IAM feature Ursula Bryan looks at the relationship between assets and the services they provide, and explains why outcomes really do matter Author bio Infrastructure is the fabric of modern society: it is critical to sustaining life, it supports economic development and growth, and it enables our security. Across the world, trillions of dollars are being invested in infrastructure, driven by many factors, including supporting the United Nations sustainable development goals, addressing infrastructure gaps, building resilience and contributing to social equity. For example, the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) covers all of these drivers and includes clear references to the infrastructure gap rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and sustainable development, resilience and social equity. This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will rebuild Americas roads, bridges and rails, expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in communities that have too often been left behind. In addition, more than ever before, there is a recognition that infrastructure plans must be coordinated to bring about the intended benefits. The need for this coordination is ever increasing as sectors become more interdependent. As an example, the Indian governments Gati-Shakti National Infrastructure Master Plan specifically brings together the infrastructure plans of various ministries and state governments with the aim of institutionalising holistic planning for stakeholders for major infrastructure projects. Instead of planning and designing separately in silos, the projects will be designed and executed with a common vision. Given the massive investment in infrastructure, the challenges with people resources and the supply chain, and the increasing need for coordination of infrastructure plans and convergence of sectors, it has never been more important that organisations implement asset management best practices to ensure everyone is getting the most from these investments not only now, but into the future. Ursula Bryan is the CEO at the IAM. Prior to this role, she worked for more than 30 years as an Asset Management Leader at National Grid. S is a past President of the IAM, has been a member of the IAM Board since 2009 and was made a Life Fellow of the IAM in 2022. More than ever before, there is a recognition that infrastructure plans must be co ordinated to bring about the intended benefits Why outcomes matter The IAM partnered with ITN Business to produce Why Outcomes Matter to shine a light on the importance of focusing on the benefits of infrastructure. In his Why Outcomes Matter studio interview, IAM President Christian Roberts talks about the difference between shovel-ready projects and shovel-worthy projects. We have a section on our IAM Discussion Forum where our wider asset management community are providing their thoughts and comments on this topic. In this discussion, there is a recognition that understanding outcomes requires a better understanding of the relationship between assets and the services they are to provide and that the assessment of the value cannot always be interpreted through a financial lens. It also requires a focus more on the future, as the infrastructure assets will be delivering services to end users long after the project team has completed its work, where the long-term usage of those assets and therefore the benefits they provide might change. Understanding and evaluating outcomes frequently requires much wider stakeholder engagement, with often new and creative approaches to enabling stakeholders to provide their input. It is also driving a more sophisticated way of measuring the value of infrastructure investments such as the six capitals approach as well as requiring planning for the long term, taking into account how the benefits change over time. Get involved There is a category for why outcomes matter on the IAM discussion forum, and we welcome our wider asset management community submitting new topics on this or any other category. We want to maximise the opportunity to engage across our asset management community and wider society on why outcomes matter, so you can expect to see more activity associated with outcomes in 2023. The videos created as part of the Why Outcomes Matter programme provide a resource to bring the topic to life. The contributors to the programme Christian Roberts, Nick ORegan, from the United Nations Office of Project Services, Jeremy Goldberg, from Microsoft, and our partners BAM, Burns & McDonnell, Northern, Osmose and UK Power Networks provide their thoughts and views, and we would be really interested to hear more from you on this subject. We have already decided that the theme of our IAM Global virtual conference in 2023 will be why outcomes matter. We are also interested in anyone who would like to submit a case study or give a webinar on the subject. If you would like to get involved, please contact Ursula Bryan.