My son’s choir teacher had a saying – “Early is on time. On time is late. Late is unacceptable.”

Charting progress is similar, and one might say that “making progress is being stagnant. Being stagnant is falling behind. Falling behind is deadly.”

Our industry is in a state of turmoil. Smaller firms especially were hammered by the economy of 2008-2011 and are still recovering. Meanwhile, technology continued to advance through BIM, GPS and Smart Phones, etc. Android was coming into its own back in 2008 and tablet computer technology was in its infancy – the first iPad was released in April 2010. Today, how we utilize all of these new technologies and manage the cost, training and development is a major challenge.

While bigger firms have the resources to develop these solutions, widespread use and consistent application takes time. Typically, the larger the organization, the more time-consuming, so maintaining consistency takes great effort. Smaller firms are trying to recover from the stress of the economic downturn of the past six years and the burden of acquiring and deploying new technology and ensuring the training is adequate (when sometimes the technology isn’t really ready yet) is a major challenge. Mid-size firms may have the best opportunity now to get ahead of the curve.

In fact, a recent study indicated that in terms of growth, mid-size firms have fared the best since 2008, especially over the past three years. They can be more nimble than the larger firms and they also have the critical mass to carry out the necessary programs to promote greater growth and competitiveness.

Software infrastructure designed for general contractors or architects and engineers is really structured around a design-bid-build business model. Multiple bid packages staggered throughout the project tend to expose weaknesses in most enterprise systems commonly used in our industry. As a fast-track, design-build provider, Austin is a bit different from the market place and to ensure we are always improving, we must adapt, innovate, take what works and create new solutions. In doing so, we get better, we learn, we adapt and we grow.