Enable Your AECO Firm to LEAD

This is the first entry in a series of articles by the CIO Advisory Team. Check out the next one here.

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AECO firms are constantly working to overcome obstacles and the challenges of their industry. Low margins, competitive proposal processes and a shrinking experienced talent pool are just a few of the limitations organizations must contend with. Additionally, major trends like globalization, urbanization and sustainability are both hindrances to outdated practices and opportunities for innovative companies.

To go beyond standard products and services while overcoming these areas of concern, businesses need to review their entire strategy, from foundational infrastructure to leading-edge roadmaps. Such a transformation requires operational excellence, modern workplace enhancements and ever-expanding capabilities. It requires a firm that is ready to LEAD.

Beginning at the basis of any strong AECO organization, the first step in this process is to Learn about the vast resources available to your IT team that can benefit business and project staff. Enhanced server configuration, network design, application management and data protection can refine, simplify and secure your infrastructure. At the same time, your IT department will be available to improve current offerings and begin testing new ones rather than expending their expertise on mundane support tasks.

Once a stable foundation is in place, AECO firms can shift their focus to Empower their workforce through digitization. Deploying cloud, mobile and social applications to leverage significant process improvement assists practice and project leaders in achieving better outcomes and user experiences. This is the stage at which those main obstacles, like intense competition and new hire training, can be addressed, improved and optimized.

Like a pyramid, as the base layers are built up the pinnacle can be formed. This final phase involves firm leadership developing and inspiring a workplace cultural that can Accelerate and Deliver superior project services and building solutions. If AECO businesses are going to address major concerns like globalization, urbanization and sustainability, they need to reach a level of functionality and performance that can support the most innovative technologies available in the digital ecosystem.

Professionals and businesses that are equipped to LEAD are in the best position to not only manage modern challenges but overcome and capitalize on them. Competition can be a chance to showcase unique capabilities; employee onboarding can allow new training methods to be experimented with; and sustainability can give an organization a larger mission to attain.

Find out more about how Microdesk enables AECO firms to LEAD through managed IT services from the CIO Advisory. Contact our team here.