Using BIM in secret

I was recently reading an interesting article by Robert Klaschka a Principal Director at Studio Klaschka (the full article can be viewed here).

It was a good article on the Long view of BIM from the point of an architectural practice. The part I found particularly interesting was at the end where he talks about his experience of using BIM with builders/contractors. This is quite aligned with what I have seen happening in the market.

BIM when used correctly is a competitive advantage for your company.

Building contractors know this better than anybody, this is due to anything that speeds up a project or reduces errors on site means large amounts of money in savings for them. So in a lot of ways BIM actually brings greater value to them (at least when you think in terms of money in the bank).

As Robert points out because of this we are seeing contractors keeping their BIM use a secret or down playing it. This makes them a lot more competitive when up against their competitors who haven't adopted BIM - yet.

This is in stark contrast to consultants who are a lot more open about their usage of BIM, however I have struck a few that are keeping some of their usage a secret/down playing it, as once again it is a competitive advantage.

What's your opinion? Do you think they should open up or is it fine to use it to your advantage? - It's no different to any other technology a company may use in house to stay competitive...