SSP AG is one of the leading integrated planning offices in Germany and currently has around 220 employees in Bochum, Karlsruhe, Aachen and Berlin. The focus of the architectural and engineering services is on “Building in Existing Contexts”. Planning is based on the premises of the GreytoGreen® label created by SSP in 2019, which focuses on ecology and climate resilience in addition to implementing the three sustainability principles of efficiency, sufficiency and consistency. The various requirements and interrelationships of the associated topics are linked constructively and intelligently. The range of services also includes urban planning/area development, project management, expert opinions, life cycle consulting and building management.
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SSP takes an integral approach to the planning process. Flexible teams of architects, urban planners, building services engineers, experts and property economists therefore work together on every project right from the start. This way of working not only saves time and costs: it paves the way for well thought-out and future-orientated planning. As a result, SSP AG has established itself as a reliable partner for its clients.
As an architecture and engineering firm, SSP’s work is strongly project-based. Over the past 47 years, this has resulted in a wealth of expertise that SSP can “recycle” in many current projects.
SSP Team, Photographer: Beckdesign Bochum
Challenges posed by successful digitalisation
The digitalisation of SSP AG has brought many advantages, but also challenges. The amount of data generated in the company is growing rapidly. Despite a good structure, this makes it increasingly challenging to maintain an overview of internal knowledge and to find the relevant information quickly. SSP is already very well positioned with an existing broad-based knowledge management system that has grown over many years. However, this should be even more quickly accessible and present, as well as being available and applicable in the right place.
Specific questions that arise in everyday life include the following:
- Architectural and engineering activities as well as project management:
- What value must be used for a calculation according to a certain standard?
- Which materials were used in a particular project and which subcontractors were commissioned?
- In which protocols were the contents of the specific topics defined?
- Traceability of information:
- Why was a decision made in a project the way it was?
- Are there experience reports or evaluations of materials that should be considered for new projects?
- In which projects were these contents also planned?
- Classic knowledge management:
- Which employees have their focus in similar projects and could be interviewed as experts?
- What best practices and lessons learnt were documented from previous projects?
Furthermore, this also includes use cases questions for specific clauses in the extensive contracts or questions about classic process knowledge in the company – for example: How can I customise my email signature?
Making knowledge accessible with AI
In 2023, SSP AG became aware of the Aachen-based AI company amberSearch via a digitization fair. The first step was to start working with a selected team in order to check the solution’s suitability for the defined use cases.
“It was already clear to us in 2023 that we wanted to gain experience with AI and needed an application that would make even better use of our good structure. We don’t want to introduce an AI solution for which we first have to find a use case. When we got to know amberSearch at DigitalX in Cologne, it was a perfect fit.”
Sebastian Krewerth, Head of IT at SSP AG
Although amberSearch had to deal with a hybrid IT infrastructure at SSP, the technical implementation was quick and easy. The purely technical effort was about half a day, in addition to the typical project management effort. Once SSP AG’s data had been indexed, the first users were able to access the solution and gain initial experience just a few days after the technical implementation.
“I was impressed by the speed of implementation with which SSP adopted the introduction of AI. On the one hand, the project team was very quick to introduce the technology, while on the other, the users also showed a broad interest and were able to realise the added value of the technology.”
Moritz Nikula, Customer Success Manager at amberSearch
Following the onboarding of the first users, SSP was able to search intelligently through the various existing databases. Other intelligent functions provided by amberSearch, such as amberAI, enable users to chat with documents or the entire expertise. The SSP now not only has an intelligent search function, but can also chat with internal expertise – similar to ChatGPT with data from the internet.
Being compliant with GDPR and respecting access rights
A particular challenge in the company’s use was taking the GDPR and access rights into account. On the one hand, of course, not everyone in the company is allowed to see everything, and on the other hand, the data must be processed with appropriate IT security standards.
Access rights
To take existing access rights into account, amberSearch uses the existing single sign-on, which is linked to the Active Directory. This means that no duplicate access rights management maintenance is necessary. The access rights are maintained in the core systems and simply adopted by amberSearch.
GDPR and data security
As important customer data is also stored in the data, a particular focus was placed on data security and compliance with the GDPR. Here, amberSearch also relies on its partner Telekom – the solution is hosted on the Open Telekom Cloud – a sovereign cloud hosted in Germany.
Blue Office Bochum, Headquarter SSP AG, Photografpher: Jörg Hempel
Roll out & support
During the first phase with a limited group, it was not only the functionality of the software that impressed, but also the excellent customer support:
“amberSearch’s first-class support ensures that our users are well looked after at all times and never left alone. The dedication and expertise of the team give us the confidence that we will always be optimally supported.”
Sebastian Krewerth, Head of IT at SSP AG
The next step was therefore decided together with digitalisation partner Deutsche Telekom to roll out the solution to an extended group of people. From summer 2024, further users will have access to amberSearch and will be able to realise the added value of modern technology.
Added value for SSP and testimonials
One of the users wrote in a Teams chat just a few hours after using amberSearch for the first time: “THE SEARCH FUNCTION ALONE WITHOUT THE GENERATIVE AI IS AMAZING”. Other users were similarly enthusiastic and stated:
“Although I’ve never dealt with AI much myself before, I find it super easy to use the software as it’s very much modelled on search engines I’m familiar with, such as Google.”
a user of amberSearch at SSP
In SSP’s project business, it is also much easier for employees to access information very quickly. On the one hand, internal queries are massively reduced and, on the other, employees are less frequently distracted from their day-to-day activities, which in turn leads to better quality results. Another effect: employees who are new to the company find it much easier to access previous information, which leads to a faster increase in productivity.
We are delighted to be able to use our solution to help customers in the SME sector, such as SSP AG, to solve the challenges posed by growing data volumes in the long term.