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<\/p>\nDigital Transformation at AECOM has made great strides over time, with innovations from our employees and new digital tools steadily changing the way we deliver for our clients.\u00a0Now, quite suddenly, we find our digital journey accelerating out of necessity.\u00a0Clients and teams are engaging digitally instead of physically \u2014 and this is only effective because of the tools, processes and innovations we have invested in.<\/p>\n
As we look to the future of our work, we are comforted to see that our vision for the firm\u2019s digital transformation holds true.\u00a0We will remain a talented, efficient and focused team \u2014 benefitting from our scale and the strength of our digital tools to deliver the best results in the industry.\u00a0For example, virtual collaboration tools are table stakes in our industry and we have transitioned seamlessly to a remote work environment during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
Looking to the future of how we deliver work, some of our most important investments are in creating artificial intelligence and machine learning platforms to enable our teams to become even more capable and efficient.\u00a0In today’s world, a secondary benefit is fast becoming apparent: Applying AECOM’s digital tools allows more of our work to be delivered remotely, by a connected global workforce, than ever before \u2014 especially critical when our clients or the global environment demand it.<\/p>\n
In our design business, we have developed a platform called AECOM Learned Intelligence, or ALI.\u00a0ALI is an artificial intelligence engine that is constantly learning from our engineering work. Whether it be a campus, a structure or a transportation network, ALI is capable of processing all the three-dimensional elements of each design.\u00a0Over time, ALI is building an ever-growing library against which to check every future design that AECOM creates. In close to real-time, ALI advises our designers in order to improve the quality of their modeling.<\/p>\n
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Tools like ALI present several benefits for our business.\u00a0First, they improve the quality of our work by taking full advantage of our scale. It’s as if every AECOM engineer is looking over the shoulder of our teams as they create a new design, ready to provide input and potentially catch errors and omissions before they happen.\u00a0Second, they allow our organization to effectively collaborate remotely.\u00a0ALI doesn’t depend on being co-located in the same AECOM office.\u00a0Tools like ALI allow our employees to work naturally at scale, involving the most capable people from our global footprint in our projects.\u00a0Finally, they provide immense value to our clients. Imagine a world where any infrastructure owner could tap into our collective experience to review a design.<\/p>\n
Another exciting innovation from AECOM involves our field work.\u00a0We believe that computer vision and artificial intelligence will revolutionize the way in which we collect data outside of our offices.\u00a0We have created a platform that uses video and imagery collected in the field and applies artificial intelligence to find and assess infrastructure assets.\u00a0Eventually, any decision that our engineer could make in the field \u2014 the condition of an overhead electric grid, the quality of a building facade, the suitability of roadway for autonomous vehicles \u2014 will be made by artificial intelligence.\u00a0By training models using our skilled engineering workforce and fully leveraging our industry-leading scale, we will provide our clients even more efficient and effective infrastructure services.\u00a0Today, putting less people in the field and collecting data in more efficient ways means less impact on our clients and the communities they serve.<\/p>\n