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Instead of using a top-down approach to AI, why not let employees dictate their own technology terms?
That’s what New York City-based project management firm GISI Consulting Group is considering as it prepares to hire 1,000 more project managers and leaders by the end of 2026.
Here, Brian Jordan, the company’s chief growth officer, talks to Construction Dive about how the company uses AI, its “AI + Expert” approach, and what the company does differently with the technology compared to other companies.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
CONSTRUCTION DIVER: How has the project landscape changed over the past five years and how does technology fit in today?
Brian Jordan
Authorization granted by GISI Consulting Group
BRIAN JORDAN: It has been a very interesting five years. What we’re really seeing is expectations that you can deliver these projects that are increasingly complex, that have difficult issues from a stakeholder standpoint, from a permitting standpoint, from a cost standpoint, from a supply chain standpoint, but the owners still have an expectation that they’re going to come in on time and on budget.
So our strategy is how can we meet these expectations and an environment that has changed a lot? So we’re investing a lot in our people and we’re investing a lot in tools and strategies and technology like artificial intelligence to make sure that those expectations are maintained in a more challenging environment with the people that we have and the tools that we have that are able to achieve that.
GISI Consulting plans to add 1,000 more project managers and project executives to its team along with an “AI + Expert” approach. Could you explain what this is?
We are a professional services company at the end of the day, so we focus on our people. They have the relationships with our clients, they have the experience in the field, they have the understanding and the knowledge to deliver these big projects. They help clients plan, they help them figure out how to stay on budget, how to build effectively.
We want to combine that with new technologies and new investments that are out there with AI.
We believe AI has real value, but the only way to maintain trust and the only way to be accountable to our customers is through people.
At the same time, we recognize that to meet today’s higher expectations, with cost and schedule pressure and affordability pressure, we need to complement this investment with a similar investment on the technology side.
Our goal is for all 10,000 employees to be empowered with the AI tools and resources we’ve invested in. The goal is for our project leaders, our project managers, our directors, our subject matter experts to have easy access. That and an understanding of how to leverage these tools to meet customer expectations.
Can you give me an example?
In the northeastern United States, we have a really complex project that involves a lot of environmental and permitting issues. Some of them are underground. We have geology and hydrogeology problems, groundwater problems, buried utility conflicts. And then others are above ground: we have to build the infrastructure, we have to watch the air quality, we have to watch the construction schedule, the traffic problems.
In our previous model, we would have spent a lot of time and effort trying to find a way to combine all these tools and resources. For some time now, we’ve been able to build digital twins, where you take all this information, all these data sources and link them together.
But what we’ve been able to do with AI is bring it all together and then speed it up.
So instead of having our technical experts trying to figure out how to fuse all the materials together, they can focus on the model results.
What are your thoughts on how AI will affect recruiting?
There are a lot of scary headlines. I know in other sectors, in particular, there have definitely been headlines that have indicated that layoffs, job cuts, changes in business models have been heavily influenced by AI.
We are actually the opposite.
We see it as an empowering tool for our white collar workforce. Part of that is how we look to accelerate professional development opportunities for our staff who are entrepreneurs, who want to go to market, talk to customers and think about what are their biggest challenges? What are the creative solutions for this?
How does the way GISI Consulting uses AI separate it from its competitors?
I think a lot of companies make top-down efforts.
Many companies in the industry say, “We’ve identified a preferred vendor, we’ve identified a preferred tool, you need to attend this training program on XYZ date, you need to fill out these forms, you need to go to this website.”
We are taking the opposite approach. What we’re doing is saying, “We have 10,000 employees, we want to give them the tools and resources they need to be successful.” We ask you: Which ones do you need, which do you have access to and where do you need training? What kind of resources do you need?”
So we do it from the bottom up. You need to have an open dialogue with your staff to understand from them what distracts them from doing their jobs.
