With traditional project management approaches stressed by COVID-19, changing workforce dynamics and the increasing use of remote meetings, Avatour and Black & Veatch announce a strategic partnership that leverages digital collaboration to break down traditional meeting barriers, reduce risk and improve project execution.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now entering its third year, Avatour, a leading provider of immersive remote collaboration services, and Black & Veatch, a global leader in engineering, construction and procurement, saw an opportunity to leverage technology to address challenges in physically locating professionals on-site for inspections, tours, trainings and other critical services.

With its extensive global workforce and thousands of large-scale projects in development, Black & Veatch needed a digital solution, so the company turned to Avatour’s remote collaboration platform, which leverages a 360° live video feed, multi-user collaboration and record capabilities allowing on-site professionals and remote collaborators to come together – remotely – in a physical space. In addition, the services can be paired with virtual reality to provide an even more immersive experience for remote participants.

“Avatour increases the engagement between on-site and remote professionals, providing simple, seamless and immersive communication capabilities,” said Brian Melton, Innovation Lead, Operations with Black & Veatch. “The Avatour service enhances flexibility for remote participants by allowing each remote viewer to control their own perspective, whereas traditional collaboration technology has a fixed point-of-view controlled only by the on-site professional. Avatour provides our teams with new opportunities to connect; transporting them to a real place, in real time.”

Black & Veatch uses Avatour to perform remote inspections and conduct pre-bid site meetings, risk assessments and virtual site tours; provide remote assistance; and host client workshops and training.

“Plus, by allowing our professionals to collaborate remotely, Avatour helps increase workplace safety by reducing the number of professionals that might need to be in high-risk areas,” Melton said. “And when travel restrictions are in place, Avatour helps reduce travel costs, downtime and lost productivity while also lowering our carbon footprint. This alternative allows us to offer our clients more productive, cost-effective solutions.”

“Black & Veatch is a known innovator in the critical infrastructure space,” said Devon Copley, chief executive officer of Avatour. “Our partnership highlights the company’s commitment to providing excellent client service, backed by its dedication to embracing the digital tools that will allow them to optimize project delivery.”