Advancing Digital Practice Through Strategic Partnership

Company Profile 

HKS, Inc. is a global architecture, design, and planning firm known for delivering innovative, research-driven solutions across sectors including healthcare, hospitality, commercial, education, and sports. With a strong emphasis on design excellence and performance, HKS combines creativity with technical expertise to create environments that enhance human experience and deliver measurable value to clients. The firm operates through a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach, integrating architecture, interiors, planning, and engineering to address complex project requirements on a global scale. 

A defining characteristic of HKS is its commitment to digital transformation and innovation. The firm continually invests in advanced technologies and data-driven processes to improve design quality, streamline workflows, and strengthen collaboration across its distributed teams. By leveraging Building Information Modeling (BIM), automation, and integrated digital platforms, HKS enhances efficiency, consistency, and accuracy throughout the project lifecycle while enabling better-informed decision-making. 

Driven by a mission to deliver sustainable, high-performance solutions, HKS places a strong emphasis on research, environmental responsibility, and long-term impact. Its forward-thinking approach positions the firm to adapt to evolving industry demands while maintaining a focus on client success, operational excellence, and continuous innovation—ensuring it remains a leader in shaping the future of the built environment. 

As HKS expanded its global reach and digital ambitions, these strengths also brought new operational challenges that required a more integrated and scalable approach.

Challenges 

As HKS advanced its digital practice, several critical challenges began to surface, particularly as the firm scaled its operations and expanded its global footprint. Disconnected systems created inefficiencies in how teams accessed and managed BIM content and project data, making it difficult to maintain a seamless digital workflow across projects. At the same time, inconsistencies in standards across regions and teams introduced risk, requiring additional oversight to ensure alignment and quality. 

Operationally, many workflows remained manual, especially within Revit, where repetitive setup processes slowed project initiation and increased the potential for errors. Content management also posed a challenge, as organizing and distributing key assets—such as families, templates, and materials—was neither streamlined nor easily scalable. This complexity was compounded by user adoption barriers, as legacy tools lacked intuitive design, limiting engagement and overall productivity. 

Together, these challenges highlighted the need for a more cohesive and scalable digital ecosystem—one that could unify systems, simplify workflows, and support HKS’s continued growth while enabling consistent, efficient delivery across its global practice. 

Goals 

To address these challenges, HKS established a clear set of transformation goals centered on building a more connected, efficient, and scalable digital environment. At the core was the need to implement a centralized BIM content management platform that could support global operations while ensuring consistency across teams and projects. 

In parallel, the firm aimed to increase efficiency by automating design and documentation workflows, reducing manual effort and accelerating project delivery. Ensuring data consistency and high model quality was also a priority, alongside strengthening enterprise-wide governance and standards to maintain alignment at scale. 

Equally important was improving the user experience and adoption of digital tools, recognizing that intuitive, accessible solutions are critical to driving productivity. Ultimately, HKS sought to foster a culture of continuous innovation by leveraging strategic partnerships and establishing a future-ready digital ecosystem capable of supporting long-term growth. 

To achieve these objectives, HKS partnered with CTC Software (now part of Symetri) to design and implement a comprehensive, future-ready solution.

The Solution 

CTC Software partnered with HKS to deliver a comprehensive transformation of its digital ecosystem, beginning with strategic technology advisory. This initial phase focused on assessing HKS’s existing landscape and identifying the right platform to unify and scale its operations. As a result, HKS adopted the HIVE platform (now known as the Nexus Suite), establishing a robust foundation for centralized BIM content management. This platform enabled the organization of key assets—such as Revit families, templates, and materials—and became the cornerstone of HKS’s broader digital workflow transformation. 

Building on this foundation, CTC Software led the implementation of the Nexus platform, emphasizing scalability, structure, and alignment with enterprise workflows. A centralized content repository and a well-designed content architecture were established, while the Content Management module was configured to enforce standards and improve accessibility. Together, these efforts created a more consistent and collaborative environment across HKS’s global teams, ensuring that best practices could be applied uniformly on a scale. 

A key differentiator in the engagement was the focus on user-driven enhancements, where continuous feedback from HKS teams informed platform improvements. This iterative approach led to a more intuitive user experience, faster content search and retrieval, and stronger alignment with real-world architectural workflows—ultimately increasing adoption and satisfaction across the organization. 

Finally, the partnership expanded into BIM automation integration, transforming Nexus from a content management tool into a powerful engine for innovation. Through the development of the BIM Automation API, HKS was able to automate repetitive modeling and setup processes, develop custom tools such as a Project Startup utility, and enforce standards from the earliest stages of project delivery. As these solutions matured, HKS began to see measurable improvements in efficiency, consistency, and overall project performance. 

Business Outcomes 

Through its collaboration with CTC Software and Symetri, HKS realized significant operational and strategic gains that strengthened both day-to-day performance and long-term scalability. Automation played a central role in improving efficiency, reducing manual effort and accelerating project initiation. At the same time, the introduction of standardized content and workflows enhanced consistency, resulting in stronger model quality, improved data accuracy, and more reliable project outcomes. 

The move to a centralized content environment also enabled stronger collaboration across globally distributed teams, allowing users to easily access and share critical project assets. Combined with user-driven enhancements to the platform, this led to increased adoption, higher engagement, and improved productivity across the organization. As a result, HKS was able to streamline workflows, reduce project timelines, and establish a scalable digital infrastructure through Nexus—one that continues to evolve alongside the firm’s needs. 

Additionally, access to Symetri’s broader portfolio of solutions positions HKS to further advance its digital capabilities, supporting ongoing improvements in productivity, quality assurance, and sustainable design practices. 

These outcomes underscore the value of the partnership and set the stage for continued innovation and long-term success.

Conclusion 

HKS’s collaboration with CTC Software and Symetri demonstrates how a strategic, technology-driven partnership can accelerate digital transformation at scale. By unifying fragmented systems, standardizing workflows, and introducing powerful automation capabilities, HKS successfully built a centralized and scalable digital ecosystem that supports both its global operations and long-term growth objectives. The Nexus platform not only streamlined content management but also enabled greater consistency, improved collaboration, and enhanced overall project performance. 

Beyond operational improvements, this transformation positioned HKS to continuously innovate and adapt in an evolving industry landscape. With a strong foundation in place and access to Symetri’s expanding portfolio, HKS is well equipped to further enhance productivity, maintain high design standards, and advance sustainable practices. Ultimately, this case study demonstrates the lasting value of aligning people, processes, and technology to build a forward-looking organization capable of delivering exceptional results on a scale. 

HKS’s digital evolution has been supported by CTC Software—a leader in BIM automation and content management solutions. Symetri, a global provider of digital solutions for design, engineering, construction, and manufacturing, has strengthened its technology portfolio through the acquisition of CTC Software, enabling firms like HKS to deliver higher-quality projects with increased efficiency and accuracy.