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BST Global’s CEO Speaks at Environment Analyst’s Global Business Summit 2022

Blog
Aug 24, 2022
  • By: BST GLOBAL 

Environment Analyst hosted its Global Business Summit 2022 with a mission to provide critical market intelligence so firms can position their company for growth, benchmark their business against competitors, and inform future investment and growth strategies. The conference took place in Denver, CO, August 23–24, 2022.

Attendees learned how to leverage ESG and other opportunities to deliver transformational change, understand how to best support stakeholders in their journey to net zero, and share best practices for delivering real economic and environmental change.

On the first day of the summit, BST Global Chief Executive Officer Javier A. Baldor joined Mark Hall from Montrose Environmental and Josh Nothwang from Arcadis for a panel discussion titled “Embedding Sustainability and ESG at the Core of Consultancy Business Models.”

During Javier’s introduction, he spoke about how digital and technology innovation can improve business efficiency and add value to the service proposition. Some of Javier’s key points included:

  • “There is a big prize in unlocking and unleashing the passion of your professionals. They are, after all, taking on one of the greatest challenges mankind has faced: climate change. How can we empower them to focus on their passion? The answer lies in giving them more time to do what they love by ensuring they spend less time on administrative tasks. It’s all about efficiency, their experience and empowering them with data.”
  • “Data silos reign everywhere — whether that is project, financial, environmental or social data. It’s all walled off.” ​
  • “I believe in the notion of the data-driven consultancy of the future — one that embraces big data, AI, machine learning, intelligent automation and anomaly detection in a simple, consumer-grade experience.”
  • “A future-ready consultancy leverages big data residing in the cloud to unify your environmental, social, governance and project data.” ​
  • “A true, data-driven consultancy will unlock the efficiencies and predictive capabilities needed to help teams manage projects better and meet the ESG imperative.​”
  • “Becoming a data-driven organization begins with a thoughtful big-data strategy that can easily mash data across different ESG dimensions, secure it and leverage AI/machine learning to make the data smart and predicative.”
  • ​“I strongly believe we also need to fundamentally change the historical data paradigm, whereby data only flows one way: up from staff to leadership for management reporting. This should be replaced with a smart, data-driven model that democratizes data for all. Professionals at all levels in this new paradigm personally benefit more from the data they are being asked to enter and have the opportunity to be empowered by this smart data. I truly believe that democratizing your data is the key to successful ‘digital workforce of the future’ initiatives.”

When the panel opened up to audience participation, the executives saw some healthy discussion. These exchanges included:

  • Audience Question: “Wouldn’t technology be another way to solve the problem rather than adding talent?”
    • Javier’s Response: “You are in the data business. Look within the walls of your business to develop talent in your own organization. AI and machine learning is a hot area, and there are great tools for employees to sink their teeth into.”

  • Audience Question: “How do you break through the change barriers [i.e., using Microsoft Excel for everything]?”
    • Javier’s Response: “There will always be a place for Excel in certain areas, but project systems should be similar to iPhones across multiple generations.”

  • Audience Question: “Using the data from the presentation as an example, what fraction of the gap can we gain?”
    • Javier’s Response: “Ask your teams how much time they are spending each day wasting time. We have run projects the same way for years. Keep in mind that every percent change in utilization gives ½% straight to bottom line.”

Prior to the conference, Javier gave an exclusive interview with Environment Analyst, offering his thoughts on the data-driven consultancy of the future. Read the full article here.

BST Global appreciates the opportunity to participate in events like these, and looks forward to future engagements. Check out our Events page to find out where else we’ll be — we’d love to see you at some of our sessions!

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BST GLOBAL 

BST Global designs, develops and deploys the AEC industry’s first suite of AI-powered project intelligence™ solutions. Beyond our flagship ERP offering, we provide work management, predictive insights and resource management solutions to complement a firm’s existing ERP. More than 120,000 architects, engineers and consultants in 65 countries across six continents rely on BST Global’s solutions each day to successfully manage their projects, resources, finances and client relationships. With unrivaled industry knowledge, BST Global serves as a trusted partner to its loyal clients and remains at the forefront of innovation. For more information, visit www.BSTGlobal.com