We have been exploring how digital has been embedded in infrastructure programmes to understand what good should look like – from the importance of people when successfully integrating new technologies and tools and the opportunity to transform programme enterprises, to the real potential for data to drive better outcomes both within current and future projects.

In an increasingly complex world, the demands and expectations placed on infrastructure are considerable: driving economies, equalling-out societal opportunities and improving sustainability. Digital has a fundamental and exciting role to play in enabling more successful outcomes.  

Survey results: the power of digital

We have held up a mirror up to the industry, with a survey to benchmark how companies around the globe are using digital to transform performance and outcomes. To assess the maturity of these sectors and identify what we need to do to further our cause for a digital-first approach, we spoke to over 100 experts across the world’s most sophisticated and ambitious projects, including aviation, roads, defence, utilities and more. 

Our findings have reinforced our confidence in the power of digital. This includes, in particular, the opportunities project teams and clients have to unlock greater productivity, security and sustainability through thinking ‘digital first’. A digital-first strategy is embedding digital from the earliest stages, integrating it throughout programmes and considering it as fundamental to business strategy. 

The survey results also give a sense of how far the industry still has to go to fully take advantage of these benefits. Even when progress has been made, our sector is often just ‘digitising’ – using digital to improve existing business models and ways of working. There is potential to go much further to truly ‘digitalise’ – reimagine those business models from the ground up with digital at the core.   

The complex nature of major programmes can make this even harder – but it is clear that digital approaches need to be more consistent and mature across the sector, and fully embedded in a way that captures the potential – and need – for driving greater value.  

Our survey findings focus on three main digital-first themes:

1. Integration: digital strategies must be developed earlier

Sixty-two percent of survey respondents said that there was a clear digital strategy was in place. This is encouraging, but it is not just the presence of digital but the extent to which it is integrated into programmes that matters.

Early adoption is critical to success. Just over half of respondents said that their digital strategy was in place from the outset of their project, and this group has reaped the benefits. Ninety-six percent of this group recognised the value of digital to their programme when it comes to achieving milestones, and 75 percent said it was helping them to unlock long-term value.

Our goal as a sector must be to champion these successes. For those leading the way, we must encourage them to keep pioneering and improving. Digital strategies need to be nurtured, reviewed and updated to ensure they remain fit for purpose. Of those that said digital is failing to do what they need it to for their programmes, 71 percent admitted that they are not reviewing their strategy. Rapid technological advances mean it is not enough to stand still.

There is also a significant cohort of programmes for whom digital is an afterthought and not as embedded as it needs to be – with 61 percent of all respondents saying that digital was not driving their business strategy. Convincing this portion of the industry that digital can be a key tool is critical not just for their programmes, but to improve outcomes from the sector as a whole.