Olmsted estimates that virtual collaboration and streamed 3-D models have reduced the amount of time spent making changes to the building process by 10 percent to 30 percent. Since the company started using JPI, the percentage of changes made after construction has begun has decreased from 10 percent to 1 percent. In the future, Olmsted expects the JPI platform will also help the company manage its personnel needs. The way Jacobs is set up, each office has a specialty. For example, the Gulf Coast office designs refineries, the north office does facilities for pharmaceutical firms and the office in the south designs buildings for paper and pulp companies.
Every region has a different business cycle.
So, while Jacobs' overall staff remains consistent at around 20,000, at any given time one office may be laying off while another is hiring. Olmsted says this technology should allow them to do a better job of sharing resources, because work teams no longer need to be in the same office. The goal is to build virtual work teams made up of employees from all sites. Or in the same time zone, for that matter. Jacobs' Houston office is currently collaborating with a team in India in just that way.