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WGAN-TV | IFTI/PROvision Solutions: Ordering Matterport Digital Twins Globally | Guest: IFTI/PROvision Solutions Vice President of Business Development James Duffy | Episode: 156 | Thursday, 11 August 2022 | IFTI/PROvision Solutions


IFTI/PROvision Solutions

Video: IFTI PROvision - 3D Imaging that will transform your business | Video courtesy of IFTI - B2B Expert Solutions YouTube Channel | 21 September 2020

WGAN-TV | IFTI/PROvision Solutions: Ordering Matterport Digital Twins Globally

Hi All,

[Transcript below ...]

1. Do you need dozens (or hundreds) of Matterport digital twin scanned across the U.S., Canada, Europe and/or Asia?
2. Are you seeking one company/one invoice/one point of contact for all your Matterport digital twin scanning?
3. Do you need Matterport digital twins captured with a Matterport Pro 3D Camera or a LiDAR scanner/camera?

On Thursday, 11 August 2022, my guest will be IFTI/PROvision Solutions Vice President of Business Development James Duffy for this WGAN-TV Live at Noon ET show:

=> WGAN-TV | IFTI/PROvision Solutions: Ordering Matterport Digital Twins Globally

Discussion Includes

1. About IFTI/PROvision Solutions
2. How IFTI/PROvision Solutions began offering Matterport scanning at scale
3. IFTI/PROvision Solutions sweet spots
4. Category Examples: Retail, hospitality, fast good, retail chains, senior living, gas stations
5. Client Examples: Wendy’s, L'Occitane, Jamba Juice, Arby’s, Buckle, Chilis, Dollar Tree, Fresenius, Heartland Dental, Walgreens, US Bank
6. Use-Case Examples: As-Builts, Construction Documentation, Facilities Management, Visual Merchandising, Store Remodels, retail facilities
7. Phases: Plan / Build / Operate / Optimize
8. Case Studies: As-Builts | Weekly Construction Documentation | Facilities Management
9. Matterport Add Ons: Floor Plans, Single Property Websites, DSLR photos, Leica BLK360 scans

How to reach James Duffy:

✓ 1-800-490-3657
✓ James.Duffy@ifti.com
✓ IFTI/PROvision Solutions
✓ Request a IFTI/PROvision Solutions Demo with James Duffy

Questions that I should ask James during this WGAN-TV Live at 5 show?

Best,

Dan

Who is IFTI/PROvision Solutions

IFTI/PROvision Solutions is national service agency providing Matterport scanning at scale, anywhere in North America (and, internationally).

IFTI started out 20+ years ago in the construction industry as a provider of independent concrete slab moisture testing. Over the years, IFTI has developed a reputation for providing reliable information and expert solutions at scale for any number of projects and/or locations across the country.

IFTI applies this same processes to Matterport digital twins to begin providing our customers with better visibility into their commercial spaces, along with:

✅ as-built floor plans
✅ weekly or monthly construction progress documentation
✅ facilities management
✅ site surveys / store remodels
✅ visual merchandising
✅ and more

Ultimately, IFTI/PROvision Solutions goal is to educate and drive up the value of Matterport scanning (and thus drive up the market rates for Matterport Service Partners) in the AEC space because prices have been anchored at low amounts by the fact that this technology was initially intended for smaller, non-commercial spaces.

Matterport Scanning at Scale | One Point of Contact | One Quote | One Invoice

Below are previous WGAN-TV Live at 5 shows with IFTI/PROvision Solutions Vice President of Business Development James Duffy:

IFTI/PROvision Solutions on As-Builts
WGAN-TV How Matterport Service Providers can Make Money Scanning for “As-Builts” with IFTI/PROvision Solutions Vice President of Business Development James Duffy

IFTI/PROvision Solutions on Weekly Construction Documentation
WGAN-TV How Matterport Service Providers can Make Money with Weekly Construction Documentation with IFTI/PROvision Solutions Vice President of Business Development James Duffy

IFTI/PROvision Solutions on Facilities Management
71WGAN-TV Matterport Digital Twins for Facilities Management (FM) with IFTI/PROvision Solutions VP/Business Development James Duffy

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@IFTI_Lindsey @everly

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WGAN-TV | IFTI/PROvision Solutions: Ordering Matterport Digital Twins Globally | Guest: IFTI/PROvision Solutions Vice President of Business Development James Duffy | Episode: 156 | Thursday, 11 August 2022 | IFTI/PROvision Solutions

Transcript (video above)

[00:00:03]
Dan Smigrod:

Do you need dozens – or hundreds – of Matterport digital twins scanned across the United States, Canada, Europe and/or Asia?
Are you seeking one company, one invoice, one point of contact for all your Matterport digital scanning?
Do you need Matterport digital twins captured with a Matterport Pro 3D Camera or a LiDAR scanner camera?

Stay tuned.

Hi all, I'm Dan Smigrod, Founder of the We Get Around Network Forum. Today is Thursday, August 11th, 2022. You're watching a special edition of WGAN-TV Live at 5.

We have an awesome show for you today: Ordering Matterport Digital Twins Globally via IFTI/PROvision Solutions. Here to talk to us about that – Returning to be on the show again. James Duffy, Vice President of Business Development, IFTI/PROvision Solutions. James, thanks for being on the show again.

[00:01:06]
James Duffy: Good to be with you, Dan. Hello everybody out there.

[00:01:09]
Dan Smigrod: James. Let's go to the end of the show. What's the takeaway that our audience should get from today's show?

[00:01:19]
James Duffy: Yeah, well, thanks Dan. What I'd like everybody to know is that for any multi-site provider that has tens, hundreds, thousands of assets, you need a digital twin or an As-Built of those spaces. You can work with IFTI and our PROvision Solutions team. Whether it's in the United States, Canada, or anywhere around the world, we can provide that visibility for you.

[00:01:45]
Dan Smigrod: What are the sweet spots of the type of Matterport scanning that you're doing for clients?

[00:01:51]
James Duffy: Yeah, so we put them in four buckets. There's that design side which is As-Built for existing spaces; due diligence; rollouts of refreshes.

There's ongoing construction monitoring to monitor to see how progress is going. Then there's the standard asset management which falls under facilities buckets to help them manage their CapEx funding and scheduling. Then actually on the grand opening, on the marketing side to audit existing spaces.

They actually know that the design actually meets reality to give them that kind of visibility. We do work with a lot of those buckets.

[00:02:30]
Dan Smigrod: What are the categories of the clients that are the sweet spot for IFTI/PROvision Solutions?

[00:02:39]
James Duffy: The categories are: construction, real estate, marketing, facilities; those buckets for those multi-service providers that are in convenience stores, restaurants, health care facilities, retail, basically all the bread and butter multi-site spaces. If you know a brand that you have in mind that has a physical space, that's our preferred client.

[00:03:09]
Dan Smigrod: Some examples of those brands?

[00:03:11]
James Duffy: Yeah. So we worked with a lot of them, some brands that you've heard of like Chili's, Wendy's and their franchises. Focus Brands, which is a Jamba Juice and Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon; and health care facilities side, Fresenius and as well as Heartland Dental; so it really runs the whole gamut. These things can be spaces as small as 1,000 SQ FT or as large as 200,000 SQ FT.

The size of the work doesn't really matter, It's the volume of work; and wanting a similar deliverable is what we're there to provide.

[00:03:52]
Dan Smigrod: Awesome. Let's go back to the beginning. What does concrete moisture testing have anything to do with Matterport digital twin scanning?

[00:04:02]
James Duffy: It's a fun answer, Dan, absolutely nothing, but for a history lesson, IFTI actually stands for something, it stands for Independent Floor Testing and Inspection. We have been around for 25 years, but as a multi-service provider, That means with the project management wanting a single-source solution to get the same scope across all the stores.

Doing that for 25 years and then about five years ago, learning more about Matterport and realizing that a lot of our clients were challenged with missing the same thing that Matterport provides is actual visibility of their assets. They don't need a full survey.

Really what they just need is a current As-Built of wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling if they're just going to swap out the flooring or add a kitchen area for equipment. We found that and we just started developing. Before, with concrete moisture testing, we're not testing restaurants.

That is a newer industry that we're in because they hard tile floors which they don't need our services for that, but, it really helped us; the jumping point of, we know how to build the scopes, create the guidelines, help give the information to the technicians so they can do the job right the first time.

[00:05:22]
Dan Smigrod: You mentioned some terms: As-Builts, construction progress, facilities management. If I worked for a large commercial company, perhaps even one of the brands or categories that you mentioned, why should I even be thinking about Matterport scanning for As-Built, for example. What's the benefit?

[00:05:54]
James Duffy: The real benefit is: what you're really looking for is uniformity in the way you're getting the deliverable to make sure that you can compare apples to apples. If you were to say, like the typical way of hiring a surveyor to go out there, you're probably hiring 40 different surveyors that do things 40 different ways, and you're getting a hodgepodge of information.

What your expectation is and the reality kind of moves job-to-job, site-to-site. When you're getting a Matterport digital twin, you are getting that same baseline.

Then how we create our As-Built of leveraging part of that Matterport As-Builts – and the point cloud that it provides – with the additional layering of our measurements and key work, we can do this at a faster pace; a better rate; and that sameness of what your expectation is.

When you're starting to get information the same way and you're looking at more information than you had before. The way you can come up with a strategy changes, the way you can really keep on schedule.

You have more confidence in knowing what that is. All of those things are tied to dollars and cents and the way you're able to really hit those marks. Trying to save some time and money. This is a great service for you for that.

[00:07:20]
Dan Smigrod: What would be some examples of how you save money with either As-Builts or weekly construction documentation, for example?

[00:07:29]
James Duffy: Yes. So the construction documentation one is twofold: 1) Are you usually sending someone from corporate on-site to audit the work the general contractor is doing.

They give you a schedule, they tell you what's going to be done and maybe they gave you before and the progress photos, which might be just looking exactly where they want you to look at and not see what's behind them or anything else.

You do get that audit in that sense. It forces better communication with the General Contractor. Then you know what the schedule is, and you know if you're keeping on it or not because you can use the tools that are in the Matterport: like the ruler.

You can zoom in to take the photos. You can communicate directly on that with the MatterTags and talk to the GC. You can do all of those things without having to be there.

You can be doing this scan, getting it the next day and giving it to the GC of any feedback there needs to be, which really keeps the continuity.

Because the main thing, what you don't want to do is to put a stop order or a change order. The faster you can get information and the better communication you're going to get. Overall, those construction prices and costs go way down. Then on top of that, you didn't have to waste two days of travel to get there.

[00:08:47]
Dan Smigrod: So stop orders; change orders. How does Matterport scanning reduce or eliminate change orders and stop orders?

[00:08:58]
James Duffy: These are the tricks of what you learn, it depends on when you start scanning. Just remember, when you're doing a Matterport scan that's at one moment in time. if you start scanning, say, on progress construction after the first week, while you missed what your baseline is. If you get an initial scan to find out, "this is what the existing space looks like.

This is what we're sending off to the GC to get a bid," you're actually giving them more information to give you a more accurate quote of what it's going to be to help reduce those change orders.

Then, as you're going for the progress monitoring, whether it's weekly, biweekly, cadence phases at rough-in or different stages like that. You can check before it's too late. "Oh! We already put the walls up, but we notice that the electrical is all messed up."

These are normal things that happen during the build process, and especially when you have one job, it's okay. You can probably focus enough time and attention to make sure that that's happening. But if you're having dozens or hundreds of these happening all at once, you know, that's not the case.

Any visibility that you can be assisting with the general contractors on this, at the end of the day it's your buck. When that store doesn't open, it's all that money lost before that happens. These are the ways that it helps save that money by giving you more visibility and a chance to work with them as more of a team player.

[00:10:30]
Dan Smigrod: With Matterport scanning, you're trying to catch problems before they're really big problems perhaps as a clash between mechanical, electrical, plumbing, drywall: there's some issue that something is progressing, but that progress is going in the wrong direction.

[00:10:47]
James Duffy: That's right. Because at the end of the day, you're not going to be happy with, "Oh. I messed up and they'll have to pay for it." You both pay for it. If you can sacrifice a little time, because you can navigate through a Matterport scan if you know what you're looking for in a matter of moments.

If you're already adept with this project of where you're supposed to be week 2 in construction, you know exactly where you need to look for where the pitfalls are, you've already lived them.

You can check to make sure and audit how things are going, and that helps with the payment terms, if there's a change order because the GC messed something up. Well, if you've already given him or her the scan, they know what the space is.

They can say, "well, why did you miss that?" "Why are you asking me?" "I've given you all this information." You had a much more chance to be thorough instead of a 10 minute walk through before you bid on a job, so to speak. It does actually give you more ammunition to hold them to account, as well as enhance the communication as well.

[00:11:52]
Dan Smigrod: You mentioned quoting on a project, IFTI/PROvision Solutions has been doing Matterport scanning now, I want to say 5+ years.

[00:12:04]
Dan Smigrod: Are there now clients that are owners of spaces that are scanning their As-Built in order to have general contractors quote; architects quote on projects?

[00:12:16]
James Duffy: Yeah. It's a mixed bag as it evolved because, there's different thoughts. Figuring out if Matterport is right for you, and then a service company is right for you to provide it.

Single point of contact, you don't want to have to hire new people to just make sure you get it out there, and you want the quality of the photographer that knows what they're doing.

Then the second part of that is to really see that when you're getting this information, that you're getting it the right way across all the scopes. So it really helps you save that time and money on getting the visibility that you need.

[00:12:55]
Dan Smigrod: If I'm a big client, and you mentioned dozens, hundreds, even thousands, can IFTI/PROvision Solutions handle hundreds or thousands of Matterport scans?

[00:13:06]
James Duffy: Well, Dan, I wouldn't be able to do without you bud. ;-)

The We Get Around Network is a great place. We do have a Network already; built over five years of 350 people in the United States alone, another few dozen up in Canada, and same thing over in Europe. We've already established ourselves in a lot of these spaces, but we're always looking for new people.

We love that this is an emerging market and there's a wonderful ecosystem of clients, technicians, and the in-between and what we can provide that really helps us able to manage these asks, and we know how to do it the right way.

[00:13:48]
Dan Smigrod: I thank you for IFTI/PROvision Solutions, being a gold WGAN Member using the We Get Around Network Forum to help source Matterport Service Providers to fill in the gaps, and maybe a place where you don't have a Matterport Service Provider.

But I imagine over five years now, particularly in the United States, you pretty much already have Matterport Service Providers that you're working with on a regular basis to service big box clients.

[00:14:19]
James Duffy: We have never gotten on a plane to date. For all the customers, we're always driving, we're always able to get there, we have standard delivery times of when you need the information, we prioritize, we listen to every client's interests and when they get on it's different. We'll take that full white-glove approach to what their needs are.

But we're always growing. We have maybe a dozen in a city, but all of a sudden, maybe now there's four times the business and we need another dozen.

So it is great to have ecosystems like We Get Around Network to reach out to, to see if there's other people and we know how to bring them in for the training guidelines to make sure we get the work done and satisfy the clients' needs.

[00:15:06]
Dan Smigrod: You mentioned weekly construction documentation. What does that look like in terms of timing? When does the scanning take place? When does it get to a client? When does the client use that weekly documentation?

[00:15:20]
James Duffy: Yes. For the most part, for the clients, we probably have two different buckets. It's those that really want to be on top of the schedule that don't mind spending money for the weekly cadence. Most of these jobs at that size are probably the 15,000 SQ FT and lower.

Small big box retailers, restaurants, dentist offices, things like that. But where every week means something they need to know exactly where they are on that schedule. Usually what we'll do is, we'll scan it on Thursday, we'll get the deliverable back to the team on Friday, they'll review it Monday, and then they have their Monday morning kickoff.

The nice thing is, it is not just for the individual that's in charge of the project – the same way we're doing this Zoom call – you can share and navigate this with your entire team.

The person that might be not as used to looking at hundreds of these offices being built will have somebody that has 10 years experience that in a matter of five seconds can point out a problem.

You're able to share and disseminate this information instead of being in siloed, which this is the whole great part of Matterport as this great aggregator of data to help you make informed decisions quicker, which is part of the process of what most of them end up doing.

[00:16:42]
Dan Smigrod: Last I checked Matterport, publicly says they support up to 20,000 SQ FT. You mentioned spaces up to 200,000 SQ FT. Could you help me understand large spaces?

[00:16:54]
James Duffy: Yes. On the larger spaces, we did shift over to LiDAR base camera systems. We do offer as a North American service for the United States, Canada and Mexico; Leica BLK360 cameras and larger handheld scanners/cameras to get those larger warehouse spaces, distribution centers.

We do though – we always look to first marry with the Matterport where will use maybe "360 Views" instead of "360 Scans" so we can get a fair amount of visibility within the space on the visual perspective; while still building them the As-Builts and the nice part is these are the challenges where they might have hundreds of retail or multi-site locations, but 10 warehouses.

Well, they don't want to have to form it out to 10 others. We just started like these things just naturally developed over time and we started to add that in there, but then we can give them, what our company does is fixed-rate pricing. We know what the scope is, we know the size, whether it's in California or Maine, we'll give you the same price based on that because that's what the relationship demands in a business.

[00:18:08]
Dan Smigrod: When I think about Matterport Service Providers across the United States or even around the globe having different rate cards of charging per square foot or charging per tier, or and that may vary from a small market to a large market and may vary from an experienced Matterport Service Provider to one that's just getting started.

I don't really have to try to understand individual pricing when working with IFTI/PROvision Solutions. It literally is: "what's the scope of the work? Happy to provide a fixed price based on the scope of the work and the number of locations."

[00:18:46]
James Duffy: That's right. We don't need – obviously – we would always love to be able to maximize profits just like everybody else, but we would never sacrifice the relationship because the point of them wanting to hire a service provider is to get the job done, to set it and forget it. We want to be able to do that and we're not going to be able to do that if we're nit-picky.

We'll take the good with the bad, but over time, having that relationship allows us to; how we added these other Matterport offerings, additional add ons and services is because of that trust and them knowing that they don't have to worry about us trying to; once the fox is in the hen house doing something different or anything like that.

[00:19:31]
Dan Smigrod: Let's stick with Matterport add ons for a moment. You mentioned the Leica BLK360 scanner/camera as a higher Level of Detail (LOD) – can scan a greater distance – greater height and can still be paired with Matterport.

I imagined, when you can, you'd like to deliver the solution as a Matterport tour if that's what meets the client's needs. But I think I'm hearing that you'll also deliver it in other formats, than Matterport, if the client wants that?

[00:20:04]
James Duffy: That's correct. I would say just for the happenstance, 95 percent of the work is [Matterport] rather than that. But we're still able to meet the moment to give them the same thing of why we're in business of that repeatability of those large sizes. There's only a few of those that exist like Walmart, I'm looking at you or Target, we're looking at you of those size spaces that would demand that largeness for us to make different investments, to make those things feasible.

[00:20:40]
Dan Smigrod: Typically, IFTI/PROvision Solutions work with Matterport Service Providers that are using a Matterport Pro 3D Camera, or depending on the client's needs, a Leica BLK360 paired with the Matterport Cloud account.

[00:21:01]
James Duffy: Yeah, and it's a great thing of how this whole digital twin ecosystem has just been constantly re-evaluating itself, like progressing in the future, what demands are.

Those same clients that were interested in taking the first step into the future. "Yes. Let's digitize our assets." "Oh. Let's look at getting surveys done in a different way."

For the last five years that we've been doing it, well, they're like, "well, James, we're happy with this, but what else can we do?" As a Service Provider, you're not going to be in business very long if you're going to say, "unless you're Coca-Cola just offering Coke, you gotta keep moving."

We really love the Add On that Matterport did with Leica BLK360 with that partnership and providing those exterior elevations, finding the ability to get a roof plan, giving them more accessibility to ADA information outside when they need it.

It just gives the people that always want to keep pushing the envelope, we can meet their needs, but we're still out there trying to find the people that have yet to take that first step. We offer the best 'first step' with that white-glove service to give it turnkey, know what the pricing is ahead of time and be able to meet the expectations.

[00:22:21]
Dan Smigrod: I don t think of Matterport typically as an outdoor scanning solution. Can you speak more to the use of the Leica BLK360 for outdoor mashed up with the indoor perhaps, Matterport Pro2 3D Camera scanning, is that, you're doing a combination, perhaps, within the same Matterport tour?

[00:22:41]
James Duffy: That's right. Right now that Leica BLK360 Scanner/Camera, utilizes LiDAR where the Matterport utilizes photogrammetry to create the mesh and the As-Built.

The big difference is the cost of the Leica BLK360 and then the amount of time it takes to do the scan, it's obviously collecting a much higher detailed point cloud.

What we'll usually do is we'll utilize the Leica BLK360 on the outside to get those points around the shell, so to speak, to get those exterior elevations.

But then we will migrate into the Matterport Pro2 3D Camera to do the inside of the space unless they really need that higher degree of detail which the BLK360 LiDAR camera provides.

We're always just trying to match speed, they don't want us in there that long, and then the cost and then what the expectation is. But that has really been the 'sweet spot' right now for a lot of those clients.

[00:23:39]
Dan Smigrod: Using the Leica BLK360 scanner/camera specifically for outdoor elevations, if that's part of the scope of the work?

[00:23:46]
James Duffy: If that's part of the scope, yes. Then, on the tangential one, the roof plan as well.

[00:23:53]
Dan Smigrod: Awesome. How do you get to the roof?

[00:23:56]
James Duffy: Very carefully. ;-) Usually we ask for access on the roof if they have a ladder or something else.

[00:24:02]
Dan Smigrod: I'm thinking of a residential – in our house. You're going up into a flat, commercial space.

[00:24:09]
James Duffy: Correct.

[00:24:11]
Dan Smigrod: Is that for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, things that are physically on the roof?

[00:24:15]
James Duffy: It is more on that. Just think of that multi-site client. They might not be owning their spaces, they might be leasing them. They need to know the condition of that roof because they might be signing up for it or the condition of that HVAC unit.

Not only to give them the plan to know where they all are so if they're going to retrofit this space to put refrigerators somewhere else or adding additional cooling because the space is going to be; we're going to chop down the demising wall inside a mini-mall.

They need to know where things are and their condition. We'll always be able to give them a plan of what it looks like, and then we'll snap some photos of the panels so they can go back to find out; age what it is – all that stuff.

[00:24:59]
Dan Smigrod: Snapping those photos: is that with a smartphone? Is that with the Matterport Pro 3D Camera?

[00:25:09]
James Duffy: To read the detail on a panel, especially one that's been outside in the weather; we always go for the phone to zoom in and to make sure it's clear of what you're seeing.

Most of the time with the 360 images. They're great to comprehend where you are. But if you're wanting to read a book from 15 feet away – Same kind of issues; so you're better off just going right up to it and snap smartphone photos.

[00:25:34]
Dan Smigrod: If you want to know that chiller's serial number with brand, make and model that chiller is – you're having your Matterport Service Provider use their smartphone to capture the still images that are needed on the scope of the work for that particular client?

[00:25:49]
James Duffy: Absolutely. Where those panels stickers are – They could be under a pipe; behind something, you might have to smudge something off, like on dirt or something. Yes. We rely on the technician to make sure that we're getting the best information possible on-site.

[00:26:06]
Dan Smigrod: James, I've heard two Add Ons:

1) I thought about Matterport digital twins, then I heard an Add On. If you need a Leica BLK360 rather than a Matterport Pro 3D Camera because you need to go outdoors and capture the elevation, or perhaps you're in a height that you really do need to capture the ceiling and Matterport Pro2 3D Camera is not going to capture something over three or four stories.

2) Matterport or second Add On I heard was, "and if you need smartphone photos of labels on devices, such as related to mechanical, electrical, and plumbing" – are there other Add Ons that IFTI/PROvision Solutions offers in addition to the Matterport scan?

[00:27:00]
James Duffy: Yeah. Thank you, Dan. Some of the things for those clients that we'd like to Add On is for newly upgraded spaces.

We do the Add On for them for Google Street View. We will publish the front of house, we'll go over the scope with the marketing department to find out what they need. Because like say most of them, it's just a general manager or franchisee and what they want is the same information and it's very useful to help them with at least the front of house archive that space.

They'll always know where to look. New people that can always just Google it and help re-index a refresh space is a great Add On. Part of what the other thing that we started to Add On is archiving some of the photos that are taken with the Matterport camera. Everyone loves the Matterport part of what they're getting. One of the challenges is that nobody knows how long they're going to utilize this. Technology is like a river.

They have to always know and some clients are just a little bit more worried about posterity sake of, "do we really own these?" We're like "yes, you can pull up the images yourself." Well, the turnkey service says, "Well, we'll pull those out for you and we'll put them in an environment that you can download and keep."

You are able to manually do it yourself, but we can offer that as a service, as well, so they know exactly what they have and it's on their server and all that stuff.

[00:28:26]
Dan Smigrod: Does training fit in? I think about MatterTags. How to create SnapShots. How to use Matterport in Workshop.

[00:28:34]
James Duffy: Part of what we do as a turnkey service, we want to educate you to be the best version of yourself to understand Matterport.

We will always bring on the client's, we do the project management and the back of the house to make sure the same scope gets delivered across however many projects that you have, and that we get the information all in the same way.

But on the account management side, we will always provide you with education, tips and tricks, how to leverage that space and really help with strategy or anything else of really what you're trying to get at.

Because sometimes if it's a new medium, you're just wanting the same deliverable but with a new technology. We want to always help them push themselves to say, "you can ask for more or start to put this out with your close-out documentation." This is how you start to add these MatterTags in or upload media or video for tutorials on digital assets.

[00:29:36]
Dan Smigrod: Really, IFTI/PROvision Solutions is a service business, you're doing your best to listen to what the client's actual needs or problems or challenges are so that you can – if they want soup to nuts, you can offer that if they just went nuts; they just want soup.

They may not have a need for you to do screenshots, MatterTags, video, and they'll do it themselves or they just want training on how to do that. Or they'd like IFTI/PROvision Solutions to provide that as a service.

[00:30:12]
James Duffy: That's right, we kind of do it along the full spectrum. Our guideline and philosophy as a company is that fidelity that we offer to our clients, so they will have our trust and our expectation is just to help them be a better version of themselves. You're only in service as long as you can provide that value. But, we always push ourselves and we help try to push them to get them that right Goldilocks fit for what works for their time, energy, and budget.

[00:30:41]
Dan Smigrod: You were talking a little bit about who uses the Matterport digital twins. This is a two-part question: who is the sweet spot for actually placing an order with IFTI/PROvision Solutions? Is it the owner of the property? Is it the general contractor?

Is it the company that wants to lease the space? Where does this conversation usually begin, or is it could be any and all and others?

[00:31:12]
James Duffy: It is any and all and others. Predominantly, it is the owner of the space.

[00:31:23]
James Duffy: I guess the right way to say, is for existing assets, it's the owner. For acquisitions, it's the buyer and for the general contracting work, it is predominantly the general contractors that are working on these multi-site rollouts where either this has been written into the scope that they have to call us, or they'll reach out as a way to enhance their portfolio. Hence, they're good faith in the work that they do to their client as an added benefit.

[00:32:01]
Dan Smigrod: It turns out the sweet spot for who might actually place the order with IFTI/PROvision Solutions could really be anywhere from the owner of the property, the property manager or the company that wants to acquire the property, you're looking at the property, the general contractor. Are there any others that call?

[00:32:28]
James Duffy: I would say so far it would be, anyone is a possible client with the exception of brokers. I think inherently, they just want to get you to the space so they can sell you stuff.

And they don't want to give you more visibility to make a decision until you get there. So that would be the only one in-between that they don't see it as a bit. They see it more as a harm than a benefit.

[00:32:55]
Dan Smigrod: Interesting. I could imagine though, that whoever places the order is actually just one user of that digital twin. How do I ask this question?

Do you find that your clients, when they have a specific problem and they order Matterport digital twins from IFTI/PROvision Solutions, all of a sudden other silos within a company go, "I can use that! I can use that. We do property insurance.

We need to document every asset that we have in that space in the event that there's a fire or a flood." You're already shooting that week – Do you have those conversations?

[00:33:37]
James Duffy: That's our client. I would say, that's our ideal client that we provide the most benefits. When I was talking about the design, construction, facilities management and marketing, it's all one company.

We create one order form. We give them all the documentation of, here's your A La Carte Menu items. We will teach them this is what your scope is and what to develop. So then they can have it and just click and make an order and send it right to us.

Yeah, we know that this space is due for a grand opening next week. We know we're doing an audit of the space. We already have it in "going" or a "due diligence" – here's what the landlord sent us.

Please confirm by creating us an As-Built or the construction monitoring of, "Oh. We are two weeks before rough-in. Please send someone there next week so I can identify what's behind the walls" and then for facilities: "I can't travel everywhere all at once. I might need you to go to X number of locations to get me visibility."

Yeah, ideally it's actually, yeah, where these were before just broken up into different silos and different budgets where this cannot be a pooled resource. When they're pooling the resources, the other thing that happens with us is: more work, more volume, lower prices. So everybody benefits from getting that visibility and enhancement for their solutions.

[00:35:03]
Dan Smigrod: Do you find that that actually happens? Different silos within an organization that each have their own budget, end up contributing their budget so that the workflow does go from plan, build, operate, optimize, sell/lease the building.

So, all the constituencies have a vested interest at some point in time of that building's life cycle. Is that happening where silo's are speaking to each other?

[00:35:32]
James Duffy: I will say, yeah, the hard part is when you realize the benefit that it has, right. Dan, I've been doing this for a long time now. I know that this would serve everyone all at once, but you can't speak to everyone all at once.

The reality is, the ones that will have the greatest need you'll find first. You'll work with their silo. My job is to keep explaining and say, "there's no harm in sharing your work with the other parts of the department."

By the time we get to year two, things change. Now they get the aha of, "oh, okay. Facilities would really love it if we shared the grand opening scan for construction close out." Now they have the asset.

Now they don't have to spend all this money. Usually they traveled in the first three months to look at it. If they already had that, they wouldn't have to spend that kind of money or things like that. Usually it takes a little bit of time, but it's those clients that just keep their ears open and understand that these kinds of mediums offer you a different way of looking at your business. The ones that are more receptive to that really leverage this in a major way.

[00:36:40]
Dan Smigrod: I'm guessing here that the ones that have the biggest pain points initially, are general contractors, perhaps for the construction progress, and that actually may not be the general contractor's the owner of the building, who wants to see the weekly progress so that they don't have to fly out to go see the building or have the need for an As-Built as a building is going to be re-imagined or a facility's manager wanting to actually move all the paper, files, and sticky notes on when the device needs to get service to actually a coherent digital strategy that lives well beyond when that person moves on to their next career move.

[00:37:26]
James Duffy: Yeah. I would say predominantly and more surprising than not is the As-Built services. For re-models, for these multi-site locations. They do not know where the As-Builts are. They do not know how old they are; how many times that space has been touched.

They know, the last time it had an official remodel was seven years ago. So therefore, it's due for a remodel. What's the current condition? They look at an old re-model in a couple of pictures. I don't know what this space is.

So we go there to give them an updated base plan, to then start their permitting process, to understand what they're getting in construction is actually the most useful one and the one that we've leveraged the most with, is really understanding that As-Built and getting that for them quickly. And then on the construction of what are we working with?

How is this GC performing compared to somewhere else? We're going into a new region, so it's a new GC that never worked for us. So this is how we help evaluate the work and make sure we're getting what we need.

[00:38:39]
Dan Smigrod: So the As-Built is interesting because maybe if they're lucky, there's a CAD file from seven years ago. But who has that CAD file? Who knows?

[00:38:52]
James Duffy: Is that employee still there?

[00:38:54]
Dan Smigrod: The employee or that company or that third-party company that did it. But even still, I could imagine if you could locate that CAD file from seven years ago, there were probably improvements to the space that were, perhaps, not even documented, particularly if you're talking about a retail space or a restaurant and all of a sudden, things have changed. You really do need to have what the current condition of the space is in order to figure out how to re-imagine it.

[00:39:29]
James Duffy: Absolutely. This is where Matterport does such a great job of giving you visibility of that digital twin condition of the space so you can get your field test without being there.

Then getting that As-Built dimensional information to really know the structure of what everything is and what can fit in there, really plays a big part. Whereas before we get to do a typical survey, you have to pay for A to Z, like getting an MEP plan, getting a bunch of structural information.

Well, we just need to know how much flooring to buy and paint to get. Why do we have to spend three times as much? This is an alternative method to getting that information.

[00:40:13]
Dan Smigrod: Since Matterport is capturing spatial data, I could imagine architects find this as a wonderful way to begin the re-imagining of a space so that they don't have to come out and take a bazillion measurements and 1,000 individual photos only to reconstruct someone else's work, for them to begin their work.

Are architects clients or is it really the architect who is the beneficiary of this initial As-Built and says, ''Oh, you did a Matterport scan. I could use that to do our work faster and deliver our re-imagined design ideas faster.''

[00:40:53]
James Duffy: I would say, overall for the multi-site ones, if they have an internal corporate architecture team, yes, that is the exact client and we're saving them.

On third-party architects where they would hire that out, we are obviously taking over one of those phases of their typical work, so it is a little bit of a strain relationship.

Some of them have said, well, let's not just begrudge that we can do more work for all the other phases by getting these Matterport scans but some of them use it. We're missing time to get our green horn, like architects out there in the space to do the initial mock-up, to learn how to do something.

There is a cost-benefit analysis of that. But for the most part, like 50-50, probably on seeing the benefit rather than seeing it as a competition.

[00:41:48]
Dan Smigrod: I heard that the sweet spot, if we really drill down for where the intersection of IFTI/PROvision Solutions begins, is with a commercial client, first with As-Builts, second as construction progress documentation. I think what I heard was and now the space has been delivered to the client.

We did one last Matterport scan to show that pristine, beautiful space. I could imagine that the architect, the general contractor, the subcontractors might well, like to use that.

[00:42:24]
James Duffy: We have three different people paying for that. It's either marketing, construction or design, like the head of architecture, just for the close-out documentation. It's either to verify branding. It's on-point, it's where it's supposed to be. Construction to keep the GC accountable.

[00:42:43]
Dan Smigrod: Everything is where we want it to be,

[00:42:45]
James Duffy: or the architect and designer saying, "what we've imagined meets reality."

[00:42:51]
Dan Smigrod: It sounds like that ah-ha moment in Year 2 is all those different constituents that say: ''Oh! l'm marketing. I can use this to actually help lease or sell the space.

I'm an architect. I can use this to get new clients. I'm a general contractor. I can use this to show my next client how we're going to save them money, save them time, build out the project faster, have a better experience for everyone.''

[00:43:21]
James Duffy: It's the ah-ha moment of not wanting to spend money for the sake of it. But then realizing that's not the case for this. You're getting the scan of a space before and then you're transforming it. Having the space digitized once you transform it, is actually going to have more of a greater failure going forward than the one that you had to help you do the job.

This is where that strategy comes in. Now I see that everything's good, I'm not guessing that it is. If there's ever a problem, I know I can go back to this because this is what it is." Then going forward we can start looking at, "well, this is what the spaces look like when they're starting with. Now we have something to compare to instead of just a wild goose chase."

[00:44:10]
Dan Smigrod: Just one last question on this topic of who uses this space. I mentioned perhaps from left field is the insurance underwriting process because it literally is a document. The best documentation you could hope for, because really understand the space, you could walk the space, you can see the space.

Are there other constituencies that all of a sudden you do a Matterport digital twin, you did it as an As-Built, you did it for construction progress, you did it for the marketing turnover? Were there other constituents within either the company or outside the company that went, "wow, I can use that?"

[00:44:53]
James Duffy: There's actually other industry sectors that we worked with that we didn't realize could be a primary user, and that's more on the lines of schools, universities, as well as non-profit organizations. Places where they're getting donations to fund CapEx programs to change their space.

The donor base that is out there to make these projects happen, they all don't get to come to the ribbon-cutting to see what this space looks like.

They need to have that built up enhancement of, "this is where our dollars are being spent." That ability to help them with knowing what's going on in the school, say maybe they needed as a result of COVID, move around their HVAC equipment to figure that out for better air filtering.

Or schools saying, "we have this brand new built lead design space. We want to show off all the environmental impacts that we're capturing on this to do something like that" or for existing facilities that want to show off, "We added a new wing to our non-profit center, and how do we get to ask for donations?" Either show them a space of the existing space and then a rendering of what you want it to be to help drum up business or after the fact to come back.

Things that we'd never really thought of, it's still a business sense in a way, but it's factored differently because you can share with more people, and the more people that get a chance to see your work or what you're doing, they understand the benefit of what they're getting. It really helps realize the reason for being why we're doing all of these things in every part of the business.

[00:46:42]
Dan Smigrod: Are there government entities that are use cases, for example, permitting or insurance payments, release of money to the contractor because the work actually can be easily shown that it's been done?

[00:46:59]
James Duffy: I think that unfortunately, that's not a service sector that we were part of for the insurance part. It is something that we'd be open and interested in being able to go to, like after the fact, most of the time will still work for the owner after a snowstorm or after a hurricane event.

So we're not getting hired by the third-party insurance company for claims or anything. It's still a single-source owner of – We already have them as a client to reach out to, but it is something that we'd be open to.

[00:47:31]
Dan Smigrod: Yeah. So even if you're not doing, the building has been flooded, the building has had a fire. At least, the client has the documentation to actually prove everything that they owned in that building.

[00:47:47]
James Duffy: The best way you can safeguard your asset right now. Whatever it is, is to digitize it. The faster everyone digitizes what their asset is so if you're in a residence and it's your own home, if it's a school, if it's a public building, the more that you have this record because it digitizes everything.

Anytime something is misplaced, moved around, anything like that, you will have a fallback which is stamped when it was and all that stuff and it can give you that reference so you'll know how to move forward.

Part of the thing of what we're working to help evangelize everybody else to do as well.

[00:48:33]
Dan Smigrod: Perhaps my last question or topic. If you take a moment to just think about a case study of an existing client that kind of touches all the different things: plan, build, operate, optimize.

Is there a client that comes to mind that you can speak to about how they perhaps evolved over time in that year 2, year 3, and are now checking all the boxes in the entire design-build days of the building?

[00:49:10]
James Duffy: I'll leave the name out, but a dental service organization that has I think over 1,500 dentist offices throughout the United States. When we started with them. It was just for construction monitoring so they would have to build new construction 60, 70 new offices every year as their goal.

We would go to those and do either weekly, by-weekly or cadence scans depending on proximity of where their project managers work to help offset the cost from the visits and enable them to see more to do more work where they're needed instead of just being there for the sake of being there.

So we started with that one and then year two, we started to get into marketing so those close-out Matterport scans, uploading the Add On for Google Street View to start re-index these spaces that never existed before. Now Google like now they have a name, now they have a place.

Now somebody can find them on the internet; starting to do that and then in-between year 2, year 3, I'm getting introduced to facilities management of them realizing.

Again, not a threat to their job. It's like helping them monitor more and be more diligent with what their internal ROI is.

To start getting As-Builts and scans ahead of a remodel so they know which ones are best candidates for that. So being able to go through that process of now we're in, and then acquisitions as well so then it's like one button for everybody for that and still going towards digitizing more even if there's not a need, but knowing that if they have the budget in there and let's keep getting more and more because we're only getting more benefit every time we scan, we're getting more return on it.

[00:51:03]
Dan Smigrod: James, is there a question that I haven't asked you? A topic that we should cover?

[00:51:09]
James Duffy: I think we've actually covered everything. I think the only thing that is on IFTI/PROvision Solutions expanding globally. We've noticed, especially as we've started in Europe with a lot of other service providers. One of those things are: if they're headquartered in the United States and they have spaces in Europe that they'd like us to scan.

One of the nice things is if we're paid by the U.S. Clients, we do not have to pay the VAT tax for the individual EU country because we're just taking photographs of what's over there.

So one of the nice things that we learned is that adding usually 35 percent just for taxes. If you don't need to, we help figure that out and be able to just really grow again.

It's those silos where North America or the United States is a silo and making sure that they're sharing with Asia, that they're sharing with the sub-continent that they're sharing with Europe or in South America that we have the same capabilities to provide the same service.

The price for each of these individual countries or zones will be a little bit different based on taxes and things like that, but more or less the same so there is more of that ability to keep thinking and to keep sharing is the main benefit. I want people to hear.

That digital asset that you think you're interested in, somebody else in your company; 100% guarantee you will get a value out of it as well.

[00:52:41]
Dan Smigrod: I asked you at the beginning of this WGAN-TV show to tell me what the takeaway should be by the end of the show. Tell me again, what's the takeaway?

[00:52:51]
James Duffy: If you're a single-source company that has tens, hundreds thousands of assets, whether it's 1,000 SQ FT or 100,000 SQ FT. IFTI, with our PROvision Solutions team can be your single source of contact to get you fixed-rate pricing based on your scope of work and will always be there for you to give you on time, reliable information and expert solutions.

[00:53:16]
Dan Smigrod: Across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, really globally, anywhere on the globe.

[00:53:23]
James Duffy: It's like Sherwin Williams, you want to paint the world. We want to help digitize the world because the more that we are doing this it just helps everybody else do their job and makes a lot of enhancements.

[00:53:40]
Dan Smigrod: Your website: PROvision.IFTI.com Other ways to get in touch with you?

[00:53:50]
James Duffy: Yes, you can reach out to me. I'll give you the direct line on the phone, 925-305-2903, or you can email me at: James.Duffy@IFTI.com

[00:54:08]
Dan Smigrod: Awesome. James, thanks for being my guest on the show today.

[00:54:12]
James Duffy: Always a pleasure, Dan. Thank you.

[00:54:14]
Dan Smigrod: Yeah. I should add just one more thing for those who want to do a deeper dive. James has been a guest on WGAN-TV three previous times talking about the intersection of IFTI/PROvision Solutions and As-Builts, construction documentation and facilities management.

If you feel like you didn't get a deep enough dive on those three topics. We have a short URL to take you to all WGAN-TV shows featuring IFTI/PROvision Solutions. That short URL is: WGAN.INFO/IFTI James, thanks again for being on the show today.

[00:55:02]
James Duffy: It's always a pleasure, Dan. Thank you for having me. Thanks.

[00:55:05]
Dan Smigrod: We've been visiting with James Duffy, Vice President of Business Development for IFTI/PROvision Solutions for James, I'm Dan Smigrod, Founder of the We Get Around Network Forum and you've been watching WGAN-TV: a special edition of WGAN-TV Live at 5.