or she can enter details of identified problems by clicking on the relevant location, selecting details from drop-down menus and adding a photograph. Once the user returns to the site office or otherwise has connectivity, the defect notifications can by synchronised with the core system and notifications including the location plotting are sent to the relevant recipient(s). Once rectified, issues disappear from the displayed plans but records are retained in an audit trail.

SnagR Software Ltd was incorporated in October 2008 and its registered office is near Stafford, UK. Run by Graham, Liz and Mark Henderson, it seems to have superseded another UK Midlands-based company called Tailormade Software whose website lists variants of SnagR, including tools for inspection, surveying and property management. SnagR software is also available in the Middle East through a partnership with Pragmatech in Qatar, signed in September 2009. A video dubbed into Chinese (I think) suggests the company is also looking for partners in south-east Asia.

Not Software-as-a-Service?

Like some other defect management tools on the market (eg: DefectInspector from QA Software), SnagR is locally managed and does not appear to be offered on a vendor-hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis. Customers are instructed to load their drawings on to hardware of their choice that can be accessed via the internet. Once indexed and made accessible to SnagR’s navigation system, copies of all drawings can be downloaded to user’s mobile devices so that they can be viewed and interrogated on-site.

This may appeal to users who only need the toolset for inspection purposes within a small supply chain. But I think this means that drawings already loaded into any kind of online construction collaboration system used during project design and delivery will not immediately be reusable (unless some kind of integration between that platform and SnagR is created).

This suggests that SnagR immediately faces competition from existing SaaS collaboration systems (BIW, Sword CTSpace, Asite, etc) that offer defects management and other inspection process support on top of their core file management capabilities. However (see post), as some of the latter vendors may not be able to support as wide a range of mobile device operating systems as SnagR, there may be opportunities for them to augment their existing capabilities by, say, licensing the mobile tools technology from SnagR.

There might also be some potential synergies between SnagR and contract management systems (eg: MPS, Sypro, CMToolkit) where being able to immediately issue, say, early warning notices direct from site could be useful.

Looking to the future

Defects management is a good example of a process which lends itself to use of location plotting, and it can be made almost seamless if devices incorporate GPS capabilities. Instead of having to manually select a room, floor, zone, etc (and assuming some kind of 3G connectivity, of course), the user could simply rely on the device to record its coordinates (and maybe its elevation). One could also envisage an augmented reality version of such an application that allowed you to use a smartphone to view all nearby defects and, for example, navigate to the ones that you need to look at.

Update (28 March 2011): I talked to SnagR CEO Graham Henderson today.

  • In his view, SnagR is available on a Software-as-a-Service basis insofar as his company will provide storage space on its own servers if customers require it (though he also explained some clients, particularly in the Middle East and Hong Kong, often preferred setting up their own on-site servers).
  • Regarding existing SaaS construction collaboration vendors, he said most of the providers he’d talked to wanted to “do their own thing” (ie develop their own snagging tools); SnagR’s focus is on inspection tools not on developing a file collaboration service.
  • I asked about the cost of the SnagR service, and Graham said fees were related to projects’ capital value and duration: a £10m school project might be supported on SnagR for £1,500, while a four-year £100m project would be supported for around £8,000 (in both cases, one-off fees not recurring subscriptions).
  • At the end of projects, all information could be downloaded to a read-only database, complete with viewing tools, so that companies retained an audit trail of all inspection-related communications.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/snagr-mobile-but-not-saas/

Mar 22 2011

Training in collaborative IT

Judging from the recent activities of some of the leading construction collaboration technology vendors, there seems to be a fair bit of (mainly London-based) training going on at the moment:

  • 4Projects recently announced (14 March) a “new programme of training sessions designed specifically to help our users get the most from our 4Projects collaborative functionality” (no price given, courses in London);
  • Asite’s Spring newsletter announced three public training courses designed to help users “get the most out of using Asite”. (£150 per person for a half-day course in central London); and
  • Aconex was due to run a UK edition of its document control course (see post) in London today (Tuesday 22 March). This uses Aconex to help support good document control practice but (I was told by Aconex’s Frank Carron) is not solely about helping people get the most out of using Aconex.

Meanwhile, I have been developing my own ideas about a course on “Collaborative IT for construction”. I have identified four main strands to what I think should be contained in such a course; by the end of the course, learners will:

  1. understand the concept of web-based construction collaboration technologies, including the advantages of remote hosting “in the cloud” versus on-premise solutions, and be able to identify some common features shared by the leading industry platforms, plus some of the functions available as options,
  2. understand the advantages of web-based collaboration tools over traditional paper-based or email-based approaches to project team working, and know what factors need to be considered for effective implementation,
  3. looking forward, appreciate how the technology platforms might develop to incorporate new functionalities – for example, building information modelling (BIM), mobile access, lifecycle management, etc, and
  4. learn, through hands-on practical exercises, how to use the basic functions of a typical collaboration platform.

As you may see from the final item, I envisage this course being run in partnership with software vendors so that attendees can get a first-hand appreciation of how the tools work. I think this type of course also needs to be shared among the leading SaaS vendors, and that the content will need to be regularly updated to take account of new developments in the collaboration space, with BIM, mobile, etc.

What do you think? Is this a course that would appeal to you? If you were tasked with managing project information across a multi-disciplinary, multi-company team (perhaps working in multiple geographically dispersed locations), would this help? Would you prefer more product-oriented courses run by a vendor? Or is there a place for both – one to help you choose a platform/vendor, and another to help you “get the most” out of your chosen platform?

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/training-in-collaborative-it/

Mar 21 2011

Aconex to launch iPhone app in April

Australia-based SaaS construction collaboration technology vendor Aconex will be launching its first iPhone application next month (April 2011). A short note on its support page about release 10.2, says:

Coming Soon – Aconex Mobile
Now Aconex goes everywhere you go. We’re pleased to announce the launch of Aconex Mobile (for iPhone®) in April.

Very soon you’ll be able to create, capture, share and control your project information from wherever you are, right from your mobile device, online or offline. Click here to take a sneak peek.

This has been on the Aconex product roadmap for some time; the release of an Aconex Application Programming Interface (API) enabling faster development of new tools, including mobile apps, was announced in November 2009, and I discussed it with Aconex founder and general manager, product Rob Phillpot soon after (Rob Phillpot on Aconex, APIs and acquisitions).

However, other SaaS construction collaboration technology businesses (eg: Incite, Woobius, Conject) were quickly off the mark, launching their own iPhone apps in 2009, followed by others (eg: Asite – post; Corecon – post, Sword CTSpace – post; and an iPad application from BuildItLive – post) in 2010 (I also wrote about two point solutions: Foreman’s Mate, and SmartBuilder’s Site Clean-Up).

Some of these providers, though, also extended mobile support to other platforms such as Blackberry, Android and Windows Mobile 7, either as dedicated applications or through mobile web-browser interfaces. As a smartphone user, I value having access to various services literally at my fingertips (connectivity permitting, of course – and this can be a challenge on remote sites), and industry analysts are forecasting that mobile web access will soon outstrip web access via conventional laptops and desktop PCs.

But some UK vendors, notably BIW and 4Projects, have not yet started promoting their own smartphone applications (though BIW first marketed a mobile defects management solution for PDA-type devices in 2006), so, particularly for potential customers and their teams who are avid iPhone users, Aconex’s forthcoming launch may give it an edge until these rivals catch up.

Update (23 March 2011): On behalf of 4Projects, Steve Spark told me:

Our mobile offering is developing all the time. Our email integration work already allows any user to use key elements of our functionality direct from mobile email accounts (uploads, tasks, discussions, workflow etc).  Our integration with Evernote gives any user the ability to upload photos and sketches while on the move.

We are currently exploring our ‘mobile’ offering. We want to provide our solutions across the major platforms – not just iphone.  Some very exciting stuff in the mix!

Steve Cooper of BIW told me his business had been looking at the latest edition of Conject’s iPhone app, but didn’t want to be focused on just one smartphone operating system, particularly as there was still a large corporate community using Blackberry devices and the Android system was increasingly popular with both end-users and application developers.

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/aconex-to-launch-iphone-app-in-april/

Mar 15 2011

Online collaboration for marketing and sales

Enhancing customer service is one area where many AEC firms could do better, and web-based tools can help support marketing and sales activities.

Show Document and VeriShow

I wrote about the SaaS generic design review application Show Document about 18 months ago. I didn’t devote much time to it from a construction perspective as it lacked support for CAD file formats and other types of construction files used in an architecture, engineering and construction context.

Developer HBR Labs have been back in touch, urging me to take another look (and the HBR ShowDocument page displays markup of a blueprint), but it transpires the product is still focused on common file formats – including Microsoft Office formats, PDFs, TXT, RTF, JPEG images, web pages and video clips – with no CAD file support.

Like a growing number of developers of other web-based applications, though, HBR Labs has added a mobile ShowDocument version (Android only at this stage) – ideal for the sales “road warrior”, perhaps. And for non-project use, perhaps in developing sales literature or to enhance customer service where some private real-time collaboration through focused meetings is required, ShowDocument and its multimedia sister application VeriShow could be useful for those engaged in sales and marketing.

A video on the VeriShow website shows apparent sharing of a 3D model of a building, so they clearly see some potential in the AEC sector. There is clearly the potential for VeriShow to be used alongside a professional project delivery platform (or integrated into the latter), especially if the meeting and/or its outcomes could be recorded for audit purposes.

StickyWorld

Approaching the collaboration challenge from a more construction-oriented approach and with a greater awareness of social media is London-based software developer (and RIBA practice) SliderStudio.* This company has been developing “democratic design” tools for 3-4 years now; I first encountered them in 2008 when founder and practising architect Michael Kohn showed the planning consultation potential of YouCanPlan at a Be2camp event I organised in London. Since then, the business’s focus has been on StickyWorld.

Developed as part of an 18-month research project funded by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board, StickyWorld was publicly launched in early 2010 as browser-based project review and exhibition platform for creative business and education, incorporating many usability and simplicity principles from Web 2.0-type applications.

Michael believes that most conventional, industry-specific construction collaboration technologies are aimed at AEC professional users and require them to respond using common industry conventions and processes. StickyWorld, by contrast, aims to present design ideas simply and enable non-professional users to provide in-context feedback by the simple process of ‘sticking’ an electronic ‘stickynote’ in the relevant place.

StickyWorld was initially used to share design visuals (2D and 3D), PowerPoint slides, YouTube videos, etc, but as the Slider team has consulted with users – some involved with the initial TSB project, others recruited since – more opportunities have been identified (see StickyWorld ‘buzz’). For example, many of the temporary exhibits from last June’s London Festival of Architecture were photographed and captured on StickyWorld (here) so that they could still be shared and discussed after the Festival finished. And the presentations from Be2camp Brum in August 2010 were also captured online (here).

More recently, at EcoBuild (where StickyWorld was displayed on the TSB stand), I watched Michael demonstrate how 360-degree photographs of a refurbished residential building could be used to both exhibit the work and provide a conversation platform between project members (the client and architect, for instance) and those interested in the project. This same Virtually PassivHaus example was first used as part of an interactive session during a Sustainability Now virtual event last December.

I have also discussed with Michael how the platform might be used to provide interactivity as part of the technical sales process frequently engaged in between designers and suppliers of construction materials and products. One recent development that could help is the ability to embed a “Sticky Room” into a blog or website so that visitors could view materials and make comments or ask questions relating to the content (above, I embedded Michael’s presentation from Be2camp Brum). More importantly, they might also share that content with other people they know via their own websites and blogs.

Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and beyond

There is a place for both types of product in the marketplace, particularly when it comes to marketing construction services, products and materials. Some suppliers will prefer the polished but broadly conventional approach of a web interface that enables visitors to interact privately in real-time with representatives of the company (Show Document), while others may opt for a more open and social sharing approach, epitomised by StickyWorld. I also expect some businesses who value interaction may opt for both types of approach (or combinations of the technologies).

Using such tools might also be a practical indicator of a company that doesn’t just say it is “innovative” or “customer-focused” – positive customer engagement helps demonstrate such attributes. But, from looking around many AEC industry company websites, I know that some firms still have only a rudimentary grasp of what good online customer service should be, and have yet to think beyond, say, an email address or telephone number “For further information” (and in some cases, you’re lucky to get them!).

[* Slider Studio is a previous consultancy client of pwcom.co.uk Ltd.]

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/online-collaboration-for-marketing-and-sales/

Mar 10 2011

Some “difficulties”

A tweet saying Aconex was “in difficulties” caught my attention, but it was short-lived. It turned out the Aconex in question is a fruit export business, Exportadora Aconcagua, based in Chile (news), not the Australia-based construction collaboration technology vendor of the same name.

However, the local difficulties over conflict of interest allegations at Aconex’s lawyers AAR continue (post). Aconex non-executive director Michael Robinson’s consultant profile disappeared from the AAR website yesterday (9 March), says FirmSpy. [Update (29 March 2011) – the profile was later reinstated, said FirmSpy.]

And it’s not just Aconex non-execs with difficulties. Asite director Robert Tchenguiz was reported by the Financial Times (see also BBC report) to have been arrested, with his brother Vincent, in connection with the collapse of the Icelandic banking group Kaupthing (see April 2009 post, Asite asides).

Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2011/03/some-difficulties/

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