Black & Veatch’s Field Workforce Management Platform: Virtually Connecting the Office to The Field

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The President of Black & Veatch’s Telecommunication’s business, John Janchar, posed the question, “how can we help clients deliver critical infrastructure better in today’s age?” The answer came in the form of a project in collaboration with Zinier, the leader in intelligent field service automation. The collective intelligence between Black & Veatch and Zinier’s teams produced an AI-driven field service automation platform that brings project execution into the digital age.

As field teams become highly distributed, the traditional methods of field and office management are falling short. However, through the power of automation and analytics, industries can optimize task completion and help develop the workforce of the future.

“We aimed to bring a best-in-class platform to our partners to make it easy for people in the field,” said David Simmons, Senior Director of Technology and Innovation at Black & Veatch. “We want them to have everything they need at their fingertips to accomplish their tasks. Ease was the goal.”

Black & Veatch’s Field Workforce Management Platform, using Zinier’s intelligent field service automation platform, merges resources, and field management data in real-time. The platform also integrates with other apps, systems, and data hubs within a sleek, easy-to-use digital architecture.

“As projects become more distributed, this platform supports the transformation of the workforce to align perfectly with how projects are being carried out, regardless of where the physical work occurs,” added Simmons. “In engineering this platform, we looked at the requirements of the carrier and asked how we could alleviate administrative work and focus on delivering infrastructure.”

During the development of the Field Workforce Management Platform, the team examined how to create a more seamless approach for partners in the field, to help them accomplish work with the fewest touchpoints, and decrease the overhead and burden for the client. Another objective was to give the right job to the right person at the right time based on skillset matching and the scope of work. The platform enables all of this via intelligent automation.

The Field Workforce Management Solution delivers eight benefits to users, including:

  1. Plug & Play Tech: enabling a customized system to best meet the needs of each client and optimize efficiency.
  2. Eagle-Eye Project Vision: unifies the back office, front office, and field office systems for superior project control via one comprehensive architecture.
  3. Happy Apps: helps apps work together to drive up data value.
  4. Best-Fit Staffing: automatically selects the right partners for the requested job, considering scope, location, skills, safety record, and availability.
  5. Constant Comms: provides a single port of communication for partners and project management staff for speedy and responsive digital communications.
  6. Streamlined Admin: automates business functions, like word orders, change requests, and status updates. Reduces paperwork through a digital, time-stamped documentation process.
  7. Reliable Records: archives project data uploaded from the field, like site photographs, to help communicate and document project status or issues.
  8. Bionic Operations: integrates systems and apps to create efficiencies across project management for time and costs savings.

“Our mission is to enable clients and partners to work smarter. This technology connects the front office with the field office and relieves the burden of process and paperwork as much as physically possible,” said Simmons. “In partnership with Zinier, we’re proud to bring this tech to our clients to enable them to focus on their core business while our platform handles the paperwork.”

Black & Veatch is an employee-owned engineering, procurement, consulting, and construction company with a 100-year legacy of creating a better world for humanity today, and for generations to come. For more information or to contact a representative, visit https://www.bv.com/. To access and download the associated infographic, click here.

November 20, 2019

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