Breaking Silos and Unlocking Value in Capital Projects with Data & AI

The capital projects and infrastructure sector – spanning project owners, EPC players, contractors and suppliers – faces mounting complexity. Projects today are larger, more interconnected and demand agility to balance cost, safety, schedule and sustainability. Despite heavy investments in digital tools, much of the sector continues to grapple with fragmented data, siloed functions and disconnected stakeholders. This disconnect obscures visibility, hinders collaboration and leaves large pools of trapped or untapped value across the project lifecycle.

The rising maturity of Data and AI-led transformations presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address these challenges. By building the right foundational enablers across People, Process, Data and Technology, organizations can break down silos and drive outcome-oriented execution. But doing so requires re-thinking the basics, not just deploying more digital tools. 

Foundation Elements for a Cohesive, AI-Powered Transformation

1. People – Enablers of Change, Not Passive Participants

• Transformation is seldom about technology alone; it begins with mindset shifts and new ways of collaborating.
• Owners, EPC players, field teams and extended supply chains must be brought onto a common platform of trust and shared ownership.
• Cross-functional literacy in data and AI concepts is as critical as technical expertise—empowering stakeholders at all levels to interpret insights and act on them.
• Incentive models need re-alignment to reward collaboration and objective-driven delivery, rather than siloed functional performance.

2. Process – From Linear Workflows to Integrated Orchestration

• Traditional project workflows are often sequential, hand-off-driven and optimized within individual silos (engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning).
• Processes need to be redesigned for transparency and integration, enabling parallelization through shared data layers and predictive AI models.
• Continuous feedback loops powered by real-time insights enable proactive risk management rather than reactive firefighting.
• Standardization of processes across owners and contractors builds the backbone for seamless collaboration.

3. Data – The Lifeline of Transformation

• Capital projects generate vast streams of structured and unstructured data (design models, procurement records, site logs, IoT sensors captured data etc.). However, much of this remains hidden or inaccessible.
• A coherent data strategy covering governance, quality, interoperability and ownership is non-negotiable.
• Integration of internal datasets with external sources (regulatory data, supply chain intelligence, vendor inputs) exponentially enhances AI’s predictive and prescriptive power.
• Establishing a single source of truth ensures all stakeholders operate with consistent insights, reducing disputes and delays.

4. Technology – Enabler of Scale and Impact, Not Fragmentation

• Technology should act as the execution layer that operationalizes aligned people, processes and data.
• Platforms that bridge functions rather than siloed point solutions, unlock value.
• Cloud, digital twin, IoT, and AI/ML solutions provide the necessary infrastructure to enable predictive insights on schedule risks, cost overruns, equipment availability, and safety hazards.
• Cybersecurity, scalability and interoperability must be embedded by design to future-proof technology choices.

Breaking Silos, Driving Outcomes

When these four dimensions converge, Data & AI-led transformation delivers tangible outcomes:

• For Owners: Improved visibility of capital allocation, proactive risk control and assurance of schedule and ROI targets.
• For EPC Players: Streamlined execution, reduced claims and rework, increased productivity and competitive differentiation.
• For All Stakeholders: Trust-based relationships through transparent data sharing, reduced disputes and alignment on common goals.

Ultimately, the shift is from siloed activity tracking to goal-oriented orchestration where every stakeholder decision, powered by integrated insights, contributes to overarching project outcomes.

Realizing Trapped and Untapped Value

The capital projects ecosystem is rich with both trapped value (e.g. inefficiencies, delays, miscommunication) and untapped value (e.g. predictive optimization, sustainable project design, adaptive resourcing). Unleashing these requires:

• Shared Vision – Data and AI as enablers of collective success, not just internal efficiencies.
• Execution Discipline – Embedding AI-driven insights into daily project execution, not leaving them at a strategy level.
• Governance & Trust – Ensuring transparency and fairness in how data is shared, owned and leveraged.

Transformation maturity lies not in technology adoption alone but in building a culture and operating model that harnesses AI to drive action and outcomes. The future of capital projects will be defined not by who wields the most advanced digital tool, but by who builds the strongest foundations across People, Process, Data and Technology. Breaking functional and business silos is not optional but it is the gateway to unlocking both trapped efficiencies and untapped innovations. By treating Data & AI as enterprise connectors, owners and EPC players can close the gap between ambition and execution, achieving predictable, sustainable and value-driven results across the project lifecycle.

#Accenture #S&CGN #IXI&CP #CapitalProjects #Infrastructure #ArtificialIntelligence #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfWork #Innovation

Andy Webster Jonas Kampik Bryan Carruthers Mark Hilton Cristian Corbetti Lori Hernandez, EMBA Aldo Souza, BSc Eng (Hons), MBA, FAusIMM PRAVEEN MATTA Huda As'ad Franz-Josef Pohle Desmond Bell Adam J Shaw, MRICS, MAIQS Nishant Mehta Vijay Baliyan, CMRP Anurag Jain Piyush Manocha Akshaiy Sharma Ankush Gandotra Ankit Gupta Prasanta Sil Shruti Arora