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Judging from its 2022 ‘Glider Gathering’, Glider Engineering is speedy getting an influential participant in the British isles construction technological know-how current market.
United kingdom-dependent SaaS construction technology service provider Glider Technology has come a extended way in just a handful of years. On 2 November 2022, I attended the company’s to start with (pandemic-delayed) person convention.* Its ‘Glider Gathering’ was held at Coventry University (just one of Glider’s earliest enterprise buyers) and welcomed some 40 delegates – to catch up on the company’s hottest developments.
Some Glider backstory
I very first achieved Glider founder and CEO Nick Hutchinson in January 2013 when I went to the London places of work of Dome Consulting to hear a lot more about its technology arm, which experienced created a few of SaaS dependent goods to support document collaboration and defect administration (see Dome Hook up and iSnag, January 2013). These choices proved well-known and a 12 months afterwards Dome Consulting was hunting to increase its featuring (Dome enters SaaS collaboration battlefield, February 2014).
Nonetheless, Hutchinson moved on, and in 2016 teamed up with application developer and Dome Consulting technical director colleague Steve Rukuts to build Glider, which originally supported a disparate array of internet site and know-how initiatives. It then received a construction BIM/information management undertaking for British isles contractor Sir Robert McAlpine, supporting the development of a new roof structure in excess of the Wimbledon Variety A single tennis court. The business’s subsequent significant commission was via fit-out specialist contractor Overbury, delivering Just one New Street Square in the City of London for Deloittes.
In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Glider doubled in size, the two in terms of headcount (now 30 persons, all remote doing the job – Glider has no lasting bodily premises) and turnover (in the year to Oct 2022, this attained £3.5m).
Glider progress
Hutchinson informed the meeting that the subsequent 24 months would be “exciting”. A fund-increasing spherical is established to fund accelerated growth, with expansion of the product growth and gross sales and advertising and marketing teams. The organization will continue to function for its two principal sets of prospects: asset operator operators (its shoppers contain the UK’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Deutsche Financial institution, Schroders, Google, Leeds NHS and Coventry University) and contractors (MACE, Wates, Kier, Overbury, Sir Robert McAlpine, Lendlease). It is also seeking to make partnerships with other enterprises to produce information administration products and services.
The ‘Glider Gathering’ read about the latest and imminent feature updates to the Gliderbim® platform, and was briefed about the for a longer time-expression product or service roadmap from head of product John Adams (formerly at Viewpoint/ 4Assignments). Another SaaS veteran, Stuart Bell (formerly at Union Square/Deltek and then Company Collaborator by to its March 2020 acquisition by Bentley Devices) talked about the company’s programs for enhanced experienced and managed companies supply. Rukuts also took to the phase to worry that “software program is only as protected as the firm that develops it,” prior to underlining the investments the organization continues to make in guaranteeing the stability of its system for its prospects . As nicely as providing Gliderbim® as a SaaS providing via Amazon Website Expert services internet hosting, Glider also provides alternatives for the platform to be hosted by its consumer organisations.
Hutchinson concluded: “Major asset homeowners now recognise the worth and objective of proudly owning well specified, structured and validated asset information and facts to push insights and assistance lifecyle decisions. At Glider, our mission stays to guidance market place requires via our emphasis on frictionless collaboration, underpinned by open up, interoperable and secure requirements-based mostly functioning.”
Updates (18 November and 12 December 2022) – Glider won the Collaboration Undertaking of the Calendar year award at the Construction Computing Awards for its contribution to the HMP Five Wells challenge. I featured in a movie from the working day (under) some others are in Glider’s stream right here.
https://www.youtube.com/check out?v=WEuA21KycfQ
[* Disclosure: I attended the event to deliver a keynote talk, receiving a speaker’s fee and expenses.]