The results of a new survey are out that identifies industry norms for IT practices, standards, spending and goals. It will help  engineering, architectural, planning, and environmental consulting firms see how they stack up in information technology assets and utilization.

The 18th edition of Zweig Group’s "Information Technology Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms" provides a sharp picture of the state of IT use in the design profession and the construction industry.

One feature that looks particularly useful in the 148-page report is a chapter that breaks out all of the tables in the report in one section that gives users the opportunity to fill in their firm’s answer to any question or calculation right beside what is broken out in the book. It provides an easy way to gauge how your firm measures up to the norm for other firms similar to yours.

Data were collected in a nationwide survey in April through June of 98 architectural, engineering, planning and environmental consulting firms.

The breakdown was multidiscipline engineering firms (29%), full-service engineering or E/A firms (20%), architecture or interiors firms (19%), single-discipline engineering firms (13%), A/E (primarily architecture) firms (7%), and environmental consulting firms (6%).

While 36 percent of firms had fewer than 50 employees, firms with more than 100 employees comprised the largest part of the sample (53%).

Firms’ net service revenue for 2014 ranged from $108,000 to $170 million, with a median of $14 million.
Most firms had growing revenues and staff (80%), while 13% said they were stable, and 7% said they were declining.
The vast majority (80%) had an IT department or at least one full-time, dedicated IT staffer.