Technology in Architectural Practice

This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Technology in Architectural Practice and Practice Management Member Conversations .
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I am looking for an existing survey or study that looks at midsized A/E firms in terms of what portion/percentage of their overhead expenses are directly attributable to technology, i.e, hardware, software, maintenance, administrative expenses, etc.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

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Wayne Chang AIA, LEED AP
Project Manager, Associate
CLRdesign, Inc.
Philadelphia PA
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Mr Chang,

I began my career 20 years ago on the drafting board and your question is a good one and got me thinking...

Lets assume that Firm A's hard and soft technology costs are 1/4 of wages, that Firm B's hard and soft technology costs are equal to wages, and Firm C's hard and soft technology costs are 3/4 of wages.

All 3 Firms will thrive, provided they provide Service to meet and perhaps exceed their Customer's expectation.

Not investing in Technology is an option, although increasingly rare.

Last, Cloud Computing Vendors offer Firms "pay as you go" Service meaning that investing in the form of Hard Capital Expenditures to be amortized over time is no longer the only option.

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David Plager AIA
Portland OR
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The AIA did not ask this question in the most recent Firm Survey, but we did in the previous version, and found that in 2005 IT expenditures accounted for 2-3% of firms' gross billings, an average of $36,000 per firm.

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Douglas Paul
Director, Knowledge Communities
The American Institute of Architects
Washington DC
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The 2010 DesignIntelligence Technology survey found a wide range of annual spending on IT as a percentage of net revenue. 27% of respondents reported spending 2-3% on IT. 11% reported spending 4%, while 24% reported spending 5% (the largest group of firms). 19% of firms reported spending more than 10% of net revenue on IT - with 4% spending 20% of net.