Phase Shift | Insight
How an independent design process helped reduce a $2.5 million technology project to approximately $1.5 million.
A few years ago, an owner’s representative approached Phase Shift about a significant technology upgrade for a prominent public venue.
A preferred technology contractor had developed a solution with an estimated cost of approximately $2.5 million. Before moving forward, the owner’s representative asked a simple question:
Does this project really need to cost this much?
The honest answer was that no one knew yet.
Phase Shift was brought in to take a step back and start with the fundamentals: understand how the facility needed to operate, talk with the stakeholders, establish the actual functional requirements, and determine an appropriate budget before committing to a technology solution.
That process revealed opportunities to substantially simplify the proposed systems while still meeting the owner’s needs.
The initial programming work ultimately led to Phase Shift developing the full technology design. Our $77,000 design engagement produced a tightly defined, coordinated solution with an anticipated installation budget of approximately $1.5 million, roughly $1 million less than the original contractor estimate.
That is a compelling return on an investment in independent design.
But the real lesson isn’t that an independent consultant will always make a project less expensive. Sometimes the right solution really does require a significant investment.
The value comes from answering a more important question first:
What does the owner actually need?
Technology projects can become expensive very quickly when products and systems begin defining the solution before the requirements have been clearly established. A disciplined programming and design process reverses that sequence. First define the experience, functionality, operational needs, and priorities. Then design the technology required to support them.
In this case, doing that helped turn a $2.5 million concept into a $1.5 million project while still delivering the functionality the owner needed.
Good technology design isn’t simply another project cost. Done well, it can be one of the best investments an owner makes.
Tony Warner, Principal and COO
Tony Warner is a Principal and Chief Operating Officer at Phase Shift Consulting, with more than three decades of experience in technology consulting and audiovisual design. His work focuses on helping clients and design teams translate operational needs into thoughtful, practical technology solutions, with an emphasis on client advocacy, design quality, and successful project outcomes.