Jul 16 2013

4Projects: 4Mobile. Looking forward: for Android

4projects logoLast week’s announcement of a new mobile app by Viewpoint Construction Software’s subsidiary, the UK-based SaaS construction collaboration software developer 4Projects, was apparently distributed earlier than planned. There was, therefore, a few days delay before I could talk to 4Projects VP and general manager and Viewpoint SVP Strategy & Corporate Development Matt Harris about the 4Mobile iOS apps.

4MobileMatt told me this was the first release of 4Mobile, available from the Apple iStore, and intended to provide key 4Projects functionality to users accessing the system from iPhone and iPad devices. It delivers core interactivity, including the ability to access and view documents, drawings, RFIs, change orders (and associated metadata), etc and allows users to create new tasks, upload photos and manage other communications required on the project site or by mobile knowledge workers. Some administrative tasks are not easily accomplished on a smartphone or tablet, so detailed processes such as configuration of workflows remain a desktop user’s responsibility. However, future releases of 4Mobile are likely to see an expansion of the platform’s field reporting capabilities, including use of geotagging.

The iOS apps are free to download and free to use by existing 4Projects users, and will be followed soon (I was told “September, possibly earlier”) of Android versions. The product team is also keeping its platform strategy under constant review and is monitoring demand for apps to support users of Windows 8 devices.

[Updated (17 July 2013) to include screenshots.]

4Mobile RFI screen shot 4Mobile Directory Screen shot

Updated (5 August 2013) –

The 4Mobile app was developed by Newcastle-based digital agency Shout Digital (reports The Journal). The agency:

“was challenged to design an easy-to-use app that neatly fitted into the collaborative system that 4Projects’ clients are already familiar with. Shout’s designers provided the app for iPhone and iPad, and Android phone and tablet devices, and developed both the creative and user experience (UX) design of the app.”

4Projects shortlisted, but unsuccessful, in Construction News Awards

4Projects was the only technology company to make the shortlist of nominees for this year’s Construction News Award for BIM Initiative of the Year 2013, presented in London last week.

This was the first time the BIM Initiative of the Year Award had been promoted (similar to the new BIM category in the Construction Computing Awards; post) – it was created to recognise outstanding performance in the adoption and application of building information modelling. Applicants included organisations and product teams who had used BIM during 2012 to transform their or their client’s business and performance. The ultimate winner was NBS, for its National BIM Library.

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/07/4projects-4mobile-looking-forward-for-android/

Jul 11 2013

Asite appoints VP sales

Asite logo 2012Earlier this week, I noted McLaren Software‘s appointment of a Senior Vice-President Sales in America. Today, London-based competitor, Asite, another Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) construction collaboration technology provider, has announced the appointment of a Vice-President Sales – North America. Former Autodesk and Intergraph executive  Alex Severino will be responsible for “accelerating the growth of Asite services in the North American market.”

Asite opened east and west coast offices in the USA last year (post), but the impact of this investment from a low base has yet to filter through to reported results (Asite grows revenues 10%). Asite is one of several Europe-based SaaS collaboration businesses (eg: 4Projects, Conject) which have taken their solutions across the Atlantic, competing with US firms and with Australia-based global operator Aconex.

As I’ve come to expect in news releases (mea culpa: I was guilty of doing the same once!), the new recruit has a gushing quote about his new employer, incorporating a few choice buzzwords. He, apparently, insists:

“… Asite is a clear leader in the areas of Collaborative BIM and Procurement in the cloud, with a track record of success in the global AEC and Infrastructure markets. Asite is doing a tremendous job converging BIM, Big Data, and Software as a Service, so that all participants, starting with owners, get maximum benefit from the Information in the BIM model. I am excited to bring Asite’s Adoddle platform to the North American market.”

 

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/07/asite-appoints-vp-sales/

Jul 11 2013

From 4Projects: 4Mobile

4projects logoSunderland, UK-based SaaS construction collaboration technology vendor 4Projects, has announced the release of its first app, 4Mobile.

The app is free to download for current 4Projects customers on an Apple iPad or iPhone (an Android app will be released later this year). Mobile project team members will then be able to access and share 4Projects information from their iOS device, and to view RFIs, issues and change orders, create new tasks and respond to discussions, view contact details and upload photos.

4Projects product manager Miles Haladay says:

“This new product underscores our continued commitment to deliver new capabilities and value that help customers realize greater success with their projects. We designed the application to be easy to use – a natural extension of the well-known 4Projects environment – allowing users to quickly respond to an RFI, change order and issue, or begin a discussion and review – wherever their work day takes them.”

Mobile is becoming a key battleground for the SaaS vendors. Rival Aconex launched its iPhone app in May 2011, and added an iPad version in September 2012. Other vendors have opted not to do apps, but focus on providing mobile web access; Cadweb, for example, opted for a web only tool, released in February.

Bentley mobile apps too

Update (12 July 2013): And hot on the heels of the 4Projects announcement (which I now understand I got a little early) comes one from Bentley Systems telling me about:

  • Field Supervisor, a Bentley App for the iPad that extends the reach of information securely managed by its collaboration platform ProjectWise and eB, as well as data stored in other user repositories, to construction workers in the field – providing online and offline access;
  • Bentley Map Mobile, a Bentley App that empowers infrastructure professionals to share Bentley Map Geospatial Information with field technicians via Android-based mobile devices.

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/07/from-4projects-4mobile/

Jul 10 2013

Aconex UK returns first profit

aconexAconex (UK) Ltd, the London-based arm of Melbourne, Australia-based international SaaS construction collaboration technology vendor Aconex delivered its first UK profits in the year to 30 June 2012, according to accounts recently lodged at the UK’s Companies House. A 2011 pre-tax loss of £187, 796 was turned into a pre-tax profit of £133,491 in 2012.

UK collaboration vendors - profit/loss

However, the profit was achieved during a year in which turnover slipped 30% from £2,247,499 in the year to 30 June 2011, to £1,562,610 a year later. The report initially gives little explanation other than to point out that it had had to close down its branch in Libya (reported previously in its 2011 report), with all staff either repatriated or made redundant (though non-UK sales amounted to just 2% of revenues in 2012, compared to 6% in 2011).

UK vendor revenues

UK cost of sales shrank from roughly £135,000 to around £59,000, and administration expenses were cut from £2.38m to £1.44m, but the new-found profitability appears also to be about accounting measures. A note to the accounts shows the operating profit/loss was calculated after various adjustments that differed in their impact in each year’s accounts – for example, in 2011, Aconex (UK) Ltd incurred a foreign exchange loss of nearly £188,000 (against £7,000 in 2012), while in 2012 it had a management fee credit of £209,313, compared to a 2011 management fee charge of £310,911 in 2011.

My view

I underline that I am no accountant, but the turnover dip – on the back of the then continuing recession in the UK construction market – while disappointing, seems realistic (and is consistent with CEO Leigh Jasper’s November 2012 view that the UK and mainland Europe remained “tough”), though other UK-based vendors have been very bullish about the market of late (in May, 4Projects, for example, was talking about double digit growth, while Conject was claiming significant new gross order intake).

The new-found profitability seems less likely, but could be due to how various overheads are accounted for, along with the unravelling of adjustments in previous years.

To me, the graphs tell their own story: Aconex UK appears to be losing ground on rival UK operations on turnover (though we are, of course not comparing like with like: 4Projects’ and London-based Asite’s numbers cover all their international operations, for instance), but – by whatever means – Aconex’s underlying UK direction of travel on profit/loss appears – for now – positive.

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/07/aconex-uk-returns-first-profit/

Jul 10 2013

McLaren appoints Houston-based SVP

Idox plc subsidiary and engineering document control and project collaboration solutions vendor McLaren Software has announced it has appointed Bill Stephenson as Senior VP of Worldwide Sales and Field Operations overseeing global sales, professional services and customer support. He joins McLaren from IHS, where he was VP of Sales, Global – Energy Technical Analytics, responsible for the geoscience and engineering software application business. He says:

“I’m excited to join the McLaren team. The engineering document control market is fast paced and growing quickly. It is clear that McLaren has the industry focus and domain expertise needed to be successful in this space. This, along with the strong support from Idox, is what attracted me to this opportunity.”

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/07/mclaren-appoints-houston-based-svp/

Jul 09 2013

Nominations open for Construction Computing Awards 2013

HammersNominations for the 25 categories in the 2013 Construction Computing Awards opened on 4 July, and close on 5 September. Comparing the awards from last year, the 2013 Awards event in London on 21 November will feature five new awards:

  • Construction Computing Marketing Campaign of 2013
  • IT Project of the Year in the Public Sector
  • BIM Project of the Year
  • Architectural Design Software
  • Collaboration Project of the Year

This year’s event will not feature:

  • Superbrand of 2013
  • E-Commerce product of the year – perhaps now just part of construction accounting?
  • Structural Analysis Product of the Year – too much overlap with the structural design award?
  • Wide Format Printer of the Year – is printing now passé?

Otherwise, it’s the usual mix of sometimes overlapping award categories, with lots of scope to enter products and companies across multiple categories and hopefully walk away with a trophy. Shortlisted candidates will be announced and online voting will start on 12 September; voting will close on 7 November.

Sponsors for 2013 so far include: 4Projects, MPS, NBS, Nemetschek Vectorworks, Redsky IT and Sypro.

[Post updated at 1845pm, 9 July 2013 – two categories were was omitted from Category page, but included in Nominations. ]

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/07/nominations-open-for-construction-computing-awards-2013/

Jun 18 2013

Build Sydney Live 2013 – 29-31 October

BuildSydneyLiveAsite, following its organisation (and platform provision) for BuildLondonLive (2008, 2009 and 2012) and BuildQatarLive (2012) is now supporting BuildSydneyLive 2013 in October,  another 48-hour Open BIM* event testing the online collaborative and interoperability capabilities of international design teams and their tools.

After supporting three events in its home city, the London-HQed SaaS construction collaboration provider promoted its fourth event in the Middle East and this latest promotion seems intended to raise Asite’s profile in the increasingly competitive Australasian market. This is the territory of indigenous vendors Aconex, RIB ProjectCentre and TeamBinder, among others, but also targeted by some European providers, either direct (as in the case of McLaren) or through local partners (4Projects, Conject). In the year to 30 June 2012, Asite generated £168k of revenues in Australasia, its largest non-UK market (post), but this figure may well have grown judging from a tweet from CEO Tony Ryan yesterday:

(* The UK-based Open BIM Network recently announced it was to merge with BuildingSmart UK, hosted at BRE.)

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/06/build-sydney-live-2013-29-31-october/

Jun 17 2013

Simple collaboration still competitive

collabor8online logoI enjoyed a chat with Colin Barnes, CEO of Manchester, UK-based SaaS construction collaboration vendor Collabor8online, recently. His business launched in late 2009 (post) and is pitched at the competitive, small-to-medium sized business (SME), low-cost end of the construction collaboration market (post), but that hasn’t stopped him developing features emulating some of the more sophisticated players (particularly now that he can call upon a small offshore development team based in Goa, India). For example, Collabor8online’s latest features include:

  • Time-sheet and Google calendar integration – extending earlier calendar integration, the updated tool enables a business to monitor time expended on projects, with Gantt-style views of past tasks and future workloads
  • Improved email integration – ‘push’ notifications have always been part of the Collabor8online offering, but now email exchanges can be imported into a correspondence module (ability to import attachments is planned for a forthcoming update)
  • ‘Dropbox’-style folder synchronisation allowing files to be shared simply between Collabor8online and a desktop folder (subject to user permissions)

This development and proactivity contrasts with the apparent dormance of UK-based competitors such as Woobius Hub (no website updates for months, and the blog wasn’t migrated when Posterous closed on 30 April) and CloudsUK (no news since October 2011).

As Colin said, you can’t afford to slow down as new entrants are testing the market all the time. He mentioned Ireland-based Teamworkpm, for example, and just in the last week, I’ve had emails about two other generic solutions:

  • Samepage is not construction-specific, but its simple, low-cost, social-media influenced approach to file-sharing and collaboration may appeal to organisations, departments or teams who want to keep everybody ‘on the same page’ across multiple devices (Samepage has been developed by California, US-based Kerio Technologies).
  • SkySync apparently is a Windows-based platform that “enables enterprises to search, sync, move, and organize large-volumes of files across multiple cloud and on-site storage systems” (including SharePoint, Huddle, Box, DropBox and SkyDrive, with Google Drive, GMail and Microsoft Exchange coming soon). I say ‘apparently’ as when I came to review it this morning it was unavailable (not a great advert for an online file-sharing platform).

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/06/simple-collaboration-still-competitive/

Jun 14 2013

From property viewing to post-occupancy reviewing (updated)

Why stop at creating apps to sell luxury homes, when all built assets could have an online owner’s manual and feedback loop?

Working in technology for the construction and property sectors, I have long been interested in the use of mobile tools and applications, and the industry’s enthusiasm for apps shows no signs of abating.

For example, luxury home builder Banner Homes has launched an iPad app (developed by UK midlands digital agency Adsynergy) to support property viewings. The Banner Homes MyPad app provides the 360 views, plans, digital brochures and video you’d expect in a marketing tool, but also highlights features not visible at first glance during a traditional viewing: the technologies, energy saving measures and design features behind the scenes.

Banner Homes ipad

“From soundproofed solid floors and underfloor heating to room control functions, smart home control, room temperature control, suited keys and en-suite downlights, the app gives an architect’s eye view of the often concealed features that make Banner Homes properties such luxurious abodes,” gushes Adsynergy’s news release.

The Banner Homes MyPad app apparently runs on wall-mounted iPads found in a selection of Banner show homes. These allow customers to navigate through some of the concealed features in the homes and see how they work.

After-sales service?

Post-purchase, I assume the app could also be used by new home owners or tenants as a manual. If so, what isn’t explained is if, or how, the app might be updated. For example, some of the embedded building control systems will include software that may be periodically updated by the vendors – will Banner Homes’ app also be updated? Banner Homes could conceivably also use the app as a customer service tool, responding quickly to any owner queries, etc, or capturing – even sharing! – user reviews and feedback (post-occupancy evaluation) so that the planning, design and construction of future Banner developments is continuously improved.

There are interesting parallels between this consumer-oriented technology and the requirements of facilities managers in public and commercial buildings. Upon handover, they need a wealth of information about the operation and maintenance requirements of their built assets and the fixtures and equipment inside them. Traditionally, these were met by the handover of boxes of drawings and documents (latterly, CDs or DVDs too, or – occasionally – cloud-based digital archives), but the development of building information modelling (BIM) is creating an opportunity for future information requirements to be planned during design and construction rather than post-construction.

Equipped with iPads (other tablets and smart devices are available), building owners and operators can then ‘hit the ground running’ with a working and automatically-updated facilities management system already in place, and – in an ideal world – feedback mechanisms to report building performance metrics, issues and ideas back to the people who created the asset so that they incorporate suggestions into their next projects.

(Such BIM for FM issues will be discussed at a ThinkBIM half-day conference in Leeds on 10 July 2013.)

3D photography-based models by Floored

A version of this post was originally published on my pwcom.co.uk blog last month. Since then, two friends (US-based Carol Hagen and UK-based James Burt), have separately both alerted me to a 3D photo modelling tool called Floored. The New York, US business recently featured in a Dragons Den-type contest, and the first six minutes of the YouTube video summarises the offering well.

The assembled model reminded me a lot of 3D models created from laser-scans of existing buildings. Having seen simple site photo management platforms such as JobsitePM which collate ordinary photographs of construction photographs and relate them to site progress, its got me thinking about how a tool such as Floored could be used, perhaps in conjunction with building information models (BIM). For example, it might be used to do periodic scans (before, during and at completion) so that owners, end-users and managers could see photographically what was actually installed where – behind walls, in floors and ceilings, etc. Coordinated with an information model, this would provide accurate visualisation of as-built, as-photographed built assets.

The Floored models might also look good in Banner Homes style property information tools, and I where asset owners are sharing building information through platforms such as Honest Buildings (post), these might add extra information and sparkle to their presentation.

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/06/from-property-viewing-to-post-occupancy-reviewing-updated/

Jun 13 2013

RIB launches second-generation ProjectCentre: iTWOcx

RIB rhetoric is focused on combining ERP and collaboration, but it’s not the only vendor eyeing this AEC opportunity.

RIBProjectcentreTalking with Milton Walters of 4Projects‘ Australian partner, ProjectCollaboration last week, I noted that things appeared to have gone quiet at its Sydney-based competitor ProjectCentre following the acquisition of this cloud-based construction collaboration provider by Germany-based RIB Software AG last October. Apart from a little rebranding of the website (“RIB ProjectCentre”), little had changed, but behind the scenes it seems the company was gearing up to launch a new solution which it claims will deliver a “world-class solution for construction”.

iTWOcx

Essentially, it is offering a solution combining RIB’s iTWO 5D enterprise platform and a new iteration of ProjectCentre, branded iTWO Collaboration Exchange (iTWOcx), designed to offer tools covering pre-contract and design through to construction cost control (ie: enterprise resource planning – ERP – capabilities) and progress reporting. The release I received says:

“By streamlining the location and delivery of construction-specific information, RIB iTWO 5D technology is connecting the virtual to the physical, improving productivity and reducing risk on profit margins. The iTWOcx capability delivers integrated project document control, collaboration, contract administration, tender management, defects and quality management and dashboard capability via the cloud and mobile devices.

“… iTWOcx combines the best features of ProjectCentre and leverages  the iTWO 5D Enterprise platform to create a solution that uses a single source of truth and Building Information Modelling (BIM) data to move information throughout the design, engineering and construction process, using the cloud.”

Paul Butterworth, appointed CEO of RIB Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) six months ago (he was previously general manager of Primavera Australia), says:

“Document control and collaboration tools on their own are not enough anymore. Engineering and construction projects don’t want more email-based correspondence tools. Clients want innovation and thought leadership, they want platforms that connect the core information and documents for design, scope, cost, schedule, change and contract.  You can only achieve this with real collaboration at the data level, and with a platform that understands how to connect, visualise and report across the project lifecycle.”

Collaboration-plus-ERP

This reiterates a view I expressed after talking to ProjectCentre founders Paul Hemmings and Tim Clare (both still part of the R&D team at RIB Software ANZ, I believe – updated [25 June 2013]: Paul is now a Global Director inside the Global R&D team, and Tim is a leader in RIB Software as Director for the Centre of Excellence) in October 2011: document collaboration had become an easily replicated, commoditised product, and ProjectCentre differentiated itself by delivering detailed business-critical ERP-type functionality to its customers. It seems that they have now developed this differentiation further to incorporate more of the know-how embedded in the parent company’s solution.

However, the RIB news release includes some provocative statements. For example, it states:

“The construction industry has been largely overlooked by ERP solution providers. … most companies still spend a lot of money trying to create in-house solutions or integrate multi-vendor tools in an effort to make use of disconnected information.”

Of course, some generalist ERP vendors already deliver solutions into construction businesses, and vendors such as Unit4 have identified an opportunity in this sector (post); there are also several construction-specific ERP providers (the UK’s Coins springs to mind, of course), but the idea of joined-up construction-focused ERP and collaboration is not new.

The convergence of SaaS-based construction collaboration and construction ERP is something I have been discussing for a while. The afore-mentioned 4Projects, of course, is now a wholly-owned UK subsidiary of Portland, Oregon, US-based construction ERP vendor Viewpoint (coincidentally, I met with Viewpoint CEO Jay Haladay in London today); its strategy already envisages closer integration between its on-premise and cloud-based tools to deliver a combined collaboration, BIM and financial management platform to its global customers (post). And Munich’s Conject has also had project cost control capabilities in its system, dating back to its early UK engagement, as BIW, with contractor Bovis Lend Lease (now Lend Lease), and more recently Mace, though it currently has less to shout about on the BIM front – which, in my view, will be a key battleground.

[Disclosure: I am a former employee of BIW (2000-09), now Conject, and have since undertaken paid consultancy projects for them and for Coins.]

Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2013/06/rib-launches-second-generation-projectcentre-itwocx/

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