AECO and The Post-COVID

Environment
June 16, 2020

Image Source - James Sullivan

 CONTENTS
04 About VIATechnik

06 Introduction

08 The AECO Industry:

Better Positioned to Survive and Thrive

14 About the Authors

15 Appendix
Image Source - United Nations COVID-19 Response
VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 04

ABOUT US

VIATechnik is the leading Virtual Design &

Construction (VDC) consulting firm with a fo-
cus on innovation for industry advancement.
Since our founding, VIATechnik has worked
with leaders in real estate, construction, en-
gineering, and design to implement Virtual
Design and Construction both in their firms
and on their projects. The firm is involved in
both the advisory and implementation on a
broad range of Virtual Design and Construc-
tion subjects, such as BIM, VR, Facilities Man-
agement, and Data integration. Through our
diverse team of architects, software develop-
ers, construction managers, and engineers,
VIATechnik solves our clients’ most complex
issues related to the built environment and
Image Source - Ivan Bandura
generates real lasting results for our clients.

“ Our team’s approach

is one of people,
process, and
technology. It is
through this approach
that we enable our
AECO clients and
partners to implement
change quickly and

“
successfully across
their organizations.
 VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment

Image Source - Jonathan J. Castellon 05

VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 06

INTRODUCTION

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quar- Whether in construction or related fields like engi-
ter of 2020 has certainly presented its share of chal- neering, architecture, or real estate, many organiza-
lenges to the AECO industry. Most firms have seen tions were by and large already prepared for the crisis,
revenue declines, although few feel the situation is a thanks to their foresight in keeping their technological
threat to their business’s survival in the same way that capabilities up-to-date. What may be surprising is that
airlines, restaurants, and co-working space have. It’s more than a few have actually credited the situation
clear from survey responses and other conversations with forcing them to make additional investments
that most AECO firms made the transition to working on other nascent technology they should have made
from home almost seamlessly. Technology played a much earlier, making them better prepared for what-
huge part. Specifically technology that is deeply inte- ever the “new normal” may bring. Innovation is now
grated into productivity workflows and collaboration taking its place front and center in discussions among
had the most impact. Companies experienced with AECO professional service firms and their clients. The
collaboration software such as Box, Microsoft Teams, pandemic has been a catalyst for further change
and BIM360 allowed staff to continue their work unin- and is bringing about investments in technology,
terrupted from home offices. Connected productivity people, and process.
suites such as Revit and Procore maintained deliver-
able timelines. Construction sites kept active opera- But now is not the time for complacency, much less for
tions with 360 photo capture platforms, tablet based celebration. The large private equity firm, Texas Pacific
QA/QC systems, web-based planning tools, and AI Group’s CIO shared two charts in a recent presenta-
safety tools such as Smartvid.io. tion, one illustrating the waves of the 1918 Spanish flu
and another highlighting a “drunken walk” W-shaped
recovery.

Shape of the Recovery 1918 Spanish Flu Mortality

Deaths per 1,000 persons

30

25

20

15

10

0
2020 2021 JULY OCT JAN APR
VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 07

The post-summer months could therefore see a re-

turn to a crisis situation more broadly, reshaping the
current recovery curve from a V to a W. This scenario
would likely mean further supply/demand imbalanc-
es, making capital project transactions more compet-
itive. It is seemingly more likely capital funds will be
more demanding and service firms more aggressive
in highlighting their competitive advantages. Given
the changing landscape of a post-COVID world, our
conversations with owners are revealing a desire for
more flexibility from their design teams and great-
er efficiency from their construction teams. Cur-
rent workflows need to not only survive a work-from-
home environment but designers must be capable
of responding to changing requirements faster and
more creatively. Construction teams will need to be
hyper-efficient and responsive to constantly evolving
predictions about a post-COVID reality.

We conducted research to better understand and doc-

ument how AECO firms have been affected by the pan-
demic and how they’re adapting. We surveyed over a
hundred people working for architecture, engineering,
construction, and real estate firms of all sizes, at all
levels of the organization. We supplemented this with
in-depth interviews for additional perspective. The
purpose of this research study, then, is to offer detail,
clarity, and insight as context for discussion of what
the post-COVID world might look like.

We don’t know when the new normal will emerge, or

what it will look like in great detail. But we’ve seen hu-
man resilience demonstrated again and again. After
every adversity, the world adapts and moves on. Now
isn’t the time to focus solely on the present. Now is
the time to ask questions about the future, formulate
a range of answers, and decide what role each of us
must play in order for our organizations to adapt and
to thrive. The leading AECO firms are showing the way.

Image Source - United Nations COVID-19 Response

VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 08

The AECO Industry: Better Positioned

to Survive and Thrive
The research results were very encouraging overall,
starting with the resilience and even optimism demon-
strated by the participants. Of the people surveyed
72% said it was “very likely” or “moderately likely” their
firm would survive a post-COVID environment. Only
5% called their firm’s survival “unlikely.” For context,
similar surveys in the restaurant industry have found
anticipated failure rates of 40% or more.

To be clear, revenues are down for most, with 38%

citing revenue decreases of greater than 10%. “Noth-
ing’s really been cancelled,” one interviewee told us.
“But projects have been put on hold. There’s been a
slowdown in the public sector.” Still, 15% have seen
revenues grow. COVID’s impact has meant increased
demand for certain types of projects: “The majority
of projects are still ongoing...Things are getting busy.”
Sectors showing growth include data centers, distribu-
tion, medical, and pharmaceutical: “Pharmaceutical is
booming right now. New manufacturing lines are being
developed. There’s a huge race to develop projects.”
As some projects have been put on hold, companies
are redirecting resources to other work with greater
current impact: “It’s full speed ahead on projects. If you
have more resources you can go faster.”

From the survey results, it is clear that technology has

enabled a relatively smooth transition for most. Sev-
en in ten survey respondents said the pandemic had
resulted in changes to their design and construction
workflow. While three fourths of these said this in-
volved more digital tools being used, a fourth entered
the pandemic era with the right tools in place, validating
previous investments in technology: “We were already
doing much of this. We already had cloud and remote
communication. More than anything we made good
decisions a long time ago.” For these forward-looking
firms, the situation had the added advantage of unify-
ing the organization behind the idea of staying current
on technology: “You’re always going to have skeptics.
Now that there’s more virtual work, they’re saying
okay, we were on the right path all along.”
 VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 09

“ New opportunities have sprung up

that we didn’t know one month ago
were going to be there.
Among the three fourths who found it necessary to
“
adopt more digital tools, the transition was often
unexpectedly rapid. Timelines initially measured in
months shrunk to days: “Our office wasn’t technically
ready for working remotely. We had infrastructure in
place...within a day we were all up and running from
home. We were able to jump right into it.” Many made
it a point to extract even more value during this time:
“Cloud platforms that we were only dipping our toes
in are now mission critical... It was a really long roll out
plan, but then they did it so quickly.”

Additional insights included: The tools that helped

the most were in communication (ranked in the top
three by 49%), followed by storage, project manage-
ment, and BIM collaboration.

The perceived value of BIM software rose dramati-

cally as a result of the pandemic situation, over eight in
ten now seeing it as more valuable, with 30% of these
saying significantly more valuable. Collaboration and a
common data environment were the two areas where
BIM has provided the most value. Collaboration was
ranked first by four in ten respondents. The common
data environment was ranked in the top three even
more often than collaboration. BIM360 was rated more
valuable than most. While AutoCAD topped the list,
probably only because it’s been around so long that
most firms have it, BIM360 was the first choice by far
among more recently developed software. Its ability to
enable collaborative work among people who aren’t
sitting side-by- side earned BIM360 the top ranking
among 24% of those surveyed, while 54% ranked it in
the top three. “People in the industry will get better at
digital tools like BIM360... Now there’s no choice. If you
want to continue working at the same pace, you need
to catch up.”
VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 10

“Our office wasn’t technically

ready for working remote-
ly. We had infrastructure in
place...within a day we were
all up and running from home.
We were able to jump right in.

“
 VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment

Image Source - Branimir Balogo 11

VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 12

Some Perspectives on The New Normal

Of course the future is unclear under even the most

“predictable” of circumstances. But it’s clear that AECO
firms have had a glimpse of some potential futures,
and they intend to be prepared.

One possible future involves a second pandemic wave

– that W-shaped recovery. This would raise the spec-
ter of business failure for more firms than does the
current situation, although not dramatically so – still
nowhere near the levels for airlines or restaurants. The
percent of respondents saying their firm is unlikely to
survive goes from 5% currently to 13% for a potential
revisit by crisis-level conditions. Overall three in ten
rated their odds of surviving lower after a second wave
than they had for the current wave; however, six in ten
anticipate the same likelihood of survival. One in ten
think their survival odds would actually be better the
second time around, presumably because they’ll have
learned from their current experience.

Yet there is a sense of optimism pervading the mes-

sages coming from our interviewees, one that seems
to be independent of whether the recovery is in the
shape of a V or a W. Six in ten respondents believe peo-
ple will be more productive when they return to the
office. People in the AECO industry aren’t lamenting
the changes that were forced on them (whether they
feel they’d been prepared for those changes or not),
but rather treating them as inspiration to make even
more, and better, changes. Seven in ten respondents
say innovation has become more important for their
firm as a result of the pandemic and the surrounding
circumstances. But the optimism is about more than
innovation; it’s about a new mindset toward change in
general. Many recognize the pandemic as a spur for
beneficial change that had been too long in coming:
“People are starting to understand, so this is going to
stay. This is exciting to force people outside their com-
fort zone.” Yet for all that people may have had their
complacency disrupted, they’re already in a new com-
fort zone: “It feels natural.”
VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 13

“ God I hope we don’t go back to

normal status quo. Some great cre-
ative things are coming out of peo-
ple. I love the instant collaboration.
We’re more productive now.
“
The recurring theme has been “I see lasting change.”
But the changes that have been made aren’t a one-
time adaptation. The biggest change has been an em-
brace of adaptability itself: “So maybe [the question is]
less ‘Should we do it or not,’ but rather ‘how do we re-
spond to change?’” – after all, our own human survival
has been a story of adapting to changing conditions to
suit the new normal. The question leaders should be
asking their teams now is, how adaptable are our peo-
ple, process, and technology to the evolving needs of
our clients and building and infrastructure end users?

Image Source - Nikita Kachanovsky

VIATechnik AECO & The Post-COVID Environment 14

About The Authors

Anton Dy Buncio Dan Klancnik

Anton is the co-founder and COO of VIATechnik, a con- Dan is VIATechnik’s director of Virtual Design and Con-
struction technology firm disrupting the AEC industry struction, bringing over 20 years of experience in con-
through innovative VDC consulting, implementation struction, architecture, and software development to
and education. Anton leads VIATechnik’s research and the team. He builds on VIATechnik’s mission of trans-
development studio that specializes in common data forming the analog world of design and construction
environment integration, computer vision, educational into a digital platform by drawing upon his experience
programs, and data analytics. He has spoken about and the resources of the firm. He has held various
transformations through digitization at various indus- roles in the construction industry from preconstruc-
try conferences such as Autodesk University, Stanford tion, construction technology, project management,
SPIRE, VR Days, and AEC Next. Anton graduated from and senior vice president. In those roles he’s worked
Stanford University with a degree in Management Sci- on hundreds of projects varying in size, type, delivery
ence & Engineering. Prior to founding VIATechnik, An- method, and geographic region. He has held several in-
ton worked at the global management consulting firm dustry positions including: AGC BIMForum leadership
Bain & Company in both San Francisco and Sydney ad- committee, USACE BIM contract group, ACG CM-BIM
vising clients on strategy, operations, and marketing. authoring group, and ConsensusDocs BIM Addendum
authoring committee. As regular industry speaker he
challenges legacy processes by communicating how
we can do things differently to expand profitability and
create new engines of business growth.