What challenges did HSO face before AI implementation?

AEC firms face labor-intensive, error-prone manual workflows in billing, time, and expense management. Routine project management and resource allocation are inefficient and delay project delivery. Vendor payment processes often involve backlogs and slow responses, straining relationships. Firms lack real-time visibility and connected data across finance, marketing, HR, and project operations.

What was the impact of the AI solution?

Significantly reduced manual entry, improved billing accuracy, and accelerated reimbursement cycles. Strengthened vendor relationships with faster responses and reduced payment inquiry backlogs. Improved project transparency and better workforce utilization; reduced project delivery risk. Supported scalable growth for AEC firms with unified business processes, reducing operational costs.

Source

Microsoft

HSO transforms AEC professional services with AI-powered agents

Use case typeLegal practice managementUpdated Jun 13, 2026

HSO's aec360 platform, built for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professional services, integrates Microsoft Copilot, Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, and Microsoft Teams to automate and optimize key business processes. The implementation introduces AI-powered agents into workflows such as time and expense entry, vendor communication, billing, and project management. With embedded analytics and automation, firms benefit from improved accuracy, reduced manual effort, accelerated billing, and enhanced client and vendor relationships. The solution leverages Microsoft's secure AI stack to streamline financial, marketing, and HR operations, resulting in increased efficiency, less risk, and improved project outcomes. HSO's industry-specific technology provides connected insights and workflow automation to fully support scalable growth in AEC firms.

Organization: HSO
Industry: Professional Services
Location: United States

Reported outcomes

Strategic outcomes

Customer experience & trustStrengthened vendor relationshipsCustomer experience & trustImproved billing accuracyBetter decisions & insightImproved project transparency and workforce utilizationScale & capacitySupported scalable growth

Primary read

Use case focus

Showing 3 of 4

1Automated Time and Expense Entry for Professional Services
2AI-driven Billing and Invoice Management
3Vendor Payment Inquiry Agents

AEC firms face labor-intensive, error-prone manual workflows in billing, time, and expense management.
Routine project management and resource allocation are inefficient and delay project delivery.
Vendor payment processes often involve backlogs and slow responses, straining relationships.
Firms lack real-time visibility and connected data across finance, marketing, HR, and project operations.

Deployed aec360 platform with embedded Microsoft Copilot and Dynamics 365 AI agents for routine automation.
AI agents automate time and expense entry, vendor payment inquiry, proposal content generation, and status updates within Microsoft Teams.
Integrated project, financial, and HR analytics for real-time decision-making and workforce optimization.
Automated billing and pre-bill review using collaborative online tools.

Technologies

Microsoft Copilot Dynamics 365 Teams

Significantly reduced manual entry, improved billing accuracy, and accelerated reimbursement cycles.
Strengthened vendor relationships with faster responses and reduced payment inquiry backlogs.
Improved project transparency and better workforce utilization; reduced project delivery risk.
Supported scalable growth for AEC firms with unified business processes, reducing operational costs.

Architecture

The aec360 solution integrates Microsoft Copilot and AI agents into Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and Microsoft Teams. Financial, project, HR, and CRM data are unified in the aec360 cloud platform, enabling workflow automation, proposal management, billing, and analytics. AI agents interact within Teams to streamline time entry, expense submission, and vendor communications, all supported by Microsoft's secure data and AI stack.

Sources & evidence1

Groundedness: 4/5

Primary source

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Customer evidence