Mark Evans describes how construction consultancy Rider Levett Bucknall moved to a cloud-based working environment, and what it has brought to the firm.
To support the growing need for value for money, responsive communications, and secure data and storage services, an increasing number of construction organisations are embracing cloud-based managed services.
In its simplest form, cloud computing involves storing and accessing data and systems via hosted services over the internet. This reduces both the costs and time associated with having to maintain outdated IT systems and complex IT infrastructure.
Rider Levell Bucknall’s (RLB) decision to move to the cloud in 2010 coincided with the end of lease arrangements for various computer hardware (storage area networks, servers, back-up devices etc) and back-office systems which were using up valuable internal resources. The cost of switching to cloud-based services was less than replacing our existing hardware, even if the cost was annualised over the usual three-year lease period.
By only paying a monthly subscription charge for the cloud services you use, there is no upfront capital investment, or the need to provision additional capacity “just in case”. At RLB, by replacing our in-house capitalised cost model we have been able to reduce our total cost of ownership by 50% by using Redcentric’s managed services for a range of mission critical network and data services.
The cloud and BIM
In construction, everyone is talking about building information modelling (BIM) as a means of improving collaboration. At RLB, our use of cloud-based managed services goes beyond that. One of the main challenges with BIM in any environment is the storage and dissemination of data.
To overcome this, we have increased our investment in cloud solutions to leverage a new technology to further improve productivity – virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), which provides access to a virtual desktop hosted on a remote managed service over the internet.
RLB’s 3D-enabled VDI solution stores all of our BIM information in a central repository which can be accessed by authorised users via a secure terminal session over the internet. This removes the need to drag whole – or portions of – files of indeterminate sizes across any network.
By enabling staff to access a virtual desktop which provides a BIM environment from any device we are much more responsive as a business and can manage change quicker than ever before.
Previously, RLB’s internal back-office systems, data storage and backup services were hosted on our premises. Being reliant on office-based document storage restricted collaboration due to the constraints of the Windows networking model. We also were also vulnerable as our business data needed to be stored on local office servers and was only backed up to a central repository at night.
By upgrading our enterprise resource planning, timesheets and expenses systems so they can be accessed via the cloud we no longer have to implement or maintain local software and hardware on site. With Redcentric’s managed services maintaining and monitoring the servers within a virtual environment, RLB’s entire EMEA IT operation now requires a core IT team of only seven.
In addition to enabling us to operate more efficiently, managed cloud services have provided RLB’s staff worldwide with increased flexibility and agility to improve project collaboration. Staff can work from wherever they need to be and share data and documents with their similarly mobile-enabled colleagues throughout the business. Everyone involved in a project can easily share information and access large documents and files, scanned-in paperwork, images, videos and CAD drawings from any job site, from any device, and respond to queries from clients from any location.
Enhanced security
Inevitably, all businesses have initial security concerns when contemplating a switch to cloud services. To alleviate potential risk at RLB, we visited several data centre and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers as part of our thorough due diligence exercise to find a managed service partner.
Our primary concern was the geopolitical nature of data storage. The Patriot Act in the US allows any cloud-based data to be obtained and taken offline by US security services. This potential loss of data, without warning and without recompense, was deemed an unacceptable risk at RLB. This proved pivotal in our decision not to place our data in a public cloud, a view which is shared by a number of our public sector clients. As a result, we sought a UK-based, UK-owned managed service provider
who could provide us with robust private cloud-based services.
Innovation isn’t just about the latest designs and building practices, it is equally about finding more efficient ways of doing things.
At RLB we have used cloud services to support a digital pen and paper solution we devised for one of our large retail customers to complete more than 800 site surveys across the UK. From receiving the request from the client, to rolling out the digital pen hardware in the field took just three days, demonstrating the increased agility cloud technologies provide. The digital pens communicated the survey data via the cloud to a server in RLB’s data centre. The survey results were interpreted and uploaded onto a live portal showing the completed surveys, aggregated data and up-to-the-minute reports within a virtual environment.
The ability to rapidly deploy a key value added solution like this was only possible by using cloud technologies which are key to increasing customer retention levels.
Mark Evans is head of IT at Rider Levett Bucknall
