Why You Need a Visual Intelligence Platform Alongside Your PM System

By

Micheal Jones

and Anna K. Cottrell

Reviewed by 

Zoe Mullan

and Nicholas Dunbar

Last Updated Jan 30, 2026

By

Micheal Jones

and Anna K. Cottrell

Reviewed By

Zoe Mullan

and Nicholas Dunbar

In our previous articles about visual intelligence and spatial AI, we explored why this technology is needed right now, how it works and how it’s already delivering value to construction site teams. In our final article about visual intelligence, we focus on how the new technology and PM systems work together to ground project data in actual site conditions, reducing ambiguity and strengthening every workflow. 

The best way to understand how visual intelligence and project management software interact is to view them as two lenses on reality. PM software captures intentions; visual intelligence captures evidence – and when combined, they give teams a complete and continuously updated picture of what’s really happening on site. Whether you run Procore or another PM system with open APIs, photos, issues, and schedules can flow bi-directionally to keep a single source of truth.

We spoke to Michael Jones, Senior Director of Product at OpenSpace AI. Michael, who is based Seattle WA (USA), has a wealth of experience connecting and unifying disparate construction data streams, including for Stanley Black & Decker. Across all of his roles, it has been his experience that “the field is where the work happens,” and any software integration must reduce friction for teams on the ground to truly succeed. Michael spoke to us about how integrating visual intelligence technology into your construction software can deliver immediate and concrete benefits for your site. 

Stronger Decision Making, Better ROI

When site imagery automatically flows into a project management platform, construction leaders can make better decisions thanks to the real-time context provided by visual intelligence. Executives often assume this is just “better photo capture,” but Michael explains that visual intelligence is fundamentally different: it organises, interprets, and contextualises imagery so that decisions are based on evidence rather than memory or assumptions.

Michael stresses that the improved outcomes won’t be one-size-fits-all for companies. Instead of promising a definitive ROI percentage increase, visual intelligence offers targeted solutions to specific goals that will differ from executive to executive. It might be reducing the turnaround time on a building or reducing disputes across projects. 

What matters most is that the data becomes more accurate, accessible, and actionable – delivering clearer visibility across an entire project portfolio, not just a single pilot. Michael summarises:

"What are you doing with those images that drive the business outcome that's important to you? That's going to be different from executive to executive."

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management

Openspace.ai

One good way to think about the immediate benefits of integrating visual intelligence into your PM workflow is that it will start improving multiple projects across your company. So, instead of seeing a single-project result that may or may not be an outlier, you will see changes across the board. Site teams often become the strongest internal advocates for the technology because it helps them work faster and resolve issues more confidently.

Less Ambiguity, Less Risk

Any construction leader who has had to resolve a dispute, especially if it went to adjudication, will know how costly, time-consuming and stressful the process is. Michael recalls representing his company in arbitration before the advent of visual intelligence platforms, recalling literally months of painstaking crawling through vast swaths of documentation just to prove a single point. But, as Michael points out,

"With visual intelligence, you can get back to a very specific time to answer a very specific, tailored question."

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management

Openspace.ai

What took Michael months back in the day could take minutes now. Keeping a daily visual record of the site is like creating a built-in risk shield: it lowers insurance premiums and strengthens claims. And because PM workflows are directly connected to this visual record, teams can rely on shared evidence instead of conflicting narratives. In fact, the dispute likely could’ve been resolved without the need for adjudication in the first place. 

Imagine an expensive piece of equipment is delivered to a job site, and then…it goes missing. This is a true story that one of Michael’s clients had to deal with. It turns out that the $85,000 piece of equipment had been placed under a stairwell, which then got drywalled in there. Because there was a visual record of the mishap, the drywall was easily torn down and the equipment retrieved. But, as Michael stresses, that's a $100 change, not a $150,000 change. Moreover, thanks to a robust visual record of the site, a potentially lengthy and tricky insurance claim was completely avoided.

Saving Time, Reducing Admin

But what about the benefits delivered directly to construction teams? As we know, new technology adoption only works if it is intuitive and has real advantages for the people using it every day. Michael’s own experience doing snag walks with a myriad of concomitant issues taught him that reducing that administrative load is a huge benefit of visual intelligence:

"You're always going to have an image on every single thing that you do. If it's done during a walk, the AI knows where you're at. If it's done outside of a walk, we just introduced the auto location feature, which will suggest a location. All of that instead of scrambling around and trying to find a sheet and scroll in, zoom in, and tap the pin on it."

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management

Openspace.ai

Some of the most positive results integrating visual intelligence into PM platforms come from these actionable, visually oriented tasks. When every observation or issue is automatically pinned to the right place and time, documentation becomes a natural part of the workflow rather than a separate administrative chore.

Site crews sometimes see 360-degree walks as extra work. And Michael acknowledges that some initial pushback against this behavioural change may be inevitable. However, in his experience, construction teams quickly change their minds once they start using the technology - because it allows them to accomplish so much more simply by walking around and being more connected to the job site. Instead of spending an entire day buried in paperwork, the team is actually out on site, better able to understand its condition and notice potential problems. Michael comments:

"They're getting that [visual] coverage, they're getting that reduced risk, but also they're using that data on the back end. They're going back and finding an $85,000 piece of equipment that's framed in, or less crazy examples like, ‘hey, the drywall's up, but where do we run that pipe?’ Once they start to feel that value and understand that they can go back and recall [what happened] and that they're getting the additional value of walking in the field, that's where we see them stop pushing back." 

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management

Openspace.ai

Another way integrating visual intelligence into your PM platform saves time is by making the process of documenting progress and any issues more natural and seamless. Typing information into forms is everyone’s least favourite task, and a manual form is only as complete as the effort someone put into filling it out. Now imagine you can just speak into your phone, giving detailed information as you see it. The result is more complete data with a much faster turnaround time.

Finally, Michael points to an often neglected aspect of construction site admin: the potential for friction and mistrust in the process, particularly between teams and owners. Having the imagery just reduces the amount of such friction because you have a very complete package that can be handed to the owner. Michael highlights the opportunity for making data sharing a much more seamless process that is beneficial for everyone:

"You don't have to describe a condition or hand-wave a problem that you don't want to deal with. [Visual intelligence] democratises reality: you can share it with all of your contractors and all the owners and all the stakeholders in the project." 

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management

Openspace.ai

Integrating visual data into your PM flow reduces work for everyone because it is so readily accessible by multiple parties. There are fewer instances of duplicate actions, since every action is processed and recorded in a way that’s synched and visible. Teams spend less time reconciling different interpretations of the same task because they’re all looking at the same objective evidence.

Looking to the Future

Visual intelligence is already transforming construction sites and how they are managed. Michael predicts further benefits as the technology matures, particularly in the area of progress tracking, which is a notoriously problematic segment of the construction process:

"Historically, in construction, it’s a very heavy task to confirm progress: confirming things that are installed, trying to figure out how much of that prefabricated wall we have installed or how much of it is framed, or where are we at with the finishes?"

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management

Openspace.ai

If you’re an executive, you might be wondering if it’s time to get your manpower on site to do some of that installation work. Or, if you're a main contractor, you may have an entire division committed to keeping up with the schedule. All of this is labour-intensive and not always accurate.

This is where visual intelligence will begin delivering even greater value: by automating part of the progress verification process, reducing guesswork, and giving teams a more reliable basis for planning and sequencing work. As integrations deepen, PM systems will increasingly receive these insights automatically, helping teams update schedules and resolve bottlenecks more quickly.  

Looking ahead, shared, time‑stamped visuals support performance‑based contracts and reduce adversarial behaviour. When both sides can verify ‘what, where, and when’ in minutes, trust improves, and risk pricing can soften.

Michael emphasises strengthening trust as the vital ‘x’ factor that visual intelligence supplies, improving not just workflows and turnarounds, but the whole construction business culture: 

"The new way of building should be the old way of building, where there’s an enormous amount of respect and trust in one another on a jobsite that we're all trying to just get to the end of the project on time so that everyone can make money."

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management

Openspace.ai

Written by

Micheal Jones

Senior Director of Product Management | Openspace.ai

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Anna K. Cottrell

Writer and Editor | Freelance

9 articles

Anna K. Cottrell is a writer and researcher with an expertise in the property and finance sectors.

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Reviewed by

Zoe Mullan

27 articles

Zoe Mullan is an experienced content writer and editor with a background in marketing and communications in the e-learning sector. Zoe holds an MA in English Literature and History from the University of Glasgow and a PGDip in Journalism from the University of Strathclyde and lives in Northern Ireland.

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Nicholas Dunbar

Content Manager | Procore

65 articles

Nick Dunbar oversees the creation and management of UK and Ireland educational content at Procore. Previously, he worked as a sustainability writer at the Building Research Establishment and served as a sustainability consultant within the built environment sector. Nick holds degrees in industrial sustainability and environmental sciences and lives in Camden, London.

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