Project data should accelerate decision-making, not slow down engineering progress.

For a long time, the data collection capabilities of the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry have grown exponentially. Hexagon Multivista's 2025 data shows that its clients captured 15,525,207 photos and completed 384,279 scans in just one year. However, this explosion in data volume has not automatically translated into more efficient project management. Instead, fragmented information stored across different tools, folders, and reports forces teams to spend significant time verifying data authenticity rather than making timely decisions based on it.

The RICS 2025 report "Artificial Intelligence in Construction" also highlights this pain point: project data must first become accessible, governed, and connected to support better decision-making. For engineering contractors and owners, disconnected data directly impacts on-site responsiveness, stakeholder coordination, and risk control.

Core Issue: Decision Friction Rather Than Data Volume

• When project information is difficult to find, access, or interpret, teams need to repeatedly verify before taking action, creating what is known as "decision friction." This manifests as:
• No unified entry point for project records, even though teams invest significant time collecting photos, scans, reports, and models;
• Office teams lack the latest project context, while field teams receive instructions that do not reflect actual conditions;
• VDC, operations, and project delivery teams rely on different workflows and access permissions, increasing coordination difficulty;
• Technology investments improve visibility, but the proliferation of platforms and vendors introduces additional complexity.

True "project intelligence" is not simply data archiving; it is about connecting project information to form contextualized construction intelligence, shortening the distance between "what happened on site" and "what needs to be done next."

Transition from Project Information to Construction Intelligence

Solutions like Hexagon Multivista Hub are driving this transition: by providing centralized access to capture service projects, simplifying information search and navigation, and gradually integrating analytics capabilities, AI search, and agent-based workflows. Their value lies not in replacing team expertise, but in making information easier to obtain, understand, and apply.

When teams can quickly find the right project context, they spend less time tracking information and confirming conditions, and more time focusing on issues that affect progress, quality, and coordination. This shift also improves communication between the office and the field—when office managers can review existing information, understand current conditions, and align with the team, field teams receive clearer instructions based on shared context.

Industry Impact and Future Trends

For the engineering industry, connected workflows mean: faster response times, lower coordination costs, and higher project transparency. As project complexity increases, what distinguishes different companies will no longer be how much data they have, but how easily teams can turn data into shared understanding.However, transformation also faces challenges: the difficulty of technology integration, the cost of personnel training, and the establishment of a data-sharing culture within the organization. Leaders need to formulate a clear data governance strategy, avoiding the stacking of single tools, and instead building a unified digital foundation.

Looking ahead, AI and automation will further enhance the efficiency of data utilization—for example, querying project information through natural language, automatically identifying conflicts, and suggesting solutions. But this must be based on reliable data connectivity.

Conclusion

More data does not necessarily lead to better decisions. Only when project information becomes easy to access, navigate, and use can it transform into true construction intelligence, driving project progress rather than hindering decision-making. For the global engineering industry, reducing decision-making friction and accelerating the path from data to action will be key breakthroughs in improving productivity in the next phase.

This article is based on sponsored content from Construction Dive (Hexagon Multivista), with the original report published by RICS in 2025. The data mentioned in the article comes from Hexagon Multivista's 2025 customer statistics.