Transition to cloud technologies

[shamimhasan07]

Predicting the future is a thankless task. But that's what we all have to do as we bet on technologies that are changing the construction industry.
Content

From files to databases
API access
Openness
Ecosystems vs. Cloud APIs
Artificial intelligence
Automation
BIM tools
Hardware
Augmented reality
Developers' opinions
Conclusion
Based on the article "The shape of BIMs to come" by Martyn Day, AECMagazine

But how can users plan for what comes next when so many software companies and ambitious phone number in philippines startups are now looking to change the way construction players use data in their projects? I’ve spent many hours thinking about this question, and my opinion regularly changes with each new startup that emerges.

In this article, I want to dive a little deeper into the technology trends that I believe will have the most significant impact on the construction sector, as well as look at some of the developments that are currently underway. Along the way, I’ll be channeling my inner Vanga to make some predictions based on what I’m seeing in the market.

But first, let me take a step back to around 2015 or 2016, when I was researching a piece about technology stacks in the industry. In the process, I was interviewing design firm leaders about the challenges they were facing. What I found was that they were frustrated by the lack of innovation in BIM for architects. Revit seemed to be stalling while costs were rising. And for many, adopting BIM best practices and creating trusted, structured data seemed out of reach.

Improving productivity is a constant goal for most companies, along with, of course, extracting value from the gigabytes of data they generate. Other challenges include eliminating bottlenecks in BIM workflows, managing hardware, software and skills requirements, finding ways to free and integrate siloed data, not to mention staying ahead of ISO rules, terms and definitions.

But back then, in the mid-2010s, it seemed like every developer was spending the bulk of their budget on researching and developing cloud-based systems for sharing PDF drawings with contractors, rather than on evolving existing design tools and introducing new ones that could help clients solve their pressing problems.

Fast forward to today, and a lot has changed. There are many new BIM design tools being developed using open source. Many of these projects have attracted venture funding, and some are just coming out of the shadows. And almost everything that is emerging now is primarily cloud-based.

Transition to cloud technologies
The adoption of cloud technologies has been comprehensive. In response to an open letter from Revit users published in 2020 expressing concerns about the product’s future roadmap, Autodesk confirmed that it will not remake the industry-leading BIM product similar to its current desktop version.

Instead, Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost shared that he doesn't want to "build a faster horse" and insisted that the future of all the company's solutions will be "cloud-based."

Since then, the company has launched its first cloud-based construction product, Autodesk Forma, for architects and conceptual design. Over time, other Autodesk desktop applications will be rewritten to run in the cloud, with data also stored in Autodesk's growing cloud infrastructure.

While these ideas seem relatively new, the company had been working in this direction for several years before Autodesk Fusion launched in 2013. Fusion was the company’s first pure cloud application, and part of a larger vision to rewrite all of Autodesk’s standard and core software features as web services that could form the basis for new web apps. The concept, originally called Forge and later renamed Autodesk Platform Services, was a very bold long-term move, and a huge bet by the company that the next platform would be in the cloud.

Other developers seem to agree. In the last eighteen months or so, I haven't seen a single new application related to the construction industry that was distributed as a local installation only. In the sense that it can run entirely on a local work