The Pandemic is Helping AEC Move Faster towards Cloud-Based Solutions

We talked to Christoph Degendorfer of bimspot an intuitive web-based open BIM platform for all disciplines
to require, validate, and use building information from IFC models, thus saving time and money in building projects and here is what he said about it.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Christoph Degendorfer: We are all fine, thanks! I always had and still have the approach that everything will be fine after all.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded bimspot.

Christoph Degendorfer: I was worked several architect offices for over 15 years, and I have always been keen to create something new and been able to apply new technologies to projects.

When BIM appeared in the industry, I took this chance to combine my digital mindset and passion with the ambition to design the building of the future. 

After co-founding and running a BIM consulting office for several years, it became clear what was missing in the daily work with BIM projects to unleash the full potential of this method. That’s when I founded bimspot 2018 aiming to fill this gap.

How does bimspot innovate? 

Christoph Degendorfer: We contribute to innovating the AEC sector with the full potential offered by the BIM methodology. 

We support our users in making better decisions based on the data of their models. Lots of time and money are nowadays wasted because of misunderstandings, manual procedures and/or flows and all to the expenses of the project success. bimspot offers one tool to find all the building information from all the team members and provide the right context to the team to make the right decisions and avoid mistakes that can be easily solved.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Christoph Degendorfer: We took our entire process online, but it has not been that difficult as even our product is cloud-based. 

We got the team set up, and we tried to find the best way to keep in touch, in order to know who was working on which topic and how we could support each other. Of course, when we are all in the office, it was easier to talk to the team and make fast decisions or to align, while during the lockdown we needed to set a meeting for every discussion. This took a couple of weeks to get adjusted, but then it was, and it is still working fine.

Right now, most of our team works remotely, why do some others go to the office when they prefer. The team answered very well to the situation and showed a good pace adapting to this new reality.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Christoph Degendorfer: We retained all our team members and hired two new positions during the last year. I guess we could manage to do so because of the essence of our business and the effort and cooperation of the team.

What specific tools, software and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?

Christoph Degendorfer: As much Personal contact via digital tools (slack, Zoom…) and caring about every team member and their different situations as much as possible.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Christoph Degendorfer: We have for sure competitors that do offer something similar to what we do, but not entirely and new ones might come in the future. We strongly believe in our data approach to the BIM methodology, and this is still the beginning of it. With the integration of machine learning to our product in the upcoming months, we are sure to offer a unique selling proposition.

Your final thoughts?

Christoph Degendorfer: I strongly believe in BIM and where this is taking the whole AEC sector.

 My motto is: BIM is great!

Your website?

www.bimspot.io