Claire Rutkowski

By: Claire Rutkowski, SVP and CIO Champion

Our world runs on data. The advent of BIM and the proliferation of IoT-sensing devices have driven a veritable deluge of data. We are drowning in it. But surprisingly, we are not using it.  A report by FMI Corporation,, a consultancy firm, stated that 96% of the data generated by infrastructure projects specifically is never reused. You could argue that a certain portion of that data should not be reused because it is project-specific, but certainly not 96% of it.

One of the reasons we are unable to leverage data in the infrastructure sector is that every time we hand a deliverable off from one firm to another or from one phase of the asset lifecycle to another (e.g., the handoff from project design and delivery to construction or construction to commissioning), we lose data. Perhaps the tools or systems being used in each phase do not talk to one another, or the data being generated in one phase is incompatible with the structure of the data in the next phase. As a result, we lose a lot of the hard work performed in one phase and in many ways start over in the next phase – with less fidelity and detail.

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Kat Lord-Levins,
Chief Success Officer and SVP
Bentley Systems

When you compare any of the engineering and construction labor statistics from Deloitte, the Associated Builders and Contractors, or AEC Advisors to the workforce requirements of current and future infrastructure needs, the numbers do not add up. There are more projects than people to get the work done, leaving many engineering, architecture, and construction (AEC) firms to turn down projects because of the global shortage of professionals. Unfortunately, as an industry, we are partly to blame for the predicament that we are in.

For the last 30 to 40 years, college was touted as the path to financial and personal freedom in the United States. Younger generations were encouraged to attend university and earn a degree. However, the students that attended universities chose business administration, healthcare, and social sciences as fields of study rather than engineering. During that same period, another cohort did not attend universities for whatever reason. But this same group did not attend vocational or technical training programs either. While enrollment for vocational and technical training programs has grown significantly in recent years, there is still a sizeable labor shortage of skilled tradespeople.

As an industry, we relied on universities to provide architects and engineers. We depended on vocational programs to supply skilled trades, such as masons, welders, and electricians. However, that did not happen. As we face these talent challenges together, we must collectively ask ourselves, “What can we proactively do to solve this problem?”

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