Data is fundamentally invaluable to engineering firms, but its history and usefulness have been fluid up to this point. The story starts in the 1980s when the architectural engineering and construction, or AEC, industry began to fully embrace digital transformation. What started as transitioning from pen and paper to computer is now a full-scale digital mindset aimed at enhancing workflows and increasing revenue significantly.

Around 2000, the evolution entered its next phase with the emergence of building information modeling, or BIM. Here, project data could be integrated within a single platform and across a project’s lifecycle, leading to a new standard in accuracy and reliability.…