Comment: Transforming digital capabilities in engineering

In today’s turbulent and commercial environment, engineering firms understand that digital transformation can become a key point of differentiation.

The last few years have left a trail of challenges for leaders to tackle, from rising costs, and rapidly changing expectations from employees, clients, and other stakeholders to the challenges of hybrid working. This is while firms are facing the ongoing challenge of winning more business, optimising staff resources, delivering ambitious projects successfully and better managing finances.

Firms recognise that investing in key technological capabilities will give them the flexibility and agility to keep pace with the unpredictable business environment. Breakthroughs in cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, for instance, are shaping the tools and practices capable of enhancing operational efficiency, staff productivity, collaboration, and decision-making. It’s these that will define the sector in years to come.

And those firms that have delayed their investment are left at a competitive disadvantage. Our Clarity: Architecture & Engineering Industry Study found that three in five decision makers say they’ve lost potential business to competitors with more advanced technologies. Over half (55 per cent) agree that they are already losing - or will lose - market share within just two years without digital transformation.

A widening technology gap and how to level up

Our report found that fewer architecture and engineering firms (29 per cent) expect to achieve the highest level of digital maturity (‘advanced’) within the next five years, compared with 40 per cent in the previous year’s survey. At present, just over one in ten (13 per cent) describe themselves as ‘advanced’.

Pulling back on digital investment may be risky, whilst resilience and stability may be the order of the day, with many decision makers still determining which technologies they can afford to sustainably invest in, proceeding with such caution could mean they fall behind their more digitalised competitors.

The rapid pace of change could also be a hindrance; it’s highly likely that companies feel less able to reach an advanced stage of digital maturity because technologies are evolving so quickly. Many are trying to cut through the noise and define which are truly essential.

Whichever tools decision makers elect to invest in, they must be integrated systems, offering a single source of truth right across the organisation. A unified place for all functions - from business development and project management to human capital management (HCM) and finance - enables quicker, smarter decisions and improves win rates due to greater accuracy, enhanced visibility and simplified financial reporting.

Addressing the business challenges of today

Hiring and retaining talent remains a key challenge for finance and project teams within architecture and engineering firms. Three in ten (29 per cent) say finding and retaining qualified staff is a top challenge for finance functions, while almost half (47 per cent) say increased competition for talent is the joint top priority for project management.

But simply hiring more people isn’t necessarily the right solution.  In such a competitive environment, there is a better way to grow. By implementing integrated digital tools that are built for people-focused engineering firms, HR teams can meet the demands from current and prospective staff, enabling them to access projects from anywhere with systems that are intuitive and easy to use. Equally, by automating manual processes and reducing repetitive, manual tasks, engineering firms can free up their people to spend more time on higher value work, which ultimately helps not only growth and innovation, but retention too.

When it comes to managing project information, firms agree that administrative workload stands out as the leading challenge, but they disagree on how to overcome this obstacle. When asked about their top project management initiatives over the next three years 33 per cent of respondents aim to hire more qualified staff, 32 per cent see investing in better software tools as the solution while 31 per cent plan to increase staff headcount.

We found that many digitally mature firms seem to have already overcome the challenge of administrative workload. By deploying modern digital solutions for project-based organisations - with better access to up-to-date data via a single source of truth as part of integrated systems - their teams are proactively managing projects. 

Their teams can anticipate issues thanks to increased visibility while ensuring more accurate scheduling to meet deadlines. Client services teams, meanwhile, are providing more accurate and timely updates to customers, which leads to successful projects, and improved customer experience and loyalty.

It’s clear that while economic volatility has highlighted weaknesses in operating models, new tools are ultimately the best way to face uncertain times. Firms must equip themselves with the advanced functionality and capabilities of industry-specific architecture and engineering software solutions to navigate constant change and continue to thrive.

Neil Davidson, group vice president, Deltek