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Aconex is cutting the paper chase

If you’ve ever built an extension to your home or fitted out a new office, you’ll know how many documents you need to keep track of, drawings, plans, contracts, variations, correspondence – the list goes on and on.

Now, imagine the volume of documents created on a $100 million construction or mining project and trying to make sure that the hundreds of people working on the development are able to access that information, whenever they need it, and from wherever they are located. Sounds like quite a challenge, doesn’t it?

This is the scenario that, in 2000, led to the creation of Aconex, a secure, web-based system that replaces the need for hard copies by managing information online. By using the system, people working on a project are able to view, track and share their files in real time using a central, common platform.

Paula Lowndes, who heads up the company’s operations in Canada, explains the value this brings: “Every organization involved in a project can save time by being able to communicate more quickly with other parties. They can also reduce printing and distribution costs, and control risk, like the risk of losing important information. When applied to projects valued in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars, the benefits really stack up. The past couple of years have seen Canada become one of the fastest adopters of this type of solution, with infrastructure, energy, mining and commercial construction projects using the technology.”

Internationally, Aconex services $240 billion worth of projects in 65 countries. Since establishing its first Canadian office in Vancouver, the company has started to be used on some of the country’s largest developments, including the Kelowna and Vernon Jubilee Hospital developments, B.C.’s largest PPP projects.

“Even on a medium-sized project, the amount of information exchanged is staggering. Within the first year of using our system, project members have often used Aconex to store and distribute more than 100,000 documents,” said Lowndes. “Information really is the lifeblood of construction and engineering developments and so companies need to have effective systems in place to keep their projects on track.”

To find out more about Aconex, visit www.aconex.com or contact Paula Lowndes at plowndes@aconex.com or 604-351-8314.

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