Bentley Systems (BSY) J.P. Morgan 54th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference summary

AI strategy and industry positioning

• Focus on long-term growth, leveraging AI to accelerate infrastructure development and resilience.

• AI is seen as a transformative force, enabling productivity gains in software development and infrastructure optimization.

• Engineering firms face labor constraints, making AI-driven efficiency crucial for handling record backlogs.

• AI enables agentic workflows, allowing engineers to optimize designs across multiple dimensions and disciplines.

• Trusted relationships and proprietary data position the company as a digital quartermaster for both engineering firms and owner/operators.

Product innovation and monetization

• Recent launch of STAAD MCP server, with plans to expand API and MCP services across the portfolio over the coming year.

• No monetization of API or MCP consumption planned for the current year to encourage experimentation and learning.

• Hundreds of large accounts are already using agentic workflows, though usage is not yet tracked or monetized.

• Proprietary, validated simulation engines and regulatory requirements provide a competitive moat against open-source alternatives.

Data stewardship and customer trust

• Strict policy of requiring customer consent for AI training, emphasizing data security and intellectual property protection.

• Approach allows customers to leverage their own data for proprietary differentiation, especially in automating drawing production.

• Data agreements are managed on a project basis, supporting customer-specific standards and confidentiality.