GHD Advisory amps safety, economy, and customer experience by harnessing emerging technology

GHD Advisory demonstrated its continued commitment to high-value consultancy data by working with data specialist Asseti. Asseti consumed aerial imagery for GHD Advisory’s asset portfolio to agilely build digital twins. The digital twins enabled GHD Advisory to elevate customer experience and paved the way for their clients to exploit big data in ongoing asset management plans.

The introduction delivered fast return on investment (ROI), with one GHD Advisory client reporting substantial reductions in both facility management costs and issue report/rectification times. Executive General Manager of GHD Advisory Mr Richard Fechner reported immediate benefits to using Asseti, which are now being modeled into forward plans; “GHD Advisory identifies strategic opportunities for asset optimization. Our clients gain from Asseti’s simplification of asset network status, which has made reporting effectively real-time and enabled superior asset network performance optimization," Mr Fechner said.

"One GHD Advisory client expedited critical issue reporting by 12 times with the support of Asseti, while simultaneously reducing costs by 80%. This is just one site – similar efficiency and effectiveness gains across the portfolio will deliver substantial cost reductions and operational gains in the next 12 months and beyond.”

This builds on extensive collaboration between GHD Advisory and Asseti, including throughout the beta test period. One GHD Advisory client engaged with Asseti having recognized safety concerns inherent to a 2020 property portfolio audit. GHD Advisory’s head of asset management Asia-Pacific arranged for Asseti to consume captured aerial imagery and generate digital twins of the property portfolio. Asseti facilitated image capture and processed it through the platform. External property inspections are traditionally undertaken by inspectors accessing the roof via ladders or elevated work platforms (EWPs) – methods carrying safety, logistical, and cost demands. GHD Advisory avoided these potential issues entirely by working with Asseti. The report includes close visual inspection data for the entirety of each site, so issues and their context can easily be demonstrated to the GHD Advisory client and their subsidiary stakeholders. Follow-up client queries have, in the past, necessitated return site visits and additional fieldwork – GHD Advisory has instead been able to immediately refer to datasets and deliver instant responses for an improved client experience.

GHD Advisory is one of the world’s leading professional services companies and has been in operation since 1928, aimed at anticipating trends and staying ahead of changing technology. The acceleration of technological change in past decades has led GHD Advisory to hone that agility and seek partnerships with emerging technological specialists. In that capacity, Asseti has advised GHD Advisory on the use of geospatial imagery in asset management, plus the opportunities opened by machine learning, expanded computing power, and big data. GHD Advisory has recognized the monumental shift in our work due to technological change, and actively leverages emerging technology to achieve safety and efficiency gains.

Expanded use of imagery in building agile digital twins and the use of large historical datasets for training algorithms and issue detection is changing the shape of asset management at GHD Advisory, for GHD Advisory’s clients, and beyond. Fechner said that Asseti has increased the degree of granularity to which assets can be analyzed, enabling GHD Advisory’s asset management teams to deliver a better quality and consistently repeatable service. Working with emerging technology specialist Asseti for a big data approach powered by machine learning enables more accurate, timely, and predictive asset management, while concurrently lowering costs to both GHD Advisory and its clients.

Asseti CEO Aonghus Stevens said that Asseti reveals risk at an aggregated asset portfolio level, which helps asset managers improve portfolio performance and value, and avoid abatement and penalties. Asseti enables facility management services organizations and those managing assets in-house to deliver a quantifiably better outcome. “GHD Advisory is a highly regarded international success and partnering with them on accessing the full benefit of emerging technology has benefitted both organizations,” said Stevens.

“One GHD Advisory client has expedited critical issue reporting by 12 times with the support of Asseti, while simultaneously reducing costs by 80%. This is just one site – similar efficiency and effectiveness gains across the portfolio will deliver substantial cost reductions and operational gains in the next 12 months and beyond.”

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