At the recent Digital Construction Week, BIMplus took the time to walk through the Start-up Zone. We asked the start-ups about their technology and their businesses. Here, DocuPing co-founder Simon MacArthur gives us the lowdown on his company.
Let’s have your elevator pitch: how does your technology help those in the built environment?
Managing document issues is often a time-consuming and labour-intensive process. We have all experienced the rush to get documents sent last thing on Friday and the risk of forgetting to update your register on the Monday.
It’s essential to have accurate records but it can be challenging across multiple projects, various common data environments and platforms, large files and mailbox limits, and manual registers and issue sheets.
DocuPing is a fast and simple way of issuing documents for architects, engineers, consultants and contractors.
Which businesses have tested it or are currently using it?
We launched the platform this past fortnight and already have several architectural and engineering clients on board.
We are also expanding the debate by running round-table meetings to discuss architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) document control and collaboration. The next meeting is on 5 October at The Building Society in London, and there will be more than 20 organisations in attendance. Should anyone be interested in joining, please get in touch and we can provide further details.
“There are many existing document management systems available, but they are often too complicated and require a single party to oversee and own them.”
What was the genesis of your technology?
Each of the founders has been in the AEC industry for more than 20 years. We understand that file sharing within the AEC sector has been a challenge for many years now, with a lack of efficiency, consistency and safety in data and file handling.
There are many existing systems available, but they are often too complicated and require a single party to oversee and own them. CDEs and PIM systems are typically designed for large projects, and they can be based on legacy technology and concepts, causing adoption challenges and not necessarily catering for smaller projects or the design phases.
Often CDEs are also deployed at the construction stage by the client or contractor, which results in transferring and double-handling of information between internal records and the single project site.
Conversely, a third of projects use unsuitably lightweight file transfer tools, including Teams and Dropbox. While these are easy to use and extremely affordable, they do not have the required controls in place for safe document issues.
DocuPing seeks to offer a balance between the systems currently on the market and is both affordable, quick to deploy, and scalable.
The platform also promises forever access to any party that has issued or received information, which encourages adoption. This achieved through a distributed collaboration module, i.e. connected hubs rather than a single website.
Who is your senior management team and what’s their background?
DocuPing has been designed by industry experts: Simon MacArthur, co-founder of Union Square Software (now Deltek PIM); Cubic Interactive co-founders Daniel LoGiudice, Duncan Hartop and Blake Edwards; and Flo10 co-founders Aidan Boustred and Matthew Nickerson.
Are you looking for funding?
The solution has had pre-seed funding from the founding team. We are interested in considering funding paths to scale and reach our objective of becoming the market leader for collaboration in the construction industry.
What are your plans for the next two years?
We understand that it takes time for solutions to become commonplace across the construction industry. This next two years is all about helping a core group of design consultants, architects, engineers and contractors in the UK and Ireland. The platform has been developed to suit the key needs of the issuing process.
We have lots of ideas to further enhance process workflows and discrete document handling processes that occur in parts of the construction lifecycle.
For more information, visit www.docuping.com.
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