James Vidler, Senior Solutions Consultant - Digital, Sarah Kaehne, Business Analyst – Digital, and Adam McGregor, Business Analyst Practice Lead - Digital, share a passion for blending digital technologies with strategic advice.
Clients across sectors and disciplines increasingly have a strategic need to understand technology and what it can do for them, and so by working with WSP’s Advisory teams, and drawing in people who are experts in Digital Solutions, WSP is giving them access to innovation, and technological transformation in areas that haven’t previously utilised these tools.
“Our capacity to do this has been driven by growth in a few ways,” says Adam. “As WSP’s Digital team grows, we can be more involved in the discovery process, and in shaping the solution, rather than simply delivering the software. It is also a credit to our people’s growth, and people like Sarah being willing to explore new areas and increase their skills to a point where they can support more ambitious roles. This then creates opportunities for our people.”
Sarah began at WSP on a university placement. In her role as a Business Analyst, she has historically been responsible for generating software and web solutions for clients. Nowadays, she has been able to expand her role into that of an Advisor, listening to client’s needs, and translating technical knowledge from developers and other experts into language that they can easily understand.
Sarah says, “I think there’s really a mindset at WSP where people have been so willing to support me in my interests. For example, I've been exploring digital possibilities in the agriculture sector, searching for ways to advance WSP’s expertise further. The Digital team has been incredibly supportive, aiding my networking efforts and suggesting contacts to connect with – not only within the digital realm but also in the ecology team. Their backing and encouragement has been vital.”
In Digital Advisory, communication is key
Adam, who leads a team of 10-15 Business Analysts says, “I made a decision a few years ago that has really paid off. I started looking for graduates who had double degrees and a range of skills in communication. People who had a debating team in their resume or studied subjects like English or History…they immediately jumped to the top of my pile.”
He adds, “I look for people who can communicate highly technical information in a way that our clients can understand. I’ve built a team that is well equipped to translate the technical side with the communication side. I once hired someone who was able to explain a complicated board game in a way that everyone could understand.”
Sarah was one such hire. Her unique combination of degrees in Commerce and IT, and interest in politics and history dating back to high school, have set her up for success in bridging the gap between advisory and delivery. When it came to choosing her next step, Sarah says “I looked at companies that would value my broad skillset”. With the variety of clients and disciplines that WSP has, it fit the bill.
Beyond code: Reimagining possibilities
The team are hyper aware of the transformational effect that technology is having across the breadth of work that WSP does. James sees this in his role that encompasses business development, advisory, and delivery.
James says, "We’re more than just coders; we are deliberately disrupting consulting. The way that technology is developing, it’s possible to codify information to instantly inform decision making. Consultants might have made some of these decisions in the past, but the thinking is, by leveraging technology we free up resources to tackle even greater challenges.”
According to James, Land iQ – a platform that combines data sources to inform land use decision in a visual portal, is a “classic example of the rising digital expectations of customers”. “The things that Land iQ now does in minutes – multi-criteria analysis and strategic land-use analysis, used to take months to deliver. It’s all about meshing these large datasets in a meaningful way - and even better – the customer can do it instantaneously.”
With the rapid advancements we are seeing in Artificial Intelligence, James is conscious of the impacts it may have on talent development. He says, “AI brings concerns of job displacement, especially among junior roles. The way junior staff learn by undertaking research and asking a mentor can now easily be replaced with a robot. People need to remember that today’s junior person is tomorrow’s expert, and we must figure out ways to keep bringing them through the pipeline.”
Collaborating with clients to understand a technical problem, and how technologies might assist, creates opportunities for new and important forms of consulting work. The best we can do is to get comfortable with change, and trying out new platforms or testing new ideas is a priority that contributes to the team’s ongoing development and ability to give sound advice. Adam says, "We're arming junior staff with the tools to become leaders, embracing the positive impacts of AI while ensuring human-centric solutions.”
This same Future ReadyTM thinking that Adam, James and Sarah deploy when thinking about how their team will address these changes is also key when it comes to supporting clients in their success.
“We don’t just think about what will solve the client’s problem now,” says Adam. “We are always thinking ahead and creating solutions that will help our clients make reliable and informed decisions.”
Read more about WSP’s Digital Solutions, or contact the experts below:
