BST Global leadership announced the AEC industry’s first suite of project intelligence™ solutions during “Journey to Project Intelligence™ 2023,” a livestreamed global event. Chief Executive Officer Javier A. Baldor and Chief Product Officer Debbie Preacher gave prospective and current clients, along with employees, a live look at the company’s newest offerings: BST Insights, Resource Management powered by Audere, BST11 Work Management and BST11 ERP.
To kick off the event, which was held at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Tampa, FL, Javier took the stage to talk about the passion that BST Global and AEC professionals have for the work they do.
He shared that the company had first unveiled its vision for BST Global and the AEC industry two years ago at our inaugural "Journey to Project Intelligence™" event. At that time, we envisioned a consumer-grade, smart and collaborative solution designed by project managers specifically for project managers. It would offer AEC firms an intuitive, project-based system infused with AI and machine learning for predictive insights.
Since that event in 2021, our vision has become a reality with the development of BST11 ERP, but we didn’t stop there. Based on market feedback, we expanded our vision to include offerings that complement other ERP systems like Deltek, Oracle and SAP.
“We want to revolutionize the way projects and people are managed for the entire AEC industry,” Javier said. “What we have designed and created is not only for BST Global clients leveraging our ERP platform, but for everyone across the industry, regardless of what ERP system they currently use. We want to make a difference by designing software that is efficient and easy to use, so you can live your passion each and every day. When you live your passion, you are happier and your consultancy flourishes. When your consultancy flourishes, so does the industry.”
Javier also spoke to the unique challenges holding AEC firms back. He shared that our teams spoke with hundreds of project managers and project teams to understand why they were continuing to work in Microsoft Excel, despite their firms investing in ERP systems.
Our research found that most ERP systems were:
- Complicated, difficult to understand and hard to navigate
- Accounting-focused and not built with PMs in mind
- Convoluted, with too many menus and submenus
- Reactive in terms of data, with no way to see what’s ahead
- Non-collaborative, keeping teams siloed
- Extremely outdated, like using a Blackberry from 2000 to run the business
And based on industry data, utilization and profitability have been at a standstill for more than a decade.
“But, we believe we can make a difference,” Javier stated. “We are committed to being part of the change.” With that, Javier introduced the industry’s first set of AI-powered project intelligence™ solutions:
- BST Insights
The industry’s first AI-driven predictive insights solution that uses a firm’s current ERP project data to function as a “Waze for Projects” - Resource Management
The first smart, cloud-based resource management solution, powered by Audere, lets teams assign, balance and share work in an intuitive, collaborative experience - BST11 Work Management
The first consumer-grade work management solution designed specifically for AEC firms that complements their existing ERP solution - BST11 ERP
Our newest ERP is the industry’s first consumer-grade, project-driven and collaborative solution that can leverage both our BST Insights and Resource Management offerings
Next, Javier welcomed Debbie to the stage.
“Today, our vision becomes reality,” Debbie said, “your reality. Today, we begin to revolutionize the way your project leaders and teams initiate, execute and manage their projects and resources going forward.”
Debbie shared that there are many people and roles that contribute to the success of a project, like project managers, people managers, project directors, team members and project accountants. Then, she and her team walked audiences through “a day in the life” of each of these important stakeholders to demonstrate how our new solutions could positively impact their day and the health of a project.
Some of the major product highlights featured during the robust live demos included:
- Simple, intuitive design that is easy to navigate
- Anytime availability, so teams can access work from anywhere and on any device
- Convenient team collaboration with project and resource visibility
- Quick project setup and staffing capabilities
- Accurate project outcome predictions 30 days in advance through AI and machine learning
- Easy access to personalize the work experience with setting controls such as light and dark modes
- Advanced financial capabilities for ERP customers
With the demos complete, Debbie announced that all four products will be launched on July 14, 2023, before welcoming Javier back to the stage.
For Javier’s closing remarks, he shared that we’ve only just begun.
“There’s a new wave of what project management success looks like, and data is at the heart of it,” Javier explained. “At BST Global, we know we are part of your data ecosystem, and that’s why we are dedicated to delivering a big data framework for our clients. This framework will leverage Azure data lakes as a foundation. This will help us foster the data-driven consultancies of the future.”
Javier said BST Global’s big data framework will feature three design pillars. It will be:
- Unified: Our big data solution will unify a firm’s data within one platform
- Secure: Our big data solution will secure and protect a firm’s data
- Smart: Our big data solution will leverage AI and machine learning to bring predictive insights that help firms deliver project intelligence™, people intelligence, profit intelligence and so much more
Javier urged AEC executives to be trailblazers and adopt data-driven project intelligence™ solutions to truly impact our industry. Firms interested in our latest offerings should secure their spot on our product “Trailblazer” list by preordering here.
To read more about the “Journey to Project Intelligence™ 2023” event or to watch the full video recording, visit our recap page here.
