Beyond BIM — Introducing the Digital Reframe

Machiel Odendaal
Jul 8
3 min read

July 2025 - Machiel Odendaal

Beyond BIM — the question that kept me awake

Late‑winter 2023. After yet another BIM training session that felt like a repetitive day, I drove through Johannesburg traffic, replaying the same conversation: tools adopted, and the behaviours haven’t changed. One thought came through and struck me:

What lies beyond BIM?

Hitting the ceiling

For years, BIM was my north star of digitisation. I loved the craft, the models, the workflows, and the training of teams. But the pattern was clear: firms saw the need for change and seldom changed enough to matter. Even the bold adopters landed in the same fee models, familiar client interactions and unchanged risk profiles. The industry had hit a ceiling, the proof that technology alone can’t change the tide.

Three insights that widened the lens

Richard & Daniel Susskind – The Future of the Professions: expertise is being unbundled and redistributed.
David L. Rogers – The Digital Transformation Playbook: digital change is strategic first, cultural second, technological third.
Westerman, Bonnet & McAfee – Leading Digital: industry leaders re‑imagine value before they re‑tool.

Together, they painted the same picture: software expertise without reinvention is a cul-de-sac.

The penny dropped

A podcast in November, Evan Troxel’s being interviewed on Designing a Digital AEC Practice, pulled my thoughts together. Troxel described a firm that aligns strategic vision, elevates design quality and sparks innovation while rethinking labour costs. I took a very important mental note:

Digital Practice

The title of digital transformation that the industry needed. Reframing, looking at technology through a different lens, became the core idea for how we design, deliver and capture value. And so Digital Reframe was born.

Why Digital Reframe exists

Purpose: Help creative practices in the built environment design and build their digital practice.

The journey so far has sharpened five strengths I bring to the work:

Strategic & systems thinking – seeing tools, data and people as interlocking pieces.
Futuristic vision – exploring future ideas before they hit the mainstream.
Ideation & experimentation – rapid prototyping to test and learn.
Learner & educator – distilling complex ideas into actionable steps.
Coaching & team dynamics – designing tech-culture, motivating change, and building trust.

Digital Reframe isn’t here to shift software or be solution-led. Instead, I want to work shoulder-to-shoulder with practices to embed data, systems thinking and continuous learning into the DNA of the practice. For decisions to be evidence-led and results speak for themselves.

“Architect lifts a clear overlay showing a colourful node-and-link diagram, revealing a hand-sketched building section beneath—illustrating the shift from traditional plans to data-driven insight. — Looking at the traditional through a reframed lens.

The journey map

Where is your practice today, and where could it be? A little reframing could help.

Stage	Focus	Signals	First step
Late Majority	Tool‑led efficiency	BIM adoption is rising, but processes reflect CAD‑era habits.	Streamline workflows; measure gains in hours, not features (software) used.
Early Majority	Culture‑led growth	Experiments in cross‑tool ecosystem. A need for a broad digital roadmap.	Draft a digital practice blueprint. Create and publish insights internally.
Early Adopters	Transformation	Organisation shifts to digital‑by‑default. Pilots in outcome‑based delivery.	Formalise the new operating mode. Implement the lessons across the practice.

This map will evolve as Digital Reframe matures and the industry shifts.

An invitation

Curious about the journey? Let’s talk. Whether you want to swap notes, collaborate, or simply rethink digital practice together, join me.

Let’s design and build the digital practices of tomorrow.