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Hi, welcome everyone. I'm Amy Peck. I'm your host of Future Construct. Thanks for joining today. Today, we have a fantastic guest. We have Salla Eckhardt, who is the Director of Transformation Services at Microsoft and also the Worldwide Construction Lead. Did I get that right?
Yes . Thank you, Amy. It's a pleasure to be on your podcast and speak as a guest about the digital building life cycle and, and everything that has led us to that framework.
That's great. Well, thanks so much for joining today and taking the time. Um, so you've led a really interesting career. Can you talk a little bit more about, you know , your work at Microsoft and maybe even how you got here?
Yes, absolutely. So I joined Microsoft internal real estate and security organization in December, 2018. And since then I've added the worldwide construction community lead role onto my plate. And that community is more overarching and inclusive of everyone at Microsoft that are working with the construction industry. And before I joined Microsoft, I was working for Joel and contractors here in the United States. And before that I was , uh , leading , uh , EU program in Finland.
So I have a very extensive career track off academic and applied research and development , um , bringing us into the framework of digital building lifecycle . And , um, just as the academic background, I'm an architect by training .
So I did my masters in architecture, in Tampa , university of technology, and then older, they began my studies in construction management towards the PhD degree, but then when I moved to United States, I had the opportunity to kind of go beyond only that framework and really capture the entire spectrum of different stakeholders in Q1 career track. And so it's, it's been a fun journey.
That's amazing. And so, so, and what made you decide to move to the U S from Finland?
Uh, I was lucky enough to , uh , get my green card from the diversity visa program that United States has. And , uh, then , uh, once I got into that and I got my green card, that all the opportunities were available and , uh, originally I was daydreaming about moving to the East coast, have the Manhattan lifestyle , uh , but then doing some deep due diligence and research about the great country I ended up , um, in Seattle as my starting point.
And it has really served us pretty well and it's become my American dream.
That's great. And so, and it's interesting that you mentioned the diversity piece, you know, as a , as a woman in this industry and as a Finnish woman in this industry. Um, it , it seems that it's, it's kind of a rarity and I mean , are you finding that's the case? Uh, you know, and maybe it's still a little bit different at Microsoft, but just in general in the construction industry, do you find that, you know, you're, you're typically working with a lot more men.
Yes. That tends to be the traditional trend, but there is definitely more room for women as innovators to join the AECO industry and , and support the digital transformation. And what makes us unique is that traditionally speaking women have been the assistance in construction industry, and we've been kind of assisting the project managers or, or the executives to , um, deliver the projects that they've been working on.
So we've been very much on hands-on with the projects , managing all kinds of different , um, scopes of work. And we've also , uh , made sure that we have the academic track to build the career track that can take us all the way to the C-suite level , um, roles.
And overall, I think that now that we are going through the digital transformation, but also the generation transformation, more opportunities are opening up for women in construction industry, and we have everything that it takes to rise to the top and transform this wonderful embassy .
It's interesting too. Cause I , I do think that in, in a lot of ways, technology has, has been the catalyst for a more kind of diverse workforce. And so what are some of the technologies that you're focused on in your day to day?
Uh, in my day to day , I'm kind of focusing on all the different emerging technologies that are supporting the digital transformation. And when thinking about the digital transformation, it's not only about technology, it is more about people and the business and how technology creates the framework for the transformation that we need to go through.
And , and that way , um, what I really focus on is building information models as collaboration platform, how we create the digital virtual building before we actually built the physical building. And how do we capture the digital physical building, which is the IOT technologies, IOT technologies , uh , all the great technologies that are capturing us that real-time data or on demand data, and how do we then impact the digital , uh, operations management of the building.
And that's where we enter the people world. How do people run the processes and how do they collaborate together? So overall , um, emergent technologies are all interesting to me. I'm not very particular about them, but of course nowadays the digital twins are the , the hot topic for everyone. And , and that's something that I'm taking forward for the Microsoft real estate organization, but also for the digital twin consortium, that Microsoft is one of the founders for,
Gosh, there's so much there that I, that I want to talk about. Um, but , but , but the digital twin piece, I think allows for so much in terms of the evolution of IOT , uh, Ben of , uh , I mean, so many things that are a part of this kind of interwoven technology.
Um, so can you just talk a little bit about, you know, what, what your purview is and, and really how, you know, companies out there particularly, you know, construction companies and architects with which you are conducting really start thinking about how to leverage digital twins moving forward. Yeah ,
Yeah. That's a fair question. And overall, when you think about the digital twins, it's not only a tool, it's a platform and it is a framework. It is a way of delivering the projects as a collaborative project delivery. And when thinking about what goes into the digital twin depends on the different stakeholders that will be then using either the platform or the tool for solutioning and for innovating for inventing or just operating the , the digital physical buildings.
Um, overall the digital twins, they, they are not very , uh, simple to define. They will have multitudes of different digital components in them. And depending on exactly on, is it the architect, is it an engineer? Is it a general contractor or a real estate owner, or maybe a , a public authority that is using the same single set of digital truths ? Uh, they can choose what they want to see and filter what they need to try forward their database or evidence-based decision-making .
And that way a bit then , and building information models, CAD GIS into the things implement actions, data, they're all components in the framework of digital twins. So overall the digital twin consortium is now looking into the different use cases and really defining the universal standard for digital twins, so that we don't end up having a tool that only fits a certain organization that has been developing them, but we can drive at something that is bringing everyone together.
I would like to thank the team at applied for
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Great. And so you mentioned something too , before I think is really important, which is how you're really looking at sort of the human factors of , of this technology. And I think, you know, there, there seems to be so much fear and I think rightfully so that, you know, technology and automation is going to displace a lot of the workforce. Um, but I'm a big believer in that there will be new jobs created because of this. They'll just be a little bit different.
So how are some of the, you know, the ways that you're looking at that and the ways you're really bringing in those human factors into technology,
That's a very good one to bring up. And when thinking about the different regions and markets that work as a construction industry, it's always very local and whereas real estate business is global and that's where it starts to resonate with. How does it actually impact the labor force when thinking about the United States market, as there is scarcity of available skilled labor, hence technology has to come in to help those that still work in the industry.
And that way, when we think about the different industrial revolutions, the industry 1.0 2.0 a 4.0 where we are now, and 5.0 and going forward, technology has always turned it new types of roles and new types of work , um, and new types of jobs in the market.
The , the chops that have been outdated that no longer are valid or productive enough that are high costs , but basically kind of more performance or basic performance, they are ready to retire, but at the same time, the digital transformation opening up completely new types of avenues that then start to trade new jobs for the communities where, where people are working.
So overall, when thinking about, if someone going to lose their job, it might be that they will lose the role that they are in, but they will have a new type of role that is emerging to the digital transformation. I love that.
And then how are you preparing some of the workforce? Um , are you involved in any of the sort of, you know , transitioning , uh , and training into some of these other roles? Is that something that you're focused on?
Yes. So those are the lessons learned from the industry and , and working closely with industry partners and collaborators and taking the open innovation approach that how do we actually transform the industry so that if we are thinking about Microsoft as a real estate owner, that how do we support and empower those that are working on our projects in different regions? And that way we can together define what are the future roles and how does the digital transformation generate those new roles?
How do we support the emerging of digital engineers in digital construction? How do we support whatever digital building managers and new types of , uh , user end user experience miniatures in the future real estate. There's a lot of different types of roles that are just waiting to be emerged. And we have the luxury of being one of the thought leaders and , and the real estate owners that want to be empowering that and want to be enabling that.
Um, so overall it is an opportunity for the entire industry to have those discussions and, and have that open innovation and, and that way generate those new jobs
And you and you, and you're a big proponent of open innovation, which I love. And , and so what are some of the real hallmarks that companies can start to enact to , to really engage in this open innovation construct within their companies?
Yeah. Um, a good starting point is to adapt to a global or international and national standards that then bring everyone to the same framework and same foundation. And that way we no longer have to struggle so much with the interoperability or transport or the issues that traditionally inhibit people from using technology, but we can start developing our digital course with the integrated technology solutions.
Uh, to my knowledge, there is no one technology company in the world that can cater to every need that every stakeholder has, but literally need to have to start into how do we actually integrate the different technologies and support the end users and empower the end users so that they have much easier job ahead of them and less of a management and tedious , uh , processes management , uh, ahead of them.
And with that , uh, I encourage people to continue learning, go back to school and learn the new skills I teach at , uh , local universities.
And, and I , uh, participate in different industry conferences and seminars to educate people who are already have a long career track, but also to cross pollinate those that are already industry professionals and, and the masters of their trade , um, where those that are now choosing to engage on their career in the AECO industry and still kind of deciding what kind of career track they want.
And that way we can start to leverage the knowledge of everyone and the skill sets of everyone and support the digital transformation as an industry.
That is such great advice. And I love that you're out there teaching because, you know, in this realm where, you know, all of the technology and it looks like, you know, you're really looking at all emerging technology and not just one lane, it's almost impossible for anyone to have expertise in everything, but it's amazing how much you can learn with a little bit of knowledge of understanding each of the technologies. You can start to think about how they converge for different solutions.
So I'd love to kind of go down that path a little bit and maybe talk about some of the technologies you're combining for solutions and how you think about that.
Yes. Um, that kind of brings me to talk a little bit about , uh , extended reality and how we can use extended reality tools for visual data management and different type of , uh , team management. Um, nowadays we are kind of over flooded with all kinds of data and information, and it's sometimes hard to make sense of what is actually being communicated to us when thinking about the AECO industry.
So if we are able to create the visual content that people can consume as at glance , then we can start seeing how the different sets of data can be , uh , processed into information that then gets , um , clustered into , uh , intelligence that then becomes knowledge for us because we know how we are going to apply it.
But overall, when thinking about how do we communicate those use cases and our own needs to others, we'd really need to start embracing how do we leverage the visual data that is available for us and what kind of technology do we want to use to consume that?
And that's how like augmented reality or mixed reality, virtual reality, those kinds of tools start to buckle up because then all they have to basically do is just put on a headset or step into a cave environment, installed it , start experiencing the project that you are managing and bring in your other stakeholders and colleagues from the team and show them, where is the information need that you have, or where do you see an issue or foreseeable problem.
And that way start solutioning before things actually become field coordination issues or, or become issues for facility management later on. And that way, what we are doing is actually supporting others with their work as they are us with, with the work that we are taking forward
While you're speaking my language, because I've spent the better part of my career in the last decade in immersive technologies. So I'm very much in alignment there. Um, and I think it's also an opportunity to start looking at data differently. I mean, we can go into these virtual environments and actually, you know, parse data and work with data, you know, organically. Uh, so I guess I'm , I'm definitely a big fan there.
Um, so let's talk about , um, you know, your role specifically sort of, you know, as Microsoft facing, but also customer facing. Do you have any projects that you wanted to share or talk about where, you know, you're, you're kind of guiding that conversation and , and helping them with the layers of technology that they need to see the vision.
Uh, there are kind of multitudes of them. And what makes me really happy is that our different regional account executives and people who are working with different key accounts and clients, partners, customers, that they are leveraging my knowledge from the industry for the benefit of everyone who is engaged in our network.
And that way it's not only focusing on individual projects or individual regions, but it's , uh, it's taking that industry level approach to how do we actually support the digital transformation of the industry gives , uh , based on the experiences that I've had from the past is that if individual companies are only focusing on improving their internal processes and their internal digital core and not looking outside at all into their partner networks, they will end up kind of , uh, developing
too far ahead and then having the need to roll back into where they basically started, because what, where they end up is that there's no foundation for it going forward. Nobody else sees where you ended up because there's no connection to where they are.
And that's , um, how , uh , I support everyone , uh , who wants to work with me that I keep things at the very high level at the industry level, so that there is no cross-pollination of the secret sauce, but there is that integration of best industry practices. And how do we actually resolve issues that are common for everyone? And that way created a lot of clarity for different stakeholders.
That's amazing. So I have a question that I ask everyone, and it's really around this future vision, and it seems like you spend a lot of time looking at this future vision , um , connecting the dots from where we are today, to how we get there to the future. But this question isn't around what the reality is. This is just about you and your vision of the future.
So if you could build dream kind of gadget of the future, let's say for 2050 , uh, just for you personally, what would it be and what would it do?
Hmm , I think I would want to have a variable computer that is as easy to use as my glasses today, but it would create me a simulated reality so that if I wanted to visit , uh , for example, Finland, now that I'm here in , in Washington, in the United States, and I wanted to visit Finland, I could visit any part of Finland and have it as a simulated reality that would create me the weather , uh, conditions that currently exist in that part of Finland and everything that is in that, that built
environment or natural environment. And that way it , it would be like a four channel travel, but in a , in a way that it's not dependent on legacy data, but it would be something that is that on demand, real time data, and , uh, in a way that it actually feels like I'm visiting that location.
It almost seems like you have a leopard in your environment. Now that is a beautiful cat, because actually one of the things you're probably going to get your wish, I think that's a good, that's a, that's a great gadget to wish for. Um, but I do think there's something kind of nice, you know, that we're all on lockdown now that we're getting to see little pieces of people's lives. Like your cat has been really working to get some of your attention while we've been chatting here today.
I want to thank you so much for your time today. Saw Eckhart from Microsoft. Uh , thanks for joining us on future construct.
Thank you so much, Amy. It was a pleasure. Thank you. [inaudible] .