What happens when a thousand engineers get a practical AI Playbook with tools, instead of yet another “digital vision”?
We helped Sweco turn its AI ambition into a repeatable development process and real-world genAI tools. A real-world AI Strategy.
The Approach
Sweco knew that AI could free up expert time and improve project delivery, but “use AI more” isn’t a strategy. With thousands of projects every year and a lot of specialised knowledge-based work involved, the real problem was how to enhance quality AND decrease time spent.
Together, we focused on two strategic things: 1) A structured way to find and test AI use cases, and 2) Real, usable tools that fit how Sweco’s sales teams actually work.
Using our AI concepting and POC process, Sweco started by identifying high-impact, repeatable tasks: document creation, document analysis and finding the right information across massive project archives. We rapidly built and piloted two genAI assistants that help consultants draft and review RFP documents, search enterprise knowledge, and surface critical project data in seconds instead of manually gathering them up for hours.
The Challenge
Sweco, one of Europe’s leading architecture and engineering consultancies, sought to free up expert time for creative problem-solving, improve productivity, and deliver more value to clients by automating routine and knowledge-intensive tasks.
Although it was clear from the start that Sweco needed and AI Strategy, that wasn’t the desired starting point. Rather, it was to learn by doing, to be able to build a coherent strategy.
Results
The POC-driven approach gave Sweco a repeatable model for validating AI ideas quickly and scaling into production the ones that actually work. The result from the first POC was time savings, smoother document management and better support in tailoring work to client needs. This results in better quality offers that are more likely to be approved by clients.
All this will also help position Sweco as a digital leader in engineering and construction, not just a spectator of the AI shift.
A great position to start building strategy.
“What I learned was that the technical things are easy, but people and change leadership not so much. Fortunately, we got help for everything.”
Eetu Partala, Director of Technology, Sweco Finland Buildings Division.
