Digital Controls = New Frictions
As AEC teams adopt shared digital models and AI tools, firms are increasingly confronting frictions around data control, versioning and governance that can slow projects if left unaddressed. Observers say these information‑management problems are emerging alongside faster digital collaboration, requiring clearer processes and ownership. (itwire.com)
Architecture, engineering and construction firms are sharing more work in live digital models, but control over the data inside those models is turning into a project risk. (influencing.com) In Revizto’s April 13, 2026 survey release, 64.4 percent of Australian firms said they were very or extremely concerned about data ownership when choosing technology vendors, versus 37.8 percent globally. The survey covered 2,006 architecture, engineering, construction and operations professionals worldwide, including 300 in Australia and 90 chief information officers. (influencing.com) Australia also reported deeper use of model-based work: 29 percent of firms said their workflows were mostly or fully model-based, compared with 21.7 percent globally. But 32 percent of Australian respondents said regulation was the biggest barrier to getting value from artificial intelligence, and 72.2 percent said software and cloud licensing costs had risen over the past year. (influencing.com) A shared model is a single digital version of a project that architects, engineers and contractors update together instead of passing static drawings back and forth. International standard ISO 19650 was written to manage that flow of information across a building’s life cycle, including classification, exchange and security. (bsigroup.com) The point of those rules is simple: everyone needs to know which file is current, who can change it, and what happens when information moves from design to construction to operations. BuildingSMART says construction teams still rely on formal handovers and clarifications when information is ambiguous, even when the source material began as a digital model. (education.buildingsmart.org) That tension is showing up just as firms push harder on digital transformation. Autodesk said in its 2025 State of Design and Make report that leaders still see digital transformation as useful, but named implementing artificial intelligence and other emerging tools as the second most-cited challenge after cost control. (autodesk.com) Revizto’s global report, released April 8, 2026, found the same bottleneck in day-to-day delivery: 32 percent of respondents said time was the top barrier to technology adoption, 60 percent of workflows were still mostly or entirely based on two-dimensional drawings, and 41 percent cited poor communication and coordination as a leading cause of rework. (prnewswire.com) Australian firms are not struggling because they avoided digital tools. Revizto’s country release said they reported lower average budget overruns than the global sample, 9.8 percent versus 11.6 percent, which suggests the friction is shifting from adoption to governance. (influencing.com) The practical fix is less about buying another platform than deciding who owns project information, which model is authoritative, and how artificial intelligence can use that data without breaking client, contract or regulatory rules. As more teams work inside the same digital environment, those decisions are becoming part of basic project delivery, not back-office administration. (bsigroup.com)
