What challenges did John Holland face before AI implementation?

Australian construction industry lagged in digital transformation. Manual, labor-intensive business processes limited efficiency. Lack of secure, private generative AI risked exposure of sensitive company data. Talent shortages in the sector made productivity improvements critical. Need to accelerate tender planning and sustainability initiatives.

What was the impact of the AI solution?

Over 200 daily users and 1,000+ queries executed each day on private generative AI platform. Copilot deployed to 260+ users, increasing productivity in content generation and planning. Employees reported shorter turnaround on documentation and improved workflow efficiency. Early results indicate Copilot will streamline tender processes and enhance sustainability in asset design.

Source

Microsoft

John Holland boosts construction efficiency with AI-driven automation and Copilot adoption

Use case typeDocument automationUpdated Jun 13, 2026

John Holland, a major player in Australia and New Zealand's construction sector, accelerated its digital transformation journey by leveraging Microsoft Azure OpenAI and Microsoft 365 Copilot. After initial experiments with machine learning for invoice processing, the company developed a secure, private implementation of generative AI, providing employees with a safe, organization-wide AI assistant. In September 2023, John Holland joined Microsoft's Copilot Early Access Program, introducing Copilot throughout IT and core business teams. Internal training, scenario-based workshops, and targeted adoption allowed Copilot to be widely used for information search, document drafting, and project planning. Collaboration with partners like GHD explores how AI can drive sustainability, including optimizing material usage in asset design. Responsible, ethical AI usage was established through stringent standards and data handling protocols. The deployment delivered measurable productivity improvements and informed future industry-specific AI use cases.

Organization: John Holland
Industry: Real Estate
Location: Australia
Published: March 2024

Reported outcomes

Strategic outcomes

New product / capabilityImplemented private generative AI assistantSpeed & agilityAutomated invoice processing workflowsSustainability & ESGImproved sustainability in asset design

Primary read

Use case focus

Showing 3 of 5

1AI-powered invoice processing automation
2Secure enterprise generative AI chatbot for workforce enablement
3Accelerated tender planning with AI

Australian construction industry lagged in digital transformation.
Manual, labor-intensive business processes limited efficiency.
Lack of secure, private generative AI risked exposure of sensitive company data.
Talent shortages in the sector made productivity improvements critical.
Need to accelerate tender planning and sustainability initiatives.

Implemented machine learning and optical character recognition to automate invoice processing.
Developed a private, secure ChatGPT-like solution leveraging Azure OpenAI for employee use.
Rolled out Microsoft 365 Copilot via Early Access Program, with internal training sessions.
Expanded Copilot use to operational teams for automating search, document creation, and reporting.
Collaboration with GHD to explore Copilot's role in sustainability by optimizing designs to reduce carbon footprint.

Technologies

Azure OpenAI Microsoft 365 Copilot

Over 200 daily users and 1,000+ queries executed each day on private generative AI platform.
Copilot deployed to 260+ users, increasing productivity in content generation and planning.
Employees reported shorter turnaround on documentation and improved workflow efficiency.
Early results indicate Copilot will streamline tender processes and enhance sustainability in asset design.

Implementation partners1

GHD

Sources & evidence1

Groundedness: Unavailable

Primary source

AI-generated summary. Verify important details with the linked sources before relying on this case.

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Customer evidence