Cities and counties can shrink infrastructure expenses through effective data continuity and control

Public agencies want a better way to leverage data to make the construction and operation of infrastructure less expensive, says Matt Sprague, market manager – local governments for Trimble’s Owner & Public Sector. Trimble is a technology company that offers a variety of integrated infrastructure solutions to local government (including cities) and other sectors.

“We are seeing an increased demand from public agencies for solutions that address construction project management, planning and design collaboration, asset handover and asset maintenance.” Sprague explains that his firm’s offerings address a large portion of the infrastructure asset’s lifecycle. The offerings, he adds, can help city and county officials manage the cost-effective use of the data associated with an asset. His conclusion: “The solution can help drive down the overall cost of ownership of an asset.” His firm’s Asset Lifecycle Management solutions help officials gain clear visibility and improve stakeholder communications from design and construction through operations and maintenance.

Sprague’s team recently sat down with more than 20 public agencies to learn about their digital transformation visions. “We discussed the problems they are looking to solve, the solutions that can address those issues, and the pains involved in implementing and procuring the vast array of those solutions.”

Sprague says the conversations with the public agency officials show that those agencies are looking for ways to find economies of scale. One conclusion from the discussions, according to Sprague: “A consolidation of vendors, contracts, procurements and renewals would save an enormous amount of time and resources to support them.”

He offers these words of wisdom for local government officials planning or implementing an infrastructure project: “My advice is to find ways to simplify your technology stack across the multiple departments in your organization. This will not only create economies of scale for technology infrastructure support, but it will also help streamline the effort needed to share data between those solutions and the stakeholders that use them.”

For local government officials planning or implementing an infrastructure project, Sprague says they should plan for the life of the asset, not the duration of the project. “You will maintain an asset far longer than it takes to create it. Invest in technology solutions that can provide insights into what was built and can be added to throughout the asset’s life. These solutions can help create a 100-percent accurate and up-to-date depiction of the asset. Your operations and maintenance teams will thank you, and you will in turn maintain your assets more efficiently.”

To read the complete article, visit American City & County.