While this still holds true centuries later, things have become a lot faster and easier for those working in the built environment and construction sectors. Why? Because the construction, real estate, and facilities asset management industry has been revolutionised by the development of digital tools: tools such as Building Information Modeling (BIM).
RIB 4.0 is a complete construction cloud platform developed by RIB Software that connects all people, processes, and data in one centralized platform. RIB 4.0 combines RIB’s iTWO 4.0 technologies with Microsoft Azure, to offer a first class integrated 5D BIM construction management solution for contractors, developers, and owners to speed up their digital transformation journey.
With deep industry know-how and innovation with 5D BIM, BI, AI and cloud technologies, RIB 4.0 connects all people, process and data in one place. This gives architecture, construction, real estate, and engineering, (ACRE) professionals the insight and tools to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure.
But BIM projects often have a tendency to become complex very quickly, eating up development time and money before it actually delivers any projects! That’s why we’ve been working towards automating many of the processes involved in the delivery of these complex systems here at Intwo – helping deliver and manage this infrastructure-based software platform.
RIB Software has long understood the inherent challenges and limitations ACRE professionals face. Typically, the BIM process has involved stitching a range of different disciplines together using legacy and add-on software, and it can take many hours of consultant time to pull into one package.
To help make many of these integration processes easier, we worked with RIB Software to help them deliver their same trusted iTWO platform, but now hosted on a cloud infrastructure: RIB 4.0. When using our automation processes, implementation is now 10 times faster.
With RIB 4.0, virtual and physical processes become aligned – allowing users to maintain a full overview of their projects and assets at all times. Not only does this knowledge accumulation enable users to find the best possible solutions at optimized cost levels, but it ensures that decision-making is based on real-time information.
Following intensive development, the Intwo team is now able to offer a fully DevOps-based automated rollout of new RIB 4.0 customer instances. RIB 4.0 has been an important reference project and provided the proof of concept of the model. Increasingly, customers want a SaaS solution for software – one that’s based on best practices and can be deployed at the touch of a button.
Up until now, the classic form of Managed Services Provider’s (MSP) consulting services has been based on drawing up a design for a solution, incorporating extensive input from several consultants and teams, cross-referral and mix of processes and software architecture, before being handed over to operations for implementation.
For sure, we still need the discovery phase, where we take specific parameters with customers, but this is compressed as an exercise. We then essentially plug into products, before automation produces the customer specific solution – such as the number of servers deployed and software options. This creates a new delivery-focused business model.
Through Azure DevOps and significant research and development investment on our part, we have created a SaaS model to help deliver complex software architecture and functional requirements for RIB Software. In addition, the digital and automated process delivers tangible advantages to the end customer as well – including cost reductions.
The main benefit for end users is actually the speed of deployment. In the past when they wanted a proof of concept from RIB Software, for example, it was a drawn-out process because of the various stages required. However now, even at the initial stage, customers can look at the proof of concept (PoC) before they buy.
Also, on the infrastructure layer, the products benefit from a cycle of continuous improvement. End users won’t see a difference in the product but will experience enhancements and improvements in terms of speed, security, and scalability.
When new functionality becomes available, the platform will be updated automatically. Our automation supports any version of software customers want to run, and ensures users get new platform features quickly, with every regularly scheduled update, compared to requesting things that can take a long time to develop and even longer to implement.
We know it can all sound complex from the outside looking in, but to give an analogy, we compare our operation to a Tesla factory. Each process of design and production is automated. New models can be architected based on set parameters. With no need for armies of personnel, from design to manufacturing, costs are massively reduced.
So, taking the analogy further, we are able to produce models for a range of customers, who in turn, as vendors, provide the best-in-class solutions – in our case, for the dynamic world of BIM as a key tool for the construction of smart buildings, cities, highways, and the built environment.
In short, we put software companies in the fast lane for the delivery of excellence.
DevOps Infrastructure-as-a-Service is a model where cloud infrastructure deployment and management are fully automated using DevOps practices. Instead of manually setting up servers, networks, and storage, everything is handled through automated pipelines. This means businesses can spin up new environments at the touch of a button, cutting down setup time dramatically. Companies like Intwo use this approach on Microsoft Azure to deliver complex software platforms faster, cheaper, and with fewer errors than traditional consulting methods.
Intwo built a fully automated DevOps pipeline that rolls out new RIB 4.0 customer instances without manual intervention. The process takes specific customer parameters, like how many servers are needed and which software options to include, and then automation handles the rest. This approach made implementation roughly 10 times faster compared to the old way. Customers even get to see a working proof of concept before they commit to buying, which was previously a long, drawn out process.
RIB 4.0 is a cloud based construction management platform built by RIB Software. It combines their iTWO technology with Microsoft Azure to deliver a 5D BIM (Building Information Modeling) solution. It connects all the people, processes, and data involved in construction projects into one centralized place. This helps professionals in architecture, construction, real estate, and engineering plan, design, build, and manage buildings and infrastructure more efficiently, with full visibility across every stage of a project.
Automated IaaS rollout gives software companies a much faster path to delivering their product. There is no need for large consulting teams to manually design and deploy each customer environment. Costs go down significantly because the process is repeatable and standardized. Software vendors can offer proof of concept demos quickly, updates roll out automatically, and every deployment follows best practices by default. Think of it like a factory line for cloud infrastructure, where consistency and speed are built into every step.
The cost savings come from removing the heavy manual work that traditional deployments require. In the old model, multiple consultants would spend hours designing, cross referencing, and implementing a solution. With automation, that discovery phase is compressed and the actual deployment is handled by code, not people. Fewer labor hours means lower bills. On top of that, the standardized process reduces errors and rework, so customers are not paying to fix problems that should not have happened in the first place.
Microsoft Azure serves as the cloud foundation for DevOps IaaS solutions like RIB 4.0. It provides the underlying compute, storage, and networking resources that the automated pipelines deploy and manage. Azure DevOps tools are used to build the automation workflows that handle everything from provisioning new environments to pushing updates. Because Azure is a globally available platform with strong security and compliance features, it gives businesses confidence that their infrastructure is reliable, scalable, and well protected.
In a DevOps IaaS setup, the infrastructure layer goes through regular cycles of improvement. End users may not notice changes directly in the product interface, but they benefit from ongoing upgrades in speed, security, and scalability happening behind the scenes. When new functionality becomes available, the platform updates automatically. Users receive enhancements with every scheduled update cycle instead of waiting months for a custom request. This keeps the entire platform modern and performant without disrupting day to day operations.
Construction, real estate, architecture, and engineering (often grouped as ACRE) are prime beneficiaries, especially when using platforms like RIB 4.0. However, any industry that relies on complex software platforms can benefit. Logistics, manufacturing, retail, and professional services companies that need scalable, quickly deployable cloud infrastructure all gain from this model. The key factor is whether a business needs repeatable, standardized deployments that can scale up or down without a huge team of consultants managing every step.
Traditional managed services typically involve consultants designing a custom solution from scratch. They gather requirements, involve multiple teams, build out the architecture, and then hand it off for implementation. It is time consuming and expensive. DevOps IaaS flips that model. The discovery phase is much shorter, and once requirements are captured, automation produces the customer specific environment. It is like comparing custom handmade furniture to a smart factory that produces high quality, customized products at a fraction of the time and cost.
Yes, and that is one of the biggest advantages. In the past, getting a proof of concept from platforms like RIB 4.0 was a lengthy process because of all the manual stages involved. Now, thanks to DevOps automation, customers can see a working proof of concept before making a purchase decision. This takes a lot of the risk out of the equation. Businesses can evaluate the platform in a real environment, confirm it meets their needs, and then move forward with confidence.
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