OpenSpace recently acquired Disperse, a construction progress tracking platform that was previously the partner behind the buyer’s progress tracking tool that the two companies launched together in June to help construction crews identify productivity issues ahead of projects. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition brings together 360-degree jobsite imagery, computer vision, and what OpenSpace promises is human oversight to provide a view of what’s built and what’s not on a contractor customer’s jobsite.
“We were a reality capture tool, which was incredibly successful,” said Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO of OpenSpace, “But now we’ve become very much a visual intelligence platform, which is a way for builders to work more efficiently and make better decisions faster.”
The acquisition and tighter integration between Disperse and OpenSpace will help contractor customers guide project decisions around real-world data, images and locations rather than just documents and word-of-mouth about project completion levels, he said.
“You can look at this acquisition in that context, the idea of taking information from reality, really what’s happening in the workplace, and turning it into high-level knowledge,” Kalanithi said.
The OpenSpace project tracking system integrates with contractor project scheduling tools such as Oracle Primavera P6, Asta Powerproject, Microsoft Project, and the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application.
“Disperse was created to give construction crews an objective and reliable picture of progress,” said Olli Liukkaala, CEO of UK-based Disperse. “By joining OpenSpace, we can deliver this clarity at unprecedented speed and scale and bring even more value to general contractors, owners and specialty contractors on projects of all sizes.”
PCL, Syntax Partnership Bears Fruit
In a separate move in August, Syntax Systems, a provider of global technology solutions and services for the deployment and management of cloud applications, completed a multi-year digital transformation initiative with PCL Construction.
The contractor partnered with Syntax to develop a phased roadmap for enterprise resource planning consolidation, an effort that began with the migration of all ERP environments to the Syntax Enterprise Cloud. In the final phase, completed last July, Syntax consolidated PCL’s 26 ERP instances into a single, unified environment on Microsoft Azure.
“[Digital Transformation]in this case, it means moving from a more traditional model where PCL had as many instances of everything as offices in the areas for which they compete or deploy projects,” said Christian Primeau, CEO of Syntax. “PCL basically had 26 different locations that over time deployed their own 26 versions of ERP back office procurement processes,” including HR and payroll.
The new cloud-based ERP platform supports all of PCL’s core business functions, including finance, payroll, asset management, project execution and supply chain management.
“The consolidation of our ERP environment on Azure marks a fundamental shift in the way PCL operates financially across its global footprint,” said Glen Anderson, the company’s vice president of finance and business risk and executive sponsor of the project, in a statement.
