WEBVTT
00:00:04.457 --> 00:00:09.217
Hello, and welcome to the Engineering Influence podcast brought to you by Bentley.
00:00:09.657 --> 00:00:14.337
My name is Thomas Grogan, Senior Director for Economics and Market Intelligence
00:00:14.337 --> 00:00:21.277
here at ACEC, and I'm very happy today to be joined at our fall conference with Ronan Vengosh,
00:00:21.677 --> 00:00:25.357
the SVP of Industry Practices and Solutions at Ignite.
00:00:25.577 --> 00:00:28.177
Ronan, thank you so much for being here. Oh, it's a pleasure to be here.
00:00:28.357 --> 00:00:29.337
Thanks for having me. Yeah.
00:00:29.617 --> 00:00:33.517
So how are you enjoying the conference so far? The conference is fantastic.
00:00:33.717 --> 00:00:37.617
I love the sessions. I love the networking. It's a great event.
00:00:37.997 --> 00:00:43.857
Great. Well, we're very happy to have you here. We're also talking after we just had a keynote on AI.
00:00:44.177 --> 00:00:48.897
I feel like it's great to talk to an expert such as yourself and Ignite and
00:00:48.897 --> 00:00:52.877
all the great things you're doing around AI and technology.
00:00:53.357 --> 00:00:58.517
One question I'd like to ask you is, What does digital transformation mean to you?
00:00:59.237 --> 00:01:02.597
Well, digital transformation is a pretty broad topic.
00:01:02.717 --> 00:01:07.757
And when most folks talk about digital transformation, they talk about kind
00:01:07.757 --> 00:01:12.037
of the set of software and applications that are deployed in organizations.
00:01:12.037 --> 00:01:16.877
But to me, the most important thing of digital transformation is the change management.
00:01:16.877 --> 00:01:23.457
It's changing of kind of the processes, it's training of the team to really
00:01:23.457 --> 00:01:27.717
try to do things in a new way that's more efficient, that's more effective,
00:01:27.957 --> 00:01:29.517
and importantly, more adaptable.
00:01:29.697 --> 00:01:33.037
So that's kind of my take on digital transformation.
00:01:33.437 --> 00:01:36.357
Yeah, very interesting. And, you know, Ignite works with a lot,
00:01:36.975 --> 00:01:45.415
of AEC firms. For an AEC firm who is thinking about going or embarking or continuing
00:01:45.415 --> 00:01:47.655
a digital transformation journey.
00:01:48.315 --> 00:01:51.615
What are kind of some of the best practices or tips, tricks,
00:01:51.795 --> 00:01:54.975
things to be aware of that they should consider that, you know,
00:01:55.055 --> 00:01:57.255
you see in your day-to-day at Ignite?
00:01:57.435 --> 00:02:01.775
Yeah. So as you pointed out, we serve over 4,000 customers in the industry and
00:02:01.775 --> 00:02:06.075
I spend much of my time talking to CIOs about exactly these issues,
00:02:06.355 --> 00:02:10.275
what is the best way to approach the problem and so forth.
00:02:10.415 --> 00:02:16.555
And one of the most important things, but also most neglected things that I
00:02:16.555 --> 00:02:21.795
want to mention in this context is the importance of getting all the data organized
00:02:21.795 --> 00:02:23.955
in a way that supports the transformation.
00:02:24.175 --> 00:02:28.955
So there's a lot of talk about AI these days, and justifiably so,
00:02:29.015 --> 00:02:33.355
it's a massive new technology that's going to transform the way the industry does business.
00:02:33.815 --> 00:02:39.815
But one of the prerequisites to getting this to work effectively and to get
00:02:39.815 --> 00:02:42.835
the most out of AI is really being able.
00:02:43.515 --> 00:02:48.555
To have a fundamental data layer that's reliable, that's secure,
00:02:48.775 --> 00:02:51.495
that's properly governed, right? And I'll give an example.
00:02:51.695 --> 00:02:57.495
So one of the, historically, a lot of the firms in the industry have been using
00:02:57.495 --> 00:03:04.415
what I call security through obscurity essentially nobody can find the data, therefore it's secure.
00:03:04.915 --> 00:03:09.615
Well, with AI, that's no longer the case. If somebody has access to certain
00:03:09.615 --> 00:03:12.775
data and they ask a question of the AI, they're going to get the answer.
00:03:12.995 --> 00:03:20.775
And so to use AI effectively to support all these digital transformation workflows,
00:03:21.075 --> 00:03:24.515
it's critical to first make sure the data is properly curated.
00:03:25.551 --> 00:03:33.051
It's properly secured, the permissions and who has access is properly set on
00:03:33.051 --> 00:03:38.171
that data set, because otherwise you're in for a great deal of pain and trouble.
00:03:38.351 --> 00:03:42.511
So that's kind of one of the key places to start in the journey.
00:03:43.151 --> 00:03:48.991
Right. And so say for a smaller firm might only have eight to 10,
00:03:49.211 --> 00:03:53.871
20 employees, and they might not have the resources of a very large firm,
00:03:53.871 --> 00:03:58.511
so they don't have a chief data officer, they don't have a chief information officer.
00:03:58.771 --> 00:04:06.851
What are some strategies that they can think about for avoiding some of these
00:04:06.851 --> 00:04:10.871
potential issues with, say, data security, data vulnerability?
00:04:11.351 --> 00:04:17.271
Yeah. So one thing I'll say is that, again, and especially with smaller firms,
00:04:17.551 --> 00:04:20.231
but I've seen this across firms of all sizes.
00:04:20.831 --> 00:04:27.231
There's this misperception that security and kind of data governance is something
00:04:27.231 --> 00:04:30.551
that can be achieved manually, that you can kind of train your employees to
00:04:30.551 --> 00:04:34.151
do the right thing, to put things in the right place and have the proper securities.
00:04:34.771 --> 00:04:39.351
This is nearly impossible to do. It doesn't matter how big your firm is.
00:04:40.751 --> 00:04:44.791
Policies on their own, training on its own is not going to get you where you need to go.
00:04:45.371 --> 00:04:50.011
Simply because data changes, teams change, permissions change over time,
00:04:50.151 --> 00:04:52.971
and it's very, very hard to keep track of all of that stuff.
00:04:53.171 --> 00:04:58.051
So my advice to folks is, first of all, to have very sound policies in place,
00:04:58.071 --> 00:05:01.911
but then secondly, to find ways to implement these automatically.
00:05:02.211 --> 00:05:07.931
So it's about automation in data governance as well, not just focusing on the
00:05:07.931 --> 00:05:12.791
productivity part of the equation, but also on the governance side of the equation
00:05:12.791 --> 00:05:15.271
as part of that digital transformation effort.
00:05:15.611 --> 00:05:19.531
Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And so, you know,
00:05:20.171 --> 00:05:25.471
Talking, though, about the employees, right, because we are all professional
00:05:25.471 --> 00:05:29.471
service firms who are selling our time and doing consulting,
00:05:29.971 --> 00:05:32.891
what are some maybe employee-centric things?
00:05:34.662 --> 00:05:43.242
Ideas or solutions, or are firms not ready yet to kind of help their employees
00:05:43.242 --> 00:05:47.542
or use their employees' talents to become more digital, more modern?
00:05:47.702 --> 00:05:52.382
How do you see, or what firms have been successful in kind of getting the change
00:05:52.382 --> 00:05:56.482
management with their employees on doing this journey?
00:05:56.602 --> 00:06:02.202
How does that work, basically? Well, so first of all, change management is not a thing that you do once.
00:06:02.202 --> 00:06:05.562
Right it's something that you do on an ongoing basis um
00:06:05.562 --> 00:06:08.542
the firms that i've seen be the most successful are
00:06:08.542 --> 00:06:11.882
the ones that are most adaptable and flexible um because
00:06:11.882 --> 00:06:15.002
a lot of this digital transformation business requires new
00:06:15.002 --> 00:06:19.482
ways of doing business it's not simply taking what you're doing today and kind
00:06:19.482 --> 00:06:24.582
of you know simply moving it to the cloud or implementing ai on top of it sometimes
00:06:24.582 --> 00:06:29.962
the processes themselves yeah need to change yeah and without that uh part of
00:06:29.962 --> 00:06:32.862
the transformation you're not going to get the full impact, right?
00:06:33.002 --> 00:06:37.642
So the firms that have been most successful that I've seen, that I've been collaborating
00:06:37.642 --> 00:06:41.962
with are the ones that really kind of take the time to rethink,
00:06:41.962 --> 00:06:47.602
like, um, as we're making this transformation, should we also change the way we're doing business?
00:06:47.682 --> 00:06:53.482
Our processes, you know, the right processes are the tools that we're using the right tools.
00:06:53.862 --> 00:06:57.702
Um, you know, our policies should our policies change.
00:06:57.822 --> 00:07:02.182
Right. So those are some of the key elements to success in my opinion. Okay. Yeah.
00:07:02.622 --> 00:07:07.162
Fascinating. Well, we're going to wrap up, but I want to end and get your thoughts.
00:07:07.362 --> 00:07:13.882
What are you most optimistic about in the future of digital transformation in the AEC space?
00:07:14.062 --> 00:07:19.702
What can firms look forward to that is a great opportunity instead of everything
00:07:19.702 --> 00:07:22.922
being doom and gloom and we're all going to lose our jobs?
00:07:23.082 --> 00:07:27.282
What are these advantages we can take advantage of? Well, I,
00:07:27.762 --> 00:07:29.142
for one, am a tech optimist.
00:07:29.302 --> 00:07:31.042
I am very excited about the future
00:07:31.042 --> 00:07:34.962
of tech and about the future of digital transformation, AI in general.
00:07:35.722 --> 00:07:39.822
I think there's tremendous wealth to be created by these technologies,
00:07:40.562 --> 00:07:42.922
right? There's definitely going to be things to figure out.
00:07:43.082 --> 00:07:45.962
We're going to have to figure out the distributional aspects of all of this.
00:07:46.342 --> 00:07:52.482
But the productivity, we're about to have a productivity revolution, right?
00:07:52.602 --> 00:07:54.622
When an individual can do a lot more.
00:07:55.382 --> 00:08:00.102
To me, folks are focusing on, you know, there's going to be job loss and so forth.
00:08:00.422 --> 00:08:04.042
I actually think that there's going to be just a lot more accomplished.
00:08:04.482 --> 00:08:08.822
So firms are going to be doing a lot more, are going to be a lot more productive,
00:08:08.842 --> 00:08:11.962
and are going to be doing it more efficiently and more effectively.
00:08:12.242 --> 00:08:14.962
So call me a tech optimist to put me in that corner.
00:08:15.542 --> 00:08:19.442
All right, great. Well, Ronan, thank you so much for joining us on our podcast
00:08:19.442 --> 00:08:22.422
today. And I hope you enjoy the rest of the fall conference.
00:08:22.662 --> 00:08:26.142
I will. Thanks for having me. This is a great conference, and I'm privileged
00:08:26.142 --> 00:08:28.042
to be here. All right. Great. Thank you.
00:00:04.457 --> 00:00:09.217
Hello, and welcome to the Engineering Influence podcast brought to you by Bentley.
00:00:09.657 --> 00:00:14.337
My name is Thomas Grogan, Senior Director for Economics and Market Intelligence
00:00:14.337 --> 00:00:21.277
here at ACEC, and I'm very happy today to be joined at our fall conference with Ronan Vengosh,
00:00:21.677 --> 00:00:25.357
the SVP of Industry Practices and Solutions at Ignite.
00:00:25.577 --> 00:00:28.177
Ronan, thank you so much for being here. Oh, it's a pleasure to be here.
00:00:28.357 --> 00:00:29.337
Thanks for having me. Yeah.
00:00:29.617 --> 00:00:33.517
So how are you enjoying the conference so far? The conference is fantastic.
00:00:33.717 --> 00:00:37.617
I love the sessions. I love the networking. It's a great event.
00:00:37.997 --> 00:00:43.857
Great. Well, we're very happy to have you here. We're also talking after we just had a keynote on AI.
00:00:44.177 --> 00:00:48.897
I feel like it's great to talk to an expert such as yourself and Ignite and
00:00:48.897 --> 00:00:52.877
all the great things you're doing around AI and technology.
00:00:53.357 --> 00:00:58.517
One question I'd like to ask you is, What does digital transformation mean to you?
00:00:59.237 --> 00:01:02.597
Well, digital transformation is a pretty broad topic.
00:01:02.717 --> 00:01:07.757
And when most folks talk about digital transformation, they talk about kind
00:01:07.757 --> 00:01:12.037
of the set of software and applications that are deployed in organizations.
00:01:12.037 --> 00:01:16.877
But to me, the most important thing of digital transformation is the change management.
00:01:16.877 --> 00:01:23.457
It's changing of kind of the processes, it's training of the team to really
00:01:23.457 --> 00:01:27.717
try to do things in a new way that's more efficient, that's more effective,
00:01:27.957 --> 00:01:29.517
and importantly, more adaptable.
00:01:29.697 --> 00:01:33.037
So that's kind of my take on digital transformation.
00:01:33.437 --> 00:01:36.357
Yeah, very interesting. And, you know, Ignite works with a lot,
00:01:36.975 --> 00:01:45.415
of AEC firms. For an AEC firm who is thinking about going or embarking or continuing
00:01:45.415 --> 00:01:47.655
a digital transformation journey.
00:01:48.315 --> 00:01:51.615
What are kind of some of the best practices or tips, tricks,
00:01:51.795 --> 00:01:54.975
things to be aware of that they should consider that, you know,
00:01:55.055 --> 00:01:57.255
you see in your day-to-day at Ignite?
00:01:57.435 --> 00:02:01.775
Yeah. So as you pointed out, we serve over 4,000 customers in the industry and
00:02:01.775 --> 00:02:06.075
I spend much of my time talking to CIOs about exactly these issues,
00:02:06.355 --> 00:02:10.275
what is the best way to approach the problem and so forth.
00:02:10.415 --> 00:02:16.555
And one of the most important things, but also most neglected things that I
00:02:16.555 --> 00:02:21.795
want to mention in this context is the importance of getting all the data organized
00:02:21.795 --> 00:02:23.955
in a way that supports the transformation.
00:02:24.175 --> 00:02:28.955
So there's a lot of talk about AI these days, and justifiably so,
00:02:29.015 --> 00:02:33.355
it's a massive new technology that's going to transform the way the industry does business.
00:02:33.815 --> 00:02:39.815
But one of the prerequisites to getting this to work effectively and to get
00:02:39.815 --> 00:02:42.835
the most out of AI is really being able.
00:02:43.515 --> 00:02:48.555
To have a fundamental data layer that's reliable, that's secure,
00:02:48.775 --> 00:02:51.495
that's properly governed, right? And I'll give an example.
00:02:51.695 --> 00:02:57.495
So one of the, historically, a lot of the firms in the industry have been using
00:02:57.495 --> 00:03:04.415
what I call security through obscurity essentially nobody can find the data, therefore it's secure.
00:03:04.915 --> 00:03:09.615
Well, with AI, that's no longer the case. If somebody has access to certain
00:03:09.615 --> 00:03:12.775
data and they ask a question of the AI, they're going to get the answer.
00:03:12.995 --> 00:03:20.775
And so to use AI effectively to support all these digital transformation workflows,
00:03:21.075 --> 00:03:24.515
it's critical to first make sure the data is properly curated.
00:03:25.551 --> 00:03:33.051
It's properly secured, the permissions and who has access is properly set on
00:03:33.051 --> 00:03:38.171
that data set, because otherwise you're in for a great deal of pain and trouble.
00:03:38.351 --> 00:03:42.511
So that's kind of one of the key places to start in the journey.
00:03:43.151 --> 00:03:48.991
Right. And so say for a smaller firm might only have eight to 10,
00:03:49.211 --> 00:03:53.871
20 employees, and they might not have the resources of a very large firm,
00:03:53.871 --> 00:03:58.511
so they don't have a chief data officer, they don't have a chief information officer.
00:03:58.771 --> 00:04:06.851
What are some strategies that they can think about for avoiding some of these
00:04:06.851 --> 00:04:10.871
potential issues with, say, data security, data vulnerability?
00:04:11.351 --> 00:04:17.271
Yeah. So one thing I'll say is that, again, and especially with smaller firms,
00:04:17.551 --> 00:04:20.231
but I've seen this across firms of all sizes.
00:04:20.831 --> 00:04:27.231
There's this misperception that security and kind of data governance is something
00:04:27.231 --> 00:04:30.551
that can be achieved manually, that you can kind of train your employees to
00:04:30.551 --> 00:04:34.151
do the right thing, to put things in the right place and have the proper securities.
00:04:34.771 --> 00:04:39.351
This is nearly impossible to do. It doesn't matter how big your firm is.
00:04:40.751 --> 00:04:44.791
Policies on their own, training on its own is not going to get you where you need to go.
00:04:45.371 --> 00:04:50.011
Simply because data changes, teams change, permissions change over time,
00:04:50.151 --> 00:04:52.971
and it's very, very hard to keep track of all of that stuff.
00:04:53.171 --> 00:04:58.051
So my advice to folks is, first of all, to have very sound policies in place,
00:04:58.071 --> 00:05:01.911
but then secondly, to find ways to implement these automatically.
00:05:02.211 --> 00:05:07.931
So it's about automation in data governance as well, not just focusing on the
00:05:07.931 --> 00:05:12.791
productivity part of the equation, but also on the governance side of the equation
00:05:12.791 --> 00:05:15.271
as part of that digital transformation effort.
00:05:15.611 --> 00:05:19.531
Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And so, you know,
00:05:20.171 --> 00:05:25.471
Talking, though, about the employees, right, because we are all professional
00:05:25.471 --> 00:05:29.471
service firms who are selling our time and doing consulting,
00:05:29.971 --> 00:05:32.891
what are some maybe employee-centric things?
00:05:34.662 --> 00:05:43.242
Ideas or solutions, or are firms not ready yet to kind of help their employees
00:05:43.242 --> 00:05:47.542
or use their employees' talents to become more digital, more modern?
00:05:47.702 --> 00:05:52.382
How do you see, or what firms have been successful in kind of getting the change
00:05:52.382 --> 00:05:56.482
management with their employees on doing this journey?
00:05:56.602 --> 00:06:02.202
How does that work, basically? Well, so first of all, change management is not a thing that you do once.
00:06:02.202 --> 00:06:05.562
Right it's something that you do on an ongoing basis um
00:06:05.562 --> 00:06:08.542
the firms that i've seen be the most successful are
00:06:08.542 --> 00:06:11.882
the ones that are most adaptable and flexible um because
00:06:11.882 --> 00:06:15.002
a lot of this digital transformation business requires new
00:06:15.002 --> 00:06:19.482
ways of doing business it's not simply taking what you're doing today and kind
00:06:19.482 --> 00:06:24.582
of you know simply moving it to the cloud or implementing ai on top of it sometimes
00:06:24.582 --> 00:06:29.962
the processes themselves yeah need to change yeah and without that uh part of
00:06:29.962 --> 00:06:32.862
the transformation you're not going to get the full impact, right?
00:06:33.002 --> 00:06:37.642
So the firms that have been most successful that I've seen, that I've been collaborating
00:06:37.642 --> 00:06:41.962
with are the ones that really kind of take the time to rethink,
00:06:41.962 --> 00:06:47.602
like, um, as we're making this transformation, should we also change the way we're doing business?
00:06:47.682 --> 00:06:53.482
Our processes, you know, the right processes are the tools that we're using the right tools.
00:06:53.862 --> 00:06:57.702
Um, you know, our policies should our policies change.
00:06:57.822 --> 00:07:02.182
Right. So those are some of the key elements to success in my opinion. Okay. Yeah.
00:07:02.622 --> 00:07:07.162
Fascinating. Well, we're going to wrap up, but I want to end and get your thoughts.
00:07:07.362 --> 00:07:13.882
What are you most optimistic about in the future of digital transformation in the AEC space?
00:07:14.062 --> 00:07:19.702
What can firms look forward to that is a great opportunity instead of everything
00:07:19.702 --> 00:07:22.922
being doom and gloom and we're all going to lose our jobs?
00:07:23.082 --> 00:07:27.282
What are these advantages we can take advantage of? Well, I,
00:07:27.762 --> 00:07:29.142
for one, am a tech optimist.
00:07:29.302 --> 00:07:31.042
I am very excited about the future
00:07:31.042 --> 00:07:34.962
of tech and about the future of digital transformation, AI in general.
00:07:35.722 --> 00:07:39.822
I think there's tremendous wealth to be created by these technologies,
00:07:40.562 --> 00:07:42.922
right? There's definitely going to be things to figure out.
00:07:43.082 --> 00:07:45.962
We're going to have to figure out the distributional aspects of all of this.
00:07:46.342 --> 00:07:52.482
But the productivity, we're about to have a productivity revolution, right?
00:07:52.602 --> 00:07:54.622
When an individual can do a lot more.
00:07:55.382 --> 00:08:00.102
To me, folks are focusing on, you know, there's going to be job loss and so forth.
00:08:00.422 --> 00:08:04.042
I actually think that there's going to be just a lot more accomplished.
00:08:04.482 --> 00:08:08.822
So firms are going to be doing a lot more, are going to be a lot more productive,
00:08:08.842 --> 00:08:11.962
and are going to be doing it more efficiently and more effectively.
00:08:12.242 --> 00:08:14.962
So call me a tech optimist to put me in that corner.
00:08:15.542 --> 00:08:19.442
All right, great. Well, Ronan, thank you so much for joining us on our podcast
00:08:19.442 --> 00:08:22.422
today. And I hope you enjoy the rest of the fall conference.
00:08:22.662 --> 00:08:26.142
I will. Thanks for having me. This is a great conference, and I'm privileged
00:08:26.142 --> 00:08:28.042
to be here. All right. Great. Thank you.
