a technology investment. We're going to see more M&A of AEC frms investing in technology and technology frms investing in AEC. That's defnitely going to be part of the landscape in the near term and we're already seeing it by the way. There have been several notable transactions in the last few weeks announced, of acquiring companies that have just smart building technology, or some piece of what they do, that can really make the work more effcient in our space. And once we become anything close to the tech industry, that's when things are bad, then we can really buckle up. Randy Wilburn [31:21] Yeah, that's exciting, though. Yeah, I mean, I think we are seeing that migration of the way that design frms are running and operating. And it's not so much the old wineskin approach to design it. They are merging technology with a lot of the things that they do at the drafting table at the design table, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. And then, of course, new things are being developed every day. It's defnitely going to make for an interesting landscape for sure. Jamie Claire Kiser [31:51] The other thing I want to point out too, is that I don't think it’s talked about a lot. And this is a feature of private equity entering the space, whether you're looking to be acquired by private equity, or just functioning within the same ecosystem, which we all are now. But fnancial buyers often have corporate social responsibility, obligations, and diversity, expectations within their company, or the funds that they're using may have certain expectations for the companies they will invest in and what that criteria looks like. And I think that what may be, I don't know, perhaps an ironic outcome of this change in the investor profle. The folks from private equity might end up being what gets us to actually embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion in our space, which is, I think, something that people aren't really may be paying attention to. But the requirements for board composition and just a diversity of ownership and leadership that come from some of the larger fnancial institutions and those investment platforms, there are requirements there that our industry hasn't really gotten to yet. And I think that it's something worth talking about.
Randy Wilburn [32:53] I agree with you 100%. Because to be quite honest with you, I'd never pursued my lips to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion until after George Floyd. And we did a bunch of episodes on it here on the Zweig Letter podcast. But I mean, I always say better late than never, and if that's what it will mean for private equity to be involved in this space. I’d say, I’d have at it because it's been a long enough
The Zweig Letter Podcast – www.TheZweigLetter.com
Made with FlippingBook Annual report