Meet our Data Solutions Team: Tapping into Intelligence-Driven Data Solutions with Abhishek Singh

Hi Abhishek, can you tell us how the work you do is helping deliver Jacobs’ strategy?

As Director, Technology Convergence, my focus is on leveraging emerging and disruptive technologies to help our clients manage their assets more effectively.

I’m part of a global team that delivers cloud, cyber, data and digital solutions for our customers – it’s an exciting place to be. In addition to working with Jacobs colleagues across the world, I work with government agencies, critical infrastructure providers and a variety of delivery partners to develop and deliver solutions that provide efficiency, safety and sustainability benefits to our clients’ operations.

You recently led a successful Intelligent Asset Management (IAM) trial with an Australian client. Tell us more. 

Operating in a regulated industry, our client experienced significant revenue volatility through the pandemic. This impacted the organization's ability to service its geographically dispersed asset base, risking asset and facilities failures.

Jacobs partnered with the client to develop and implement an asset and facilities management plan. The plan considered the deployment of digital technologies in 2024 but, in discussion with the client’s senior leadership, we fast-tracked some aspects, including an Intelligent Asset Management (IAM) trial. The trial was conducted over four months and implemented all the elements of IAM at various sites, including asset data acquisition, integration, analytics and decision-support capabilities.

Why is Intelligent Asset Management important for our clients? What were some of the benefits?

IAM helps organizations access the rich intelligence hidden beneath the surface of asset data, leading to efficiency, safety and sustainability benefits. The real-time monitoring of assets improves responses to potential failures, reduces reactive maintenance tasks, improves planning and scheduling of proactive maintenance and significantly reduces travel to remote sites. This improves service delivery because potential performance degradations are identified early and resolved before impacting services to customers. There are also improvements in workplace health and safety outcomes because the requirement for technicians to perform unplanned, high-risk activities is reduced and maintenance regimes can shift from a preventative to predictive approach.

And the success of this trial was the result of global collaboration?

Yes, the IAM team drew on the expertise available across Jacobs globally. The asset management team supporting mission-critical assets and facilities for NASA, and our data analytics team in Australia, were instrumental during the trial. The U.S.-based team has significant experience deploying IAM at multiple sites and their advice helped us frame and progress the trial in a way that delivered optimal benefits for our Australian client.

What are the next steps?

The trial clearly established the benefits of implementing IAM at scale, including improved service delivery and maintenance programs. It also helped us set a pathway for digitizing the network of assets. We are now in discussions with similar clients to develop asset-digitization strategies to future-proof their operations. The approach is based on the successes and lessons from last year's trial.

What would you say to young people exploring their career options in STEAM?

The world we live in is changing and we must keep pace with it. STEAM education enables young people to develop a mindset that allows them to be flexible, look for patterns, find connections, evaluate information and ensure their skills remain relevant over time. I’d tell young people to continue to explore, experience and influence the world around them to create equity for the planet and its people.