Accelerating our Digital business: FY23 at a glance
“Our objective was to build a new business that would not only serve our clients and communities, but also support GHD’s internal digital transformation. When we work as one team, we can achieve seemingly unthinkable results, making the impossible – possible.”
– Kumar Parakala, President, GHD Digital
Transform for good Transform for good Transform for good Transform for good Transform for good Transform for Transform for Transform for Transform Transform Transform Transform Transform
Executive summary
As trusted advisors, our clients expect us to be entrepreneurially minded, agile, and responsive to their needs. Our clients’ digital fluency is rapidly increasing, and they are now actively experimenting with new technologies; they expect us to be at the forefront of innovation and change.
60 percent of organisations report they are lacking specialist digital skills and are willing to pay significantly higher rates to access them. This presents a unique opportunity to further develop and market our digital offerings to new and existing clients.
GHD Digital is one of the fastest growing digital businesses globally in professional services. By infusing digital and innovation into our conventional client services and adopting an ‘outside-in’ strategy, we have not only created new trajectories of growth, but provided a digital transformation pathway for the Enterprise. These growth segments are changing the genetic code and mindset of the legacy business.
While we are focused on organic growth, we want to accelerate our performance and competitive advantage, by further enhancing our posture across six key areas:
01. Align understanding of What is Digital at GHD
02. Employ a multichannel Go-to-Market (GTM) approach to clients
03. Be the digital transformation partner of choice and build a high value digital consulting business
04. Evolve financial management practices to be fit-for-purpose
05. Further accelerate our Products and Platforms (PnP) strategy
06. Enable and support the acceleration of GHD’s cultural transformation.
In 2018, when the AUD300B architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry was grappling with the uncertainty of digital disruption, GHD stepped up to embark on an extraordinary journey. Our mission was clear - to tackle this challenge head-on and create a start-up that could navigate the complexities of the 21st-century megatrend of digital transformation. And so, GHD Digital was born, with a small but passionate team of less than 20 individuals.
Reaching our fifth year in operation, FY23 was a transformational year for GHD Digital, with a radical
transition from a start-up to a mature business. While we experienced transitionary challenges, our measurable progress has been significant against the agreed FY23 Business Plan KPIs.
We achieved a 22 percent growth for GHD Digital as a whole, and a 36 percent growth from the sale of new solutions and regional step-ups. Our FY23 Total Gross Revenue was AUD91M, up AUD16.3M from FY22. New and emerging services grew to AUD23.3M, up AUD6.2M from FY22. Net revenues increased by 15 percent YoY, including a 28 percent increase in new and emerging services. These factors provide a huge opportunity to develop integrated offerings with the Enterprise and GHD Advisory, significantly increasing the potential for differentiated growth opportunities.
Global companies are aiming to reduce their workforce by 20 to 40 percent using advanced analytics (AA) and artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) by 2030, with cybersecurity becoming a top priority for business resilience. Towards the end of FY23 we launched our AI Centre of Excellence (CoE) to accelerate our client services and GTM efforts.
By scaling mature digital services in all key markets, we accelerated our collaborative GTM and client engagement efforts to enhance our return on investment (ROI) and a return on capital (ROC). Our revenue from new and emerging services increased by 36 percent compared to FY22. These revenues now comprise 22 percent of the overall GHD Digital revenue.
Together with our Enterprise and GHD Advisory teams, we embraced the OneGHD spirit to develop our value propositions based on client needs. This holistic approach has allowed us to broaden and access a larger share of available client opportunities to further our collective success. We are confident that together, we create sustainable value for our stakeholders and provide a competitive advantage for GHD.
“Digital is an enabler to allow us to connect with clients and to deliver on the adjacency edge. And the beginning of Digital was truly a pivotal moment for GHD - it was exciting, it was bold and it presented opportunities in the broader community and industry.”
–
Van Tang, Executive General Manager, New Zealand Asia Pacific, GHD
Our unique value
The elevated client offering
GHD Digital provides GHD with business model diversification, strategically de-risking GHD from broader macroeconomic and competitive forces. Investing in GHD Digital makes GHD more recession-proof and gives the broader Enterprise the ability to more confidently withstand economic cycles. A separate-but-synergistic GHD Digital business, with a diversified portfolio of business models and offerings, could position GHD advantageously to withstand macroeconomic shocks, and meet global, regional and sector-specific client priorities.
The operating model tenets of a separate Digital business – rooted in speed, agility and adaptability – also provides GHD with the ability to move quickly with market shifts, serve emerging client priorities, continuously iterate on our offerings and monetisation models using fast feedback loops. It also provides the GHD business with the benefit of data-driven insights into our clients’ operational environments. We have early indicators into clients’ emerging priorities and can proactively expand our value proposition through new integrated solutions and offerings that combine our digital and domain strengths.
A portfolio of at-scale digital offerings such as integrated solutions that combine domain and Digital IP, recurring subscriptions from software products, ecosystem orchestration of GHD and third-party IP, data monetisation, and beyond, reduces the overall risk posture for GHD from a client, market and sector perspective.
GHD Digital has been a catalyst for innovation not only from a client solutions perspective, but also through active partnership with ‘Futures’ initiatives, delivery transformation, and the environmental business transformation. Our business and operating model aims to embed innovation into a nearly 100-year-old highly
successful enterprise, providing new opportunities to diversify and scale GHD’s businesses. GHD Digital is not the only driver but remains a catalyst of innovation at GHD and should be recognised for its potential.
GHD Digital offers GHD employees a diverse career path, expanding the skills of our workforce across multiple of disciplines. GHD Digital is committed to building a diverse workforce. Women represent forty percent of the Digital leadership and 50 percent of the global digital leadership team, and our people bring a broad range of backgrounds, skills and experience. For GHD, Digital is a differentiator that enables a more comprehensive client value proposition and client service experience, especially with the ability to go from collaborative visioning workshops to strategy formulation, future experience design, architecture, integration, configuration, and even ongoing managed services and operations.
GHD Digital is an important brand builder for GHD, helping change GHD’s reputation from a traditional engineering consulting business to a broader professional services organisation that can help clients innovate and move with the times.
GHD Digital broadens GHD’s enterprise-level portfolio of offerings, differentiates GHD in competitive bids, and forces innovation in our own ways of working. GHD Digital and Advisory, working together with the broader Enterprise, gives GHD a unique competitive advantage in being able to seamlessly connect clients’ strategic agendas, such as ESG strategy and net zero transition, with functional agendas, such as waste management, water quality monitoring, and workforce health and wellness, and operating needs, such as regulatory reporting. Many complex and deep disciplines will need to interact with each other and intersect in the context of client-specific goals.
Backed by a 95-year-old business
In a new business, not everything goes to plan. We learn through experimentation and failure in new business areas in a learning organisation. GHD understands this type of environment needs to be deliberately nurtured and built. We continue to receive endorsement and support from the Board and the broader GHD business. Acting as a start-up business within a large firm, being able to leverage 95 years’ experience, over 11,000 GHD professionals across the globe, and an established, respected and reputable brand has given us a solid base to leapfrog competition. We are able to tap into GHD clients across multiple sectors, drawing upon the offerings from GHD, GHD Advisory and global partners to provide a holistic, comprehensive service through value-add integration.
The value of GHD Digital
GHD Digital compliments and elevates the traditional engineering offerings of GHD. Responding to one of the four key themes that industry leaders are actively focusing on, our digital capabilities provide a huge opportunity to develop integrated offerings with the Enterprise and Advisory, helping us to future-proof our business. GHD leaders that we recently surveyed consistently indicated that the biggest opportunity for GHD is to bring the full value of Digital to every single large client, pitching an integrated story focused on clients’ business outcomes.
Our competitive analysis shows that GHD’s direct competitors like AECOM, Jacobs and Mott McDonald have set up centralised, externally facing digital business units to serve clients and diversify their services. Jacobs, Arcadis, and Mott McDonald Group are heavily investing in products and platforms strategies. Given this, GHD should remain focused on further accelerating our strategy in building new services and products, as it is our competitor differentiator today verified by the number of clients we support.
“We’ve seen the digital expertise that we brought into the business differentiate us against our traditional peers by the way we are integrating digital skills with our technical domain knowledge.”
– Ian Fraser, Chief Executive Officer - Australia, GHD
Bolstering our collective success
We continued to strengthen our multichannel GTM model, with a focus on driving greater visibility, transparency and accountability for our sales pipeline and performance. We expanded our sales and GTM leadership capabilities and reinforced our relationship with leadership in the broader GHD Enterprise.
Our clients look to GHD to push the boundaries in the application of innovative and emerging technology and solutions. Across FY23 we embraced new ways to accelerate collaboration and create a more connected OneGHD. And to do this, we introduced the Digital Acceleration Leader role in APAC. This role partners with the Digital leadership team to drive a change in mindsets and behaviours, enabling us to increasingly position GHD as an innovative, value-add, and forwardlooking partner. We held a number of design thinking workshops inviting leaders from across the Australian business to collaborate, ideate and connect.
We strive to be digital by default in major new bids with the Enterprise and across our key accounts. Our goal is to further drive an aligned approach in each region, bringing sector-relevant and deeply differentiated digital value propositions.
After partnering with Source Global Research to conduct a global study of 777 executives, we released The Innovation Imperative – an in-depth report that highlighted the need for our industry to invest in digital solutions. Our research showed that digital transformation is regarded as the main driver of disruption across industries and countries. However, despite clear vulnerabilities, an overwhelming 94 percent of executives see this as an opportunity, not a threat.
Since the launch of this report, we hosted seven in-person, intimate client discussions across the critical infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, and environment sectors. These were designed to unpack how clients are responding to the rapid pace of innovation, sharpen their innovation edge and start an ongoing dialogue with industry leaders.
“It’s critical for GHD’s long-term future that we enhance our competitiveness, scale new businesses and develop integrated solutions that address emerging client needs in a post-pandemic world. This means ensuring that digital becomes part of everything we do. It also means adopting a digital mindset.”
– Ashley Wright, CEO, GHD
Laser focused on client outcomes
Due to a confluence of forces, clients are facing novel and serious challenges – keeping pace with the rate of change, disruption and uncertainty is imperative for organisations. Their need for diverse professional services have increased along with our opportunity to provide the right support for their success.
In FY23, we excelled at delivering projects with a premium service, enhancing our innovation capabilities to serve clients in key geographies and markets. With a win rate of 35 percent and a client satisfaction rating of 8/10, we achieved AUD42.1M in direct sales which was an increase of 22 percent compared to the last financial year.
We are actively engaged with 100 percent of APAC’s top 20 GHD clients, 100 percent of Americas’ top 20 GHD clients and 50 percent of EMEA’s top 20 GHD clients. Working side-by-side with the Enterprise, we are supporting our key clients in making meaningful and transformational impact.
Our secret weapon is cross collaboration. Joining forces with the Enterprise and Advisory has been a key enabler of growth for all parts of the Enterprise. This is evident through the 64 percent increase in integrated sales, which surpassed AUD23M and in excess of AUD2.1M in “pull through” revenue.
352 new GHD Digital projects won
65.6M in new sales (AUD)
104 new GHD clients acquired 502 client opportunities collaborated on with the Enterprise and Advisory
206 wins as a result of this
Roughly half of GHD Digital’s sales is generated via the integrated channel, working alongside our Enterprise and Advisory teams. These efforts have enabled the GHD Digital team to bring more than AUD23M in incremental growth for the rest of the Enterprise over the last year - where GHD Digital capabilities were either the lead or a primary differentiator of GHD wins. Recent examples include:
Department of Defence Garden Island Project (AU)
In what is a first for GHD, all GHD Digital services have been integrated within a ten year multibillion-dollar CAPEX program, expected to be worth approximately AUD2M to the Digital business in the first year of the program.
Bureau of Printing and Engraving/USACE (US)
This was a USD1.7M win led by Digital’s Advanced Security and Comms team, to provide services for the build of the United States’ newest currency mint. This project brought in an additional USD600K worth of work for the Southeast Region’s Environment business.
Major Transport Infrastructure Authority (MTIA) (AU)
In a AUD1.9M project, we helped our client leverage data assets to better visualise operational and productivity insights across multiple infrastructure projects.
Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) (AU)
Our cyber team guided Sydney Metro’s cybersecurity and assurance inclusions. Following this work, the scope expanded to support subsequent design phases and most recently, the team was awarded an AUD1.6M variation for further work.
The Mosaic Company (US)
As a data analytics engagement to provide environmental compliance, operational resilience and ESG improvement, this is a first EnterpriseAdvisory-Digital collaboration project in this area. With a consultative approach, we are creating a suite of AI and machine learning tools. The first phase of the project has already resulted in around three hours of time gained, per supervisor, per day, equating to around USD150K in savings. Currently, this is the largest revenue generator for our newly created AI business, and a great example of an Advisory-led, Digitallyenabled technical project.
Town of Lewiston (US)
Our AA team integrated cutting-edge automation technologies and a novel SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system, redefining how the engineering and operations function. This visionary upgrade included the seamless addition of an advanced communication layer, facilitating remote access and control.
National Fire Protection Agency (US)
We developed an immersive solution with gamification scenarios to provide fire fighters globally with training. These simulations require long-term maintenance and provide opportunities for contract extensions of approximately three years.
New Zealand Defence Force (NZ)
Our location intelligence team have been working on the digital asset management plan and national asset management data set to support data integration and data reporting. Our D-Lab team have also been working on their strategic change management plans and assisting with the capture and playback of current state and changes required to enable desired future state.
Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) (AU)
Our integration with LXRP Hive exemplifies our commitment to innovation and expertise as a trusted technology advisor. Additionally, this engagement serves as a platform for fostering greater inter-team collaboration with potential for our Digital Experience, Digital Intelligence, and D-Lab to deliver value for this strategic account.
GHD
We have developed several automations that span a range of different engineering design software used within GHD. These include:
– Design automations: Taking design calculations and creating initial Revit models and drawings instantly.
– Process automation: The export of drawings and automatic processing to a client’s specification.
BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale (AU)
Our D-Lab capabilities enabled GHD to land the project to facilitate the Charge-On Innovation Challenge, a year-long program for BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale in a large mining industry consortium. This has generated more than AUD1M of work for the Enterprise, including new work in the United States that is just starting.
North East Link (AU)
The MRDE (mixed reality and digital engineering) team continues to support the North East Link project into its delivery phase, providing visualisation services to three of the contracted packages with Northern Alliance (Acciona), Southern Alliance (Laing O’Rourke) and Central Package, whilst supporting the primary client with corridor wide visualisation services. The works delivered for the contracting teams supported their submission milestones, demonstrating design intent and the proposed methodology and impacts of various construction fronts and approaches. This content has been used to brief major stakeholders and executives and in preparation of broader community engagement requirements.
Stanwell Corporation (AU)
In collaboration with Digital Experience, GHD Advisory, the Enterprise, and ECC (engagement, communication and communities), D-Lab shaped Stanwell’s clean energy transition journey. The team developed a plan of action to deliver the 2035 Clean Energy Transition Foundation phase, including the required implementation plan, budget, resourcing profile, operating model and clean energy technology roadmap. Subsequently, Stanwell reached out specifically requesting D-Lab services to envision the transition for two of their coal-fired power stations to clean energy hubs by 2035.
“Game
changer! Beyond the win, at rates we can only dream about in South Queensland (SQ) with our energy clients, this is putting GHD deeply in the trusted advisor space in navigating the energy transition for a Queensland government owned corporation.”
– Peter Hain,
RML SQ, Stanwell Corporation, GHD
Enterprise growth and transformation initiatives supported by GHD Digital
Underpinning everything we do is our commitment to the Enterprise Make it Real strategy. To further nurture and propel growth, we play a pivotal role in bringing the key initiatives to life and, by leveraging digital and innovation, enable the internal transformation of the GHD Enterprise.
Delivery Transformation (DT)
GHD Digital’s Intelligent Automation team, in collaboration with DT, has developed a tool that automates the monotonous process of transferring files between Common Data Environments (CDEs). The tool efficiently identifies files earmarked for sharing and transfer between Synergy and BIM360 CDEs, along with relevant metadata. It takes innovation to the next level by having process orchestration, system integration and automation in one plug-n-play platform, resulting in valuable time and money savings. With a typical project budget of around AUD10K, new projects can be onboarded within two weeks.
Funded by DT under their automation prioritisation, we have recently completed the GHD Usage Tracker. This tool promises to be transformative in the way that DT monitor the success of their work. For the first time they will be able to see how their developed tools are being used or misused within GHD.
D-Lab is continuing its ongoing support to the DT program, helping the successful global implementation of Open Ground. We provided strategic change and culture services including change strategy, change plan, change management and communications, commercial model, and business case for change activities in FY24.
Our MRDE team is providing information management and BIM (building information modelling)/DE (digital engineering) advice to support digital maturity assessments, ISO certification readiness and training development for the whole of GHD. This will change the way GHD globally delivers projects and advises clients on asset and project digital enablement. ISO certification is seen as a differentiator by our clients.
Our location intelligence team supported a DT project in North America that required digital data collection using Esri products (ArcGIS Survey123, Field Maps, QuickCapture) with templates. This will help GHD standardise data collection of forms and workflows to increase efficiency and data quality. This team has also been implementing a DT project on Quality Standard Induction to all GIS Users (over 1800 in total) across GHD globally. The purpose of this induction is for quality control and to reduce the risk of mishandling of GIS data. The Induction guides all users to conduct any GIS jobs with high standard consistently across the entire company.
The EMEA Digital team continue to support DT on a variety of initiatives that include automation tools for specific service lines, business case cost curves and measures to validate tool adoption and value.
Environment 4.0
We are playing a strong role in accelerating the digital transformation of our client’s environmental and sustainability programs and GHD’s environment business. This is being achieved through strong collaboration between Digital, Advisory and our environment teams, as well as the development and integration of digital solutions and strategic partnerships across all aspects of our environmental business. Digital revenue across the environment market grew by 35 percent year-over-year in FY23.
Some achievements include:
– Appointed and trained seven Digital Accelerators across the environment business in North America to accelerate the integration of digital solutions into our proposals and projects. The Digital Accelerators are challenging the status-quo in how we deliver and price our projects resulting in improved project margins and clients recognising GHD’s innovation.
– Appointed an APAC Digital Environment Sector Leader to accelerate the integration of digital solutions into our environment business in APAC. This leader is working closely with Digital leaders in North America to ensure knowledge sharing across the economic regions.
Some client highlights include:
– Developed an advanced data analytics model to help a mining client interact with and evaluate different decarbonisation scenarios through a dashboard interface.
– Developed an air permit management system for a midstream oil and gas company. AI technology scans thousands of environmental compliance permits and provides a searchable permit database and notification system.
– Implemented an environmental data management, mapping, and visualisation portal for a key client, enabling them to have information at their fingertips on their portfolio of remediation sites.
– Used advanced data analytics to help clients automate the calculation and reporting of carbon emissions, and evaluation of the carbon footprint of their products across the product lifecycle.
– Used AI technology to accurately predict time to closure and key drivers in reaching closure for thousands of contaminated sites across the state of California, based on publicly available data.
– Implemented GHD Navigator™ for a large midstream oil and gas company, enabling them to manage their waste disposal more efficiently and reduce compliance risks.
– Used generative AI technology to enable GHD teams and clients to ask questions of a Bot which can search through 100’s of environmental documents to find answers.
– Helped clients select and implement ESG software enabling them to more effectively monitor and report progress against ESG goals.
– Developed geospatial models that enable clients to be alerted of risks to their operations and employees from climate change events like wildfires and associated air quality impacts.
Future Communities (FC)
FC has a focus on traffic safety and by using generative AI, we were able to load 50+ global road traffic safety policies into an AI powered library which allows transport experts to interrogate thousands of pages of documents in seconds, savings days of research. This capability has been showcased to clients, like Main Roads Western Australia, who have now selected our digital team to build internal generative AI capabilities around knowledge management.
Our D-Lab team supported an expression of interest bid for FC ‘Loveable’ framework, using human-centered design (HCD) to improve planning and designing an infrastructure masterplan for six Melbourne University campus precincts.
In collaboration with the FC team, we are developing solutions to increase productivity, knowledge sharing and remote working inclusion. Our Connected Worker Solution is an innovative approach equipping frontline workers with wearable technology headset which fits on a safety helmet or a safety glass. The headset allows site activities to be conducted remotely and enables knowledge transfer amongst skilled workers on the frontlines and experts in office.
“We are partnering with FC to incubate messaging within GHD Digital’s thought leadership, proposals and delivery work to deliver citizen-centric solutions.”
- Harman Singh, Digital Solutions Lead, GHD Digital
Future Energy
Our team actively participated in the Future Energy Summit in Waterloo. We also presented a Future Energy concept along with the SHOCKED campaign to our GHD Digital client facing team.
GHD Digital’s D-Lab team have been working with Stanwell’s executive group to develop a transition plan that will transform Stanwell to a contemporary renewal energy supplier by 2035 under the Queensland Government’s Energy and Jobs plan. GHD are seen as a trusted partner by Stanwell’s leadership and to date D-Lab have secured over AUD800K in fees for two major bodies of work associated with this Future Energy initiative. It is highly likely that this engagement will continue to expand in the coming years with another significant benefit being the pull through work generated for our Enterprise and Advisory teams. We expect these shared opportunities for the GHD business to also grow as Stanwell’s transition program evolves.
GHD Digital are supporting our Future Energy team with location intelligence services associated with a current pursuit for environmental approvals and EIS stakeholder engagement for the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project – the largest pumped hydro project in the world. In South-East Queensland, our MRDE team have been invited by Queensland Hydro in conjunction with GHD Advisory to deliver project visualisation services (such as project fly-through videos) to support stakeholder engagement and government marketing efforts for the Borumba Dam Pumped Hydro project. The Pioneer-Burdekin and Borumba pumped hydro schemes together form a cornerstone of Queensland’s entire Future Energy transition plan.
By leveraging existing contacts, we connected the Future Energy team to Fortis BC, Carbon Engineering, University of Columbia, Enbridge, and PNG, and supported them in submitting a proposal for Hydrogen Blending. We provided support to the Integrated Utility Initiative with a GTM strategy, introducing multiple digital tools, solutions, and technologies for example, ZEVO, InSite, GIS, and advanced analytics.
Future of Water (FoW)
In a GHD Digital first, our MRDE team were awarded the first phase of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project with the City of Peoria and one with the Jurupa Community Services District. Following the technology assessment and AMI business case, GHD has the potential to complete phase two and threeprocurement and program management of the selected AMI vendor. Our holistic approach for both projects involved various Digital practices, Water, and Advisory.
In collaborating with FoW, GHD was awarded a USD5M contract over a five-year period to create a sustainable water management program for the Commonwealth Utility Corporation in Saipan. Digital will provide a variety of Digital Intelligence and MRDE offerings from location intelligence and advanced automation to AMI and analytics.
Together with FoW, we are exploring the opportunity to use AI for CCTV inspection and develop a predicative model for pipe failure for Auckland City Council. Acting as a pilot, it will enable GHD to decide on whether we should be partnering with AI CCTV organisations to change the way we work in this space.
Our EMEA team and FoW have secured investment to further evolve GHD Digital’s Digital Twinning Online (DTO) technology, strengthening its presence in the EMEA market whilst achieving its first deployment in NZ and the Middle East. This strategic initiative has incorporated ‘self-service’ functionality which allows our clients and GHD to embed their data, thus broadening appeal and ensuring scalability of the product globally.
Our cybersecurity experts collaborated with FoW to release a white paper exploring the client challenges of cybersecurity in water, highlighting the steps that can be taken to enhance security and resilience.
Innovation
D-Lab played an integral role in developing and launching our GHD Innovation Strategy, which has been translated into the Innovation Way. D-Lab is now supporting the implementation of the Innovation Way and bringing it to life for all GHD employees.
We mapped out GHD’s innovation ecosystems and pathways, pointed our people to LinkedIn courses that supports innovation, and we built a framework to define how we talk about innovation. Expanding on the Innovation Strategy, we reiterated the importance of the outlined six behaviours through strong stories.
D-Lab consulted with senior leaders from around the business to consolidate and simplify what already exists. GHD was already an innovative business, it just needed more direction and clarification.
“We want to be seen as an innovator in the market. Every client conversation should
include how we can use our digital capabilities to help our clients in their transformation, find new ways to solve their challenges and create and capture value.”
– Jim Giannopoulos, Chief Executive Officer Americas,
GHD
Diversifying GHD’s offerings
In FY23 we helped drive diversification of GHD’s offerings through innovation, products, solutions and consulting.
AA and AI solutions
We launched the AI CoE to help clients better understand the benefits and risks of AI technologies and fast-track their use of AI to provide value for their customers, people and communities. The advanced algorithms developed by the team generate and mine data from documents, voice recordings, photographs, and videos using unique language processing and computer vision to unearth valuable insights and contextual details.
“Our vision is for GHD to be recognised as a leader in AI solutions, strategy, and thought leadership. Through our AI CoE, we will scale our people, capabilities, solutions, and revenue in the AI space. By doing so, we will differentiate the GHD brand and solidify our position as industry frontrunners by securing and delivering more on AI projects and integrated opportunities.”
- Nipa Basu, Global Practice Director - Digital Intelligence, GHD Digital
Our AA team continues to evolve from a pure time and materials play, to developing digital platforms that can be repurposed across clients and geographies to support global delivery strategy. Building on the explosion of AI technology and client demand for AI powered capabilities (primarily focussed on machine learning and generative AI), we are also ramping up strategic partnerships to differentiate and accelerate value to market.
As part of ARC (automated report creator) application for CNL, we have successfully applied state-of-theart natural language processing techniques using advanced AI models like large language models, similar to ChatGPT. This is to accelerate information extraction from approximately 1000s of historical text documents - the solution saved an estimated 70 to 80 hours of work. This is a testament to our technical ability to utilise the most cutting-edge technologies in a context-specific way and bring value to our business’ operations.
Some project highlights include:
– The Victorian Department of Transport sought help to understand road usage and the effectiveness of investments in road safety infrastructure. Through our emerging partnership with Compass IoT, which gives us access to real-time vehicle telematics, we were able to propose a unique and non-conforming way to measure the impacts of interventions.
– Main Roads WA needed to understand if lower cost traffic optimisation investments were performing as well as traditionally higher cost investments. By understanding real-time vehicle driving behaviours, across all parts of the focus network (not just tube counts at a certain point), we could show these investments were indeed performing as well as the alternative, and higher cost interventions.
– We helped South East Water model how different climate change scenarios would pose risk to its network assets. We developed an interactive dashboard that aggregated data from a range of internal and external sources, to visualise climate projections for four representative scenarios over an 80-year period informing client adaptation decisions.
Cybersecurity
We had our biggest year thus far for critical infrastructure cybersecurity, achieving 150 percent of target with almost AUD4M in revenue and total sales reached almost AUD6.5M. Our differentiated cybersecurity business has pulled in more than 18 new clients within all of our key verticals, and increased collaboration with Advisory and the Enterprise.
Sydney Metro showcases how 1.5 years of nurturing and delivering differentiated operational technology security work can lead to big wins, and in this case resulted in the largest Digital win in a single practice. This account will bring more than AUD3M over a period of FY22 to FY24. We have received subsequent engagements to conduct the same activities for four more Sydney Metro train stations. In addition to this, two new engagements with Meld Studios (who ran the testing for Sydney Metro) to deliver VR CCD experiences for a major Mirvac development in Sydney.
Some other significant projects include:
– In collaboration with the Enterprise on the BHP Wayfinding project, we paved the way for a long-term partnership built on the tenets of process transformation, intelligent automation, and AI to provide BHP mining town(s) a safe way of navigating mobile use based way finding solution.
– Signed up new energy organisations, including Pacific Hydro, Energy Australia, Powerlink and others to deliver cybersecurity and risk solutions, collaborating with the Advisory risk team.
– We were notified by TasWater of being a preferred cybersecurity supplier for a period of three years and up to AUD1.5M in contract value – providing various cyber risk CoE services, including automation.
“The quality of leadership shown by the cybersecurity team, supporting a key client in a rapidly emerging risk area has been outstanding. This has demonstrated to Sydney Metro that GHD is at the forefront of critical thinking, and I’m extremely proud of what the team has achieved.”
– Mark George, Sydney Metro Relationship Manager and EDS Project Director, GHD
Globalisation of digital innovation capability
D-Lab created a new way to engage with an entire market based on the macro-challenges faced by industries. Through an open innovation approach, we can help any industry frame a transformative challenge, foster collaboration between competitors, look at technology innovators and solutions across industries, and create an environment to accelerate and scale identified solutions, whilst protecting the commercial interests of all parties involved.
Helping the Ministry of Education develop a new curriculum to embed Emirati culture better, Citizens School in Dubai selected D-Lab to implement recommendations of developing a collaboration hub, facilitating design challenges and coaching designthinking over the course of 14 weeks. This will see Citizens School become the first school in the world to adopt these methodologies to develop enhanced learners’ curriculum.
Our D-Lab team expanded HCD via a GHD Design partnership to constantly improve methodologies, incorporating leadership, neuroscience, and behavioural economics research, exploring digital innovations for immersive scenarios. This was showcased in the following examples:
– Aided the architecture team in Al Yasmina Academy foundation campus design. HCD conducted stakeholder consultations, incorporating empathy into the design and improving drop-off experience.
– Helped deliver Abu Dhabi campus for INSEAD, focusing on students’ perspectives. Amenities promoting equality and equity were integrated based on in-depth research.
– Developed Citizens Future Framework curriculum for Citizens Learning Lab using co-design and design thinking, earning GHD requests for architecture and engineering support for client asset portfolio.
– Created a journey-based framework for McDonald’s project, enhancing design with iterative mapping of people, process, data, and technology.
We delivered some of GHD’s most innovative work for key clients like LXRP, Victoria DoT, and BHP/ Rio Tinto/ Vale. We supported CharIN launch a new Mining Taskforce in partnership with ICMM, addressing technical bottlenecks to accelerate progress on zero emission mining vehicle fleets.
“D-Lab put together something new that we haven’t seen before - it’s genuinely shifting the dynamic and perspective for GHD.”
– Phil Baker, Executive Advisor - Transactions, Strategy and Commercial, GHD Advisory
“You have successfully embedded the value of innovation and disruption in our organisation, in an industry that typically drives incremental change. LXRP is a repeat program of work with opportunity to embed learning from one project to the next. The Hive is an onpayroll innovation facility that creates the environment for these ideas to be tested and this opportunity to be realised. Plenty of consultancies say they ‘partner’. But you’re actually a real partner. You’ve been able to see the broader potential of innovation in our program and progressively open our eyes to it. You’re taking accountability to deliver and not just tell us what to do. You have exceeded all my expectations.”
- Ian Jackson, Director Business Strategy, LXRP
MRDE
The MRDE team has continued its focus on aligning its global capabilities, whilst continuing the strategic development of its immersive digital experience technologies with GHD Engage, GHD DTO and ModelViewer.
GHD Engage has now been deployed across ANZ and the Americas, including GHD’s first Digital EIS for TfNSW Paramatta Light Rail. It was additionally used to compliment GHD’s in-person attendance at COP27 with a digital online presence. The feature set development continues to focus on our client and market needs with an ‘ease of use’ mindset.
The 3D engagement technology ModelViewer, coupled with evolving visualisation services, continue to support some of the largest transport and water infrastructure projects in ANZ. Significant bodies of work include collaborating with Rail Projects Victoria, North East Link, Sydney Metro, and Transport and Main Roads. ModelViewer is being used extensively on these projects to support key stakeholder engagement, inductions and industry briefings with our visualisation animation and imagery regularly featuring on news stories, announcements and online media channels, whilst also supporting project development for Californian arterial road and community space upgrades.
The Americas practice has seen market success developing virtual reality and web-based training solutions for two emergency services organisations and are now exploring new scope with the clients after a successful delivery and client engagement experience. The system deployed for BNSF Rail included a learning management system that can now be leveraged for future training programs. The 3D contaminated site modelling team continues to contribute to the broader enterprise with their contamination modelling expertise, creating a greater capability awareness across the Americas and ANZ.
Our digital experience consulting services have gained greater market reach building off our Victorian digital asset strategy work to support the Victorian Transport Digital Engineering Transformation Project. Our MRDE team successfully led the response to provide our digital experience, spatial and Advisory teams with strategic partners IIMBE and KPMG, to define and implement processes and frameworks. The team has gained further success securing the BIM Policy and Maturity Assessment for Queensland government, with our strategic partners IIMBE. This has resulted in our successful appointment to develop a unified specification for digital information management across the Olympic infrastructure program for Brisbane 2032.
Products and Platforms
In March, we successfully launched Govstack and transformed our business. Built for the public sector, Govstack is our modular and scalable digital platform that enables our clients to engage, inform, serve, and connect with their community online, while delivering financial savings. We’ve gone from a 12-month implementation timeframe to nine weeks, and a less than ten percent project margin to 90 percent margin. Over 55 clients are now on Govstack.
We expanded PnP from Ontario to North America, with 60 clients now in the US. We created an alternate revenue model with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) which enables Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). As a result, ARR increased 40 percent from FY22 to FY23. This is a new asset for GHD and in FY23, the SaaS based business generated CAD10M in ARR, equivalent to a 100M valuation for enterprise SaaS.
Within our PnP team, 38 percent of our team identify as female, and 40 percent of our workforce is offshored in Philippines which has resulted in significant labour cost savings.
In the last five years of operation, bids&tenders has proudly maintained a 100 percent customer retention rate through unmatched product capability and customer support. The platform generated a revenue growth of 89 percent in FY23.
“One of the best ways of being able to represent data and engage with that data is to actually package it and to provide
it back to those customers in a in a consistent consolidated and efficient format.
And for me, that’s where products and platforms really start to become immensely valuable. It gives us that power of efficiency. It gives us
the consistency. It gives us the opportunity to represent ourselves as a unified organisation.”
– Paul Murphy,
Chief Information Officer, GHD
Location intelligence
We started to embed new location intelligence solutions on GeoBIM - GIS/BIM Integration, GeoAI, IoT (Velocity), which will help GHD to fill capability gaps for technical services to our clients, and generate new revenue for the GHD Digital business. It will also improve relationships with data and analytics and digital engineering teams for integrated solutions.
We have been awarded Esri’s State and Local Government Specialty. This is in addition to our existing specialties for ArcGIS System Ready and ArcGIS Urban. Partners in the State and Local Government Specialty apply the knowledge of ArcGIS and Esri solutions to develop and configure ready-to-use solutions and offer implementation services to city, state, and local government customers.
Other significant projects include:
– In collaboration with our location intelligence team, GHD’s first Digital EIS was delivered within the Engage portal for Transport for New South Wales’ Parramatta Light Rail.
– As part of the New Zealand Flood Response, our location intelligence team supported our structures team by creating bridge inspection forms in less than 24 hours from contact. This allows our engineers to conduct urgent asset conditioning inspection reports in real-time in the field and then upload to the client with minimal work.
Intelligent Automation (IA)
The IA team has forged successful partnerships with industry leaders such as Workato, SAP, UiPath and IBM. These strategic collaborations have resulted in licensing revenue of AUD400K, and a significant increase in the number of services offered by IA, which has quadrupled as a result of these partnerships.
We have developed an Inspections Management system, helping the materials teams in concrete and related material inspections. The solution streamlines inspections, enhances collaboration, improves data accuracy, and enables informed decision-making for successful concrete construction projects.
Other significant projects include:
– ADB engaged GHD Advisory to assess Indonesia’s ePAKSI platform for water resource systems. Our IA team identified limitations and recommended improvements based on industry standards. The assessment covered web and mobile capabilities, design, security, performance, and integration. Functional limitations in asset information management, work management, and spatial components were highlighted.
– We have developed a Power BI-based waste tracking dashboard for Apple using data captured from the GHD Navigator platform. This project enables visibility and tracking of waste transfers from Apple locations to waste facilities.
Strategic alliances and partnerships
GHD Digital is partnering with select industry leaders to create and deliver transformational solutions to enhance the overall value GHD provides clients. In the process, GHD Digital is co-creating propositions with the Enterprise, Advisory and our clients and partners, aimed at solving complex industry issues and enabling the digital transformation journey for our clients.
“The last couple of years with GHD Digitalhas really just been the cherry on top of a long-term business partnership that we’ve had going back some 15 years.”
- Mark Goldman, Director AEC Industry Solutions, Esri
Enhancing automation
GHD Digital has formed a business partnership with IBM Philippines, enabling us to supply, implement, and utilise select IBM technology products like Maximo for Intelligent Asset Management and Envizi for ESG reporting in our projects. This collaboration leverages GHD’s sector expertise and advisory capabilities to develop future offerings and capabilities.
Cutting-edge data
Our partnership with Australian start-up, Compass IoT, has allowed us to take a market leading role in real-time vehicle (car and truck) telematics data and associated analytics, sourced from the SIM cards within the onboard computers of 64 OEMs including Toyota, BMW, Tesla, VW, Ford, Audi, Nissan, GM and others. With solid engagement in Australian government transport clients, our strategy is to grow with Compass IoT into the North American markets.
Disruptive platforms
Our partnership with Sentient Hubs, a disruptive master planning platform born in Edith Cowen University labs, has allowed us to help clients understand how different models impact one another across traditionally disconnected disciplines. Greatly enhancing strategic decision making at the highest levels, we have already won classified work using the capability to support one of our most important government clients.
Innovating communities
D-Lab established a partnership with Fresh Forces, an entrepreneurship and change consultancy based in the Netherlands, that builds serious games for large organisations. Together with Fresh Forces, D-Lab and GHD’s Asset Exit Strategy step-up, we are developing a real-life simulation targeted at C-suite and general management to help them envision and strategise their asset transition and repurposing.
Transforming industry
GHD Digital have now partnered with IIMBE on several key state government projects that are transforming the industry. These include the Victorian Digital Asset Policy, Victorian Department of Transport DE Data Audit and most recently, the Queensland government BIM Policy Review which will influence not only Queensland industry but is helping transform infrastructure planning and delivery for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Other partnerships include:
– Digital Wayfinding with PAM (delivered to BHP)
– Smart Water Networks with GoAigua, a data and BI platform (delivered to multiple clients)
– CAR financials and program management with ENFOS (delivered to Shell)
– Innovation Advisory with QMarkets.
Regional step-ups
We continued to complement our wellestablished businesses in Australia and North America with focused step-ups in:
New Zealand
GHD Digital has taken a leadership position within the NZ business to charge the IM step-up across the NZPAC business, in order to support the Enterprise in achieving ISO 19650 for us to retain and win new work.
We partnered with AMAG to provide a combined solution of data capture and analysis for Wellington City Council to help them monitor and count different modes of transportation, particularly active modes. Although unsuccessful in this RFP we are exploring other opportunities to work together.
Following Cyclone Gabrielle’s extensive damage, we quickly deployed digital field forms to support the mobilisation of our Enterprise’s rapid response team to complete real-time onsite structural and damage assessments.
Our Smart Seeds program was selected as a finalist in the Engineering New Zealand ENVI Awards, in the Engineering Education category.
We expanded our local regional capability through strengthening our Digital immersive design, AI and data analytics services, alongside introducing new FME services to market. As well as this, we successfully supported Tauranga City Council and Centre Port mature their digital transformation programs by embedding key digital transformation advisory capabilities to create new and improved ways of working.
EMEA
In collaboration with our Digital Experience team and UK Environmental service line, our Digital Intelligence team won a pilot phase project with Tesla to deliver technical due diligence, emphasising the automation of environmental compliance workflows. GHD has an existing relationship with Tesla in North America and this pilot can pave the way for transforming Tesla into a strategic UK client.
Working together with our Movement Consulting specialists in Advisory, we have built a product called ‘Venue Insights’ which uses WiFi6 and camera technology to support the efficient design of events and venues for people flow. This has led us to successfully deliver work for the UK’s National Exhibition Centre and we are now leveraging this expertise and its application in other spaces including airports, for which we have tenders in progress.
The evolution of GHD Digital’s DTO Digital Twinning platform is now being used by key clients across the EMEA region to visualise their key sites, including EDF, Network Rail Galliford Try, Anglian Water, Tesla and British Telecom. In the process of delivering these key projects, the team captured and hosted its first nuclear site for EDF and achieved List N accreditation for the DTO solution, allowing UK sensitive nuclear information to be hosted on the cloud, something that had not been attempted or achieved previously.
Our D-Lab team have grown and expanded from their base in Dubai into London. This team has been focussed on winning work and conversion of proposals to wins which now include Mubadala, Citizens School and the Ministry of Education.
Asia
We commenced developing a local market and client facing Digital leadership team in the Philippines, hiring a Digital Solutions Lead to expand solution offerings in the region and a Digital Market Lead to help grow the market.
GHD Digital has formed a business partnership with IBM Philippines. We established a business partnership with Maximo Business Solutions (MBS) to support them in their current asset management opportunities and projects. GHD Digital is also providing subject matter expertise, project management and consulting services to MBS.
We launched the Digital Asset Management Service Line to provide consultancy services for systems implementation covering the operate and maintenance phases of asset management.
Other highlights include:
– GHD Digital in the Philippines was engaged to provide process assessment and blueprinting services to Energy Development Corporation. The client needs to integrate and utilise its existing asset management system for its Root Cause Analysis (RCA) process.
– Delivered a waste tracking dashboard for Apple Inc. (in Power BI) as an extension to the Navigator Waste Management Platform for easier monitoring of waste transfers from Apple locations to the waste facilities.
– Partnered with Advisory to provide software architecture and systems functionality assessment for the Indonesian Government’s ePaksi Water Resource System.
Incubating the right culture
GHD Digital’s success is dependent on its talent. GHD Digital is a capability hub to attract and retain nonconventional exceptional talent that can help create the businesses of tomorrow.
Our people are motivated and empowered to make a demonstrable difference to all Enterprise initiatives with a OneGHD spirit. Most roles require creating something new and different for the long-term benefit of GHD. They are encouraged to act as innovators, problem solvers, and change agents that deliver meaningful impact.
We have a truly diverse global workforce, currently with 574 employees and 29 contingent workers across nine countries. We had 175 regular and fixed term hires in FY23 and supported 49 promotional job changes in recognition of their impact on clients and the business.
Our operating model is designed to support the growth of a diverse set of sub-businesses within GHD Digital. It also provides a framework to measure the success of leadership, business development, delivery, and business management roles. The guiding principles of GHD Digital are rooted in a hybrid organisational model that combines the best of matrix and network models, led by fit-for-purpose leadership teams. We continue to remain a flat, focused, and driven organisation that is agile and adaptive to changing external and internal needs.
The GHD Digital culture is rooted in a set of digital mindsets. Simply put, there is an emphasis on proactively sensing market and client needs and coming up with creative ways to solve them with an entrepreneurial drive and ownership mindset. Within GHD Digital we hero the need to embrace innovation and encourage experimentation and diversity of thought by breaking down corporate hierarchies. These tenets of GHD Digital’s culture allow us to focus on client results and delivering deeper value. Each Digital employee is treated like an innovator and is an active participant in our business strategy and execution to the extent applicable to their role.
GHD Digital has established a balanced inclusion and diversity (I&D) agenda based on gender, ethnicity, skills, age, demographics, and experience. 34 percent of our workforce (that identified as a gender) identifies as female. Which is seven percent above the global average representation of females in tech related careers. Women make up 50 percent of the Principals and 43 percent of the Digital Global Leadership team.
The following initiatives helped foster a positive culture:
– We revamped our Digital Mentoring Program and were early adopters of the Enterprise tool for mentorship, MentorcliQ. There were 99 mentorship pairs established which will continue to meet through the end of the calendar year.
– We successfully hosted two leadership summits, one in each hemisphere, bringing together our senior leaders of the business and several other senior leaders from across the GHD Enterprise. These sessions helped crystalise our ambition for GHD Digital and secured strong alignment and buy-in to our growth strategy and approach.
– We partnered with Advisory to deliver a collaborative event around International Women’s Day, and then sustained the focus on the contributions of the women in Digital, recognising one “Digital Superwoman” on Viva Engage for their immense contributions for the following ten weeks.
– As the year concluded, we held a celebration for Digital’s fifth birthday, reflecting and celebrating the remarkable innovation and growth created throughout the first five years in operation
“An inclusive and diverse approach creates an environment for us to learn faster and adapt more agilely than the world around us as we
effectively partner and team with all our stakeholders; enabling us to achieve more together through inspired innovation and embracing our digital mindsets.”
- Leanne White, People Leader, GHD Digital
Looking forward
FY24 is an opportunity to make sense of the massive evolution during years of navigating COVID challenges. It’s a chance to not just focus on business as usual, but refocus on the more important things that will allow GHD to thrive in the next ten years of uncertainty, volatility and digital disruption. The changing landscape is forcing us to think clearly about where we concentrate our efforts.
Our strategic priorities in FY24 are based on changing client expectations, reflections and insights gained during the Board’s Deep Dive Review, lessons learnt in FY23 and most importantly, changing aspirations of GHD’s leadership.
01. Drive diversification of GHD’s offerings and build a Digital business of significant value to GHD
02. Partner with eco-regions and drive multichannel GTM to key clients to become a digital transformation partner of choice
03. Accelerate our PnP, advanced analytics/AI and cyber solutions
04. Align an understanding of what digital is at GHD and support the internal transformation of GHD.
We are focused on a combined determination to embrace technology and innovation to find new ways to solve long-standing problems. From renewable energy to water scarcity and sustainability, our industry can shape future communities for years to come.
“The overall success of GHD’s digital strategy and achievements are only possible because of the continued collaboration and commitment between our Enterprise, Advisory and Digital teams. Together with our teams, we will continue to bring innovative ideas and best in class integrated digital solutions to our clients, positively impacting generations to come.”
– Kumar Parakala, President, GHD Digital
