The construction industry is notorious for project delays, cost overruns, and inefficient workflows. Opteam, a pioneering AI-driven construction management software company, is aiming to change that narrative.

By leveraging cutting-edge technologies like generative scheduling and mobile data collection, Opteam aims to empower construction companies to streamline progress tracking, optimise resource allocation and, ultimately, deliver projects on time and within budget.

According to Opteam, key features of its solution include:

•  Seamless site tracking: Mobile-enabled progress tracking reduces manual efforts by 80 per cent;

•  Centralised data access: A unified platform provides easy access to project data for all stakeholders, saving 15 per cent of construction time;

•  AI-powered scheduling: Generative scheduling minimises delays by 30 per cent and reduces recovery planning time from weeks to minutes.

Opteam last month announced that it has successfully closed its pre-seed round for an undisclosed amount from Plus VC, a leading venture capital firm in the Mena region. Other strategic investors who participated in the round are Dar Ventures, the VC arm of Dar, SIAC Ventures, the VC arm of SIAC Construction, and Oraseya Capital, the VC fund of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority.

The funding will be used to expand Opteam’s team, enhance AI capabilities, and establish a strong market presence in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Opteam was founded in 2020 by Dr Tarek Hegazy, a professor and researcher with 20 years of experience in advanced computational project management for construction, and his son Ahmed Hegazy, a seasoned software sales executive. Its first-of-its-kind software is designed to improve how construction companies manage their data and reduce the time it takes to strategise from weeks to minutes. The solution combines advanced data analytics, mobile progress tracking, and automation to support construction teams in optimising resources, reducing delays, and managing complex schedules.

“Opteam is a tool that will finally automate so many of the manual tasks in construction,” emphasises Dr Hegazy, Co-Founder and CIO at Opteam. “The Middle East suffers from the highest amount of time and cost overruns globally and is desperate for a solution. We believe that Opteam is perfectly suited to take on this challenge because we are intimately aware of the processes in construction and the adoption challenges of technology.”

Opteam’s goal is to use this technology to reduce the amount of resources needed for infrastructure by 30 per cent. With a focus on real-time insights and data-driven decision-making, it enables construction teams to automate a large amount of manual tasks, monitor the site with accurate updates, give real-time reporting and intelligently recover project delays, the company said.

At the heart of Opteam lies its innovative approach to data collection and analysis. “Instead of the current norm of extracting and sending excel sheets to the site for progress updates,” explains Ahmed Hegazy, Co-founder and CEO of Opteam, “the app intelligently requests data from the users. It integrates directly with WhatsApp so the users interact with messages. It does not need to be installed, and makes it is easy to collect updates, descriptions, photos, and documents.”

“For the first time in the industry, the project teams can just sit back and watch the data pour in from the site, automatically updating their dashboards, project schedules, and various teams at once,” he adds. “We’ve shown to reduce manual efforts of progress tracking by 80 per cent while ensuring the information is clean and error-free.”

The system is smart enough to ensure the data is entered correctly and according to the logic of previous entries, ensuring an accurate representation of the evolution of activities, he states.

To login, users require an OTP to validate identity. Careful segregation of data is part of the core function of the system, so there is full control over what data users can or cannot see.

Opteam’s true differentiator lies in its AI-powered capabilities. “There are two ways Opteam leverages AI and machine learning,” explains Dr. Hegazy. “Firstly, it generates insights and reports to the user. Because we have the original plan and are constantly tracking progress to that plan, we can use AI to do powerful risk analysis and predictive analytics.”

Secondly, and most significantly, we utilise generative scheduling. We are the first to do this. Opteam can create simulations and what-if analysis to create alternate pathways to completing the project based on changing objectives/recovering delays. If a user wants to change the outcome to achieve a certain objective, the system intelligently understands the project restrictions, limitations, milestones and resource constraints, and tries to find the best way to achieve it.

 “If you’ve seen Marvel’s The Avengers,” continues Dr Hegazy, “it is similar to when Dr Strange peered into the future to see all possible outcomes of the coming battle. When he found the one he wanted, he did all the actions to ensure it came true. That’s basically what we built.”

Opteam’s generative scheduling capabilities stand in stark contrast to traditional methods, which often lead to project delays and cost overruns. “Current tracking/scheduling methods are outdated and inefficient,” explains Dr Hegazy. “80 per cent of projects are in delay, delays are typically 40 per cent over the initial deadline and 77 per cent chance project costs are overrun by at least 30 per cent. The Middle East faces the highest amount of project time and cost overruns than anywhere else in the world (highest average per project).”

“With Opteam, site engineers automatically receive the specific activities they should update via Whatsapp on a daily basis. All data, documents and media are automatically updating dashboards and scheduling tools, requiring zero manual effort. When a delay occurs, users can simply enter a new project objective, and the system will give suggested pathways to achieve those objectives without compromising the project’s integrity,” he adds.

The key value propositions of Opteam for construction companies, according to Ahmed Hegazy, are its real-time dashboards and reporting on the site and WhatsApp-based progress updates for data collection. Also, it automates project tracking and monitoring; and unifies the construction site updates, documentations and the project schedule (this is patented).

Dr Hegazy indicates that Opteam will also support companies with dedicated onboarding and training for the system.

“We are already working with some of the largest construction companies in the region, such as Dar Al Handasah and SIAC Construction, and we invite all construction professionals to experience the future of construction management by visiting https://opteam.ai,” he concludes.