The cloud has been a powerful tool in the pursuit of digitalization, as traditional data management systems fall to the wayside, other innovative data management systems emerge. To support the industry-specific needs of construction, agriculture and transportation, Trimble has announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft with the aim of advancing technology adoption and accelerating digital transformation within those industries.
By leveraging the Microsoft cloud, Trimble and Microsoft are planning to collaborate to develop, build, and deliver industry cloud platforms and solutions that connect the people, technology, tasks, data, processes that comprise all parts of the industry lifecycle. This collaboration represents a significant milestone to advance Trimble's “Connect and Scale 2025 strategy” which centers on building industry-leading cloud platforms.
The problems they are trying to solve are daunting. The construction process is fragmented, which can result in lost productivity, rework and a lack of transparency. According to a 2020 McKinsey & Company article on the ‘next normal’ for construction, the construction industry is lagging with only 1 percent productivity growth over the last 20 years. This is significantly lower than the 2.8 percent experienced for the total economy. In addition, one of the significant emerging disruptions that will drive change in construction is the digitization of products and processes. The ability to link technologies, tasks, processes and multiple stakeholders—such as general contractors, subcontractors, designers, engineers and owners—across the construction project workflow can transform and significantly improve productivity, quality, safety, transparency and sustainability.
The new partnership expands Trimble and Microsoft's existing relationship to combine the Microsoft cloud with Trimble's construction solutions and industry domain knowledge.
Trimble's construction solutions include on-machine and field technology, modeling and collaboration software, project and resource management, and all underlying analytics. The companies will deliver the Trimble Construction Cloud, a connected platform powered by Microsoft Azure, which is fully enabled for 3D constructible models that will reduce risks, drive speed, and increase efficiency and accuracy across the entire construction project lifecycle, in 2022.
"Trimble and Microsoft will create a powerful partnership to advance technology adoption in the construction industry. Using Microsoft technologies, Trimble will be able to more rapidly develop a construction cloud to connect stakeholders and workflows throughout the industry," said Bryn Fosburgh, senior vice president, Trimble.
"We are building on our combined success to help construction companies use digital data to improve productivity, reduce costs, increase collaboration and create agility. By leveraging the Microsoft cloud, Trimble technology and our combined engineering capabilities, we will empower construction businesses to realize the benefits of the cloud and accelerate digital transformation throughout the construction lifecycle."
"Industry customers are accelerating the deployment of cloud-based services and solutions to facilitate better decision making based on data-driven insights, gain efficiencies, reduce costs and engage customers in new ways," said Casey McGee, vice president Global ISV partners, Microsoft.
"We are excited about our enhanced collaboration with Trimble as it will help customers, across industries, evolve their cloud strategies and realize business transformation."
