Digitalisation is here - but the problems remain

Projects are growing while schedules tighten, against a backdrop of skilled labour shortages, volatile supply chains and increasing sustainability and compliance requirements. Construction companies and designers must manage more complexity than a few years ago. At the same time, many companies have significantly expanded their software landscape. This growing range of digital tools was intended to reduce that complexity. Yet cost overruns and rework persist.

This contradiction is the starting point of Revizto's Digital Design & Construction Report 2026. For the report, Revizto commissioned market research company Censuswide to survey more than 2,000 architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals from the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Respondents were explicitly not told that Revizto was the research partner.

The subject is closely related to Revizto's own business. The company develops a collaboration platform that brings 2D drawings and 3D models into a shared environment to support project coordination. The report's central argument follows from this: the next stage of digitalisation depends less on buying more software than on connecting tools effectively and using them in everyday project work.

Technology remains the biggest challenge

At first glance, that connection is still missing. Although most companies consider themselves highly digitalised, more than one in five (22 per cent) identify technology integration and adoption as their greatest challenge. That is a decrease of four  percentage points from 2025, but technology remains the leading challenge for the second year running. The problem is therefore less about finding suitable software. Companies must integrate new tools into existing processes, exchange data between applications and ensure that project teams actually use them.

Pressure from projects themselves is also increasing. Seventeen per cent identify project complexity and coordination as their greatest challenge, a topic that ranked much lower in 2025. As projects grow larger and more technically demanding, the exchange of information and coordination of decisions between designers, construction companies and trades become increasingly important.

Although the main issues are shared globally, the data show that local market conditions intensify particular pressures. Switzerland places the strongest emphasis on budgets and cost control among the countries surveyed, reflecting a strong focus on business performance. Respondents in Great Britain, Germany and the UAE report growing pressure from regulatory compliance and sustainability, possibly reflecting these markets' strict environmental standards. Pressure to integrate technology is highest in the USA and France, at over 25 per cent compared with 22 per cent globally. This suggests larger or more complex collections of software tools and greater integration challenges in these mature markets.

Time is more precious than money

Why has progress been limited despite a steady stream of new digital tools? The study offers a surprisingly clear answer: time, rather than money, comes first. 32 per cent cite the time required for implementation and training as the biggest barrier to new technology. 27 per cent lack clear guidelines or requirements, while 24 per cent cite resistance to change. Cost comes only after these, at 18 per cent.

This changes the familiar debate about digitalisation. A company can afford software and still struggle to introduce it effectively. Project teams need time to learn new workflows while continuing to meet deadlines on live projects.

Francesca Lofiego, Digital Lead at Structure Tone UK, confirms the findings: 'Changing people's mindset is often the greatest difficulty when implementing new technology. This may also be why so many companies hesitate to introduce tools that could genuinely simplify and improve project management.' Digitalisation therefore becomes a leadership responsibility. Buying licences is not enough. Companies need time for training, clear rules and people responsible for embedding new ways of working.

Build skills rather than buy them

Another major problem remains: the shortage of skilled workers. Here, the study points to an important strategic shift. Many companies are no longer relying solely on recruiting the digital expertise they lack. They want to make their existing teams more productive.

47 per cent want to simplify tools and workflows so employees need less training. 44 per cent invest in developing existing staff. 42 per cent are exploring AI applications and 40 per cent automation. Only 36 per cent mention hiring additional employees with digital skills.

Making better use of existing resources can also mean reducing the number and complexity of tools. Each additional system costs more than its licence fee. People need to understand it, data must flow in and out, and interfaces must work.

BIM is growing - but 2D still dominates everyday work

The gap between digital ambitions and everyday practice is particularly clear in the use of 2D and 3D. Sixty per cent of the companies surveyed still work mainly from drawings: 22 per cent describe their processes as entirely drawing-based and a further 38 per cent as largely drawing-based. Only 22 per cent work mainly or entirely with models, while 18 per cent use both approaches in roughly equal measure.

This does not mean that these companies do not use BIM. Models and conventional drawings often run in parallel for a practical reason: in many projects, 2D drawings remain the contractually required and formally approved deliverable. Designers and contractors must then interpret complex spatial relationships from those drawings.

The industry's task is therefore not simply to eliminate 2D. It needs to connect drawings and models so that both sources of information remain consistent throughout the project. Marcel Wyss, Head of Digital Construction at Hälg Group, puts it this way in the report: "With 2D, we are often at the limits of the technology." Delivering projects through models could expand those possibilities, but it requires the right skills.

Revizto

Budget overruns of up to 20 percent1 / 4

Data ownership and control are key concerns2 / 4

Time is the scarcest resource3 / 4

Change requests are the most common cause of rework4 / 4

The software stack becomes a growing cost

The study also included a survey specifically for CIOs. Four questions were addressed exclusively to 600 CIOs. As complexity grows, so does their software stack: the collection of applications and cloud services a company uses.

Two-thirds of the CIOs surveyed report that their software and cloud licensing costs rose over the past twelve months. For almost half of those, the increase was between one and ten per cent; for 17 per cent, it was between eleven and 25 per cent. Plans for the next 12 to 18 months show no clear trend, however. Forty-one per cent want to expand their software landscape, 39 per cent want to reduce it and 19 per cent intend to keep it broadly unchanged.

This apparent contradiction reflects different starting points. Some companies need additional capabilities; others are already trying to consolidate too many parallel systems. Both groups face the same question: which tool solves a specific problem, and which merely adds another interface?

Data sovereignty becomes a boardroom issue

As companies deliver more of their projects digitally, questions about who owns the resulting data and whether it will remain available become more pressing. Almost all 600 CIOs are concerned about data sovereignty and control when selecting technology providers; 38 per cent describe themselves as very or extremely concerned. Software decisions therefore extend beyond functionality and ease of use. Companies also need to assess whether they can continue using their project data independently of the provider and how strongly they will become tied to individual platforms.

The findings on AI are similarly restrained. Twenty-four per cent of CIOs identify regulatory issues as the biggest barrier to creating value with AI, while 23 per cent cite a lack of digital skills. A further 17 per cent point to missing integrations and 15 per cent to poor data foundations. Only ten per cent report that they are already creating value and see no significant barriers.

The message is clear: companies cannot simply apply AI to disorganised processes and fragmented data and expect it to solve those problems automatically. David Felker, CIO of Trilon Group, therefore recommends starting with a limited scope: 'The most successful AI implementations today are those that are hyper-focused.' Specific tasks can offer a more useful starting point than deploying AI across an entire company at once.

Making digitalisation manageable

Taken together, the figures show an industry that has introduced many digital tools in recent years while familiar problems persist. Software costs, project complexity and the demands on employees continue to rise. This does not mean digitalisation has failed. The challenge has shifted: companies need to make their digital processes manageable, as well as introduce them.

This means reducing gaps between design and site work, connecting 2D and 3D, making information available across software boundaries and giving employees tools that simplify their work instead of adding complexity.

This is also where Revizto's commercial interest in the study lies. Its platform sits at the intersection of models, drawings and project coordination. The report identifies clear problems in this area, but the survey does not investigate whether individual products solve them. It shows where the industry itself currently encounters the greatest friction.

Cost overruns remain the norm

The gap between ambition and reality is evident in how routinely projects exceed their budgets. Ninety-two per cent of respondents report that their projects typically exceed the original estimate by at least six per cent. For 45 per cent, the increase is between six and ten per cent; a further 42 per cent report overruns of eleven to 20 per cent. Only eight per cent stay within a maximum deviation of five per cent. The problem is therefore less about a few spectacular outliers than about moderate, recurring overruns becoming a normal part of project delivery.

Weather, ground conditions and other external factors are not the only causes of extra work and cost. Change orders, client changes and scope creep lead the list at 47 per cent. Design errors and incomplete drawings follow at 42 per cent, with poor communication and coordination at 41 per cent. Unexpected site conditions also account for 41 per cent, down substantially from the 53 per cent who cited this factor in 2025.

Sal D'Ambrosia, Director of Construction Technology at US contractor Wm. Blanchard, therefore sees the problem as less about technology itself. 'Rework, budget overruns and coordination errors usually stem from a lack of alignment between designers, trades and owners. The real challenge is engaging everyone involved.' In his experience, projects run more smoothly when these parties collaborate earlier. Coordination therefore has a financial value: identifying errors and inconsistencies early helps avoid rework and improves control of costs and schedules.