BDP partners with Simpson Associates to empower workers with a custom Gen AI experience

Overview

Building Design Partnership (BDP) are an international practice of architects, designers, engineers and urbanists. Since 1961 they’ve been delivering inspiring built spaces. With a leading track record across major sectors including, health, education and work they create exceptional places of value for people all over the world.

To enhance efficiency and productivity, BDP sought a cutting-edge AI solution to revolutionise information access across its workforce. Frustrated by the limitations of traditional search methods like SharePoint and intranet searches, BDP aimed to implement a custom AI engine/chatbot to provide instant answers for all employees.

Problem

BDP, like many organisations, faced a very common problem when searching internal data – information overload and accessibility challenges. Team members were spending too much time wading through documentation, trying to find the information they needed.

However, they were aware that their extensive volumes of data contained precious business insights that often went untapped. This echo’s one of the common challenges within project-based organisations: where frequently generated transferable assets and knowledge are often not easily accessible, leading to redundant efforts and resource inefficiency.

BDP wanted to step away from the inefficient traditional combination of intranet searches and SharePoint libraries to access information. They needed an AI solution that could provide them with the answers they needed, in an instant.

Partnering with Simpson Associates they implemented a centralised repository with an AI front door– a dynamic knowledge base where employees could effortlessly access and share critical information.  

Solution

Harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft Azure we developed a custom AI engine to ask questions directly of their internal knowledge base.

In collaboration, a custom AI tool was developed utilising the ChatGPT engine. The solution uses the Open AI platform built in a custom Web Application in BDP’s existing Azure Tenant, providing robust scalability and reliability aligned with their data governance and security. This natural language model uses their own corpus of information to search and deliver actionable answers.

The solution leverages several key technologies: 

• Generative AI: The ChatGPT engine understands natural language and generates human-quality responses to user queries. 
• Custom Knowledge Base: BDP’s existing data (regulations, procedures, etc.) serves as the foundation for the AI model’s training. The custom knowledge base ensures control over what goes into the model – reducing garbage in garbage out.
• Azure Web Application: The solution is delivered as a user-friendly web application, seamlessly integrating into BDP’s workflow. 

“Partnering with Simpson Associates has been a true game changer on our data journey. Their collaborative approach has empowered us to achieve outstanding results. This custom solution is transforming BDP into a data driven organisation, leveraging cutting-edge technology to propel our projects to new heights. The impact of this partnership is only just getting started, and we’re looking forward to the next phase.” 

 

Alistair Kell
Chief Information Officer, BDP

Key Benefits

• Fast access to data
• Efficient processes
• Utilising and reusing key assets
• An AI front door to their own data

“It’s been an absolute pleasure partnering with BDP on this exciting AI project. Their team have been incredible to work with, and we’re delighted to have played a part in helping them on their AI journey. With their new custom chatbot, BDP can now harness the full potential of their data, empowering their users to work more efficiently than ever before. This is just the beginning of an exciting partnership.”

Andrew Edge, Business Development Manager, Simpson Associates

Conclusion

BDP’s custom AI tool exemplifies the transformative power of artificial intelligence in step-changing knowledge management and access within a large organisation. This cutting-edge solution is poised to dramatically enhance efficiency, precision and consistency in information retrieval, propelling BDP’s success towards new heights. By streamlining information access and overcoming information overload, the AI tool not only boosts productivity but also ensures that employees have the most up to date information at their fingertips This AI-powered knowledge base is testament to the transformative impact of technology on modern businesses.