InEight Research Finds 90% of Capital Project Organizations Believe They’re Digitally Advanced — Only 25% Are

New analysis points to a self-awareness gap that quietly undermines how the industry invests in digital transformation

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InEight, a leader in construction project controls software, today highlighted a finding from its capital project research that reframes how the industry should approach digital investment: most organizations believe they are further along than they are. When research participants assessed their own digital maturity, roughly 90% described their organizations as "ahead of the curve" or "reasonably advanced." Measured against objective criteria, only about 25% met that standard.

The finding matters because digital maturity in capital projects is not defined by the number of tools in place, but by whether project data, workflows, and decisions are connected across teams.

The Digital Maturity Gap Is Also a Perception Gap

That distance between perception and reality matters more than the maturity shortfall itself. It suggests that self-assessment alone is an unreliable basis for the capital investment decisions that follow, and that many improvement programs begin with a picture of current-state maturity that is too optimistic to plan against. A program built on an inflated baseline tends to underestimate how much change it actually requires.

Organizations Often Mistake Tools for Digital Maturity

Part of the explanation is that the industry has no shared definition of what digital maturity means. Organizations often equate buying tools with being mature, when the harder measure is whether data flows between those tools and reaches the people making decisions. The complexity of the work can compound the illusion: teams running technically demanding projects assume that sophistication extends to their systems, even when the underlying workflows remain manual.

Complex Capital Projects Still Depend on Disconnected Workflows

The research also found that the complexity and sophistication of project work was not linked to technological sophistication. Many teams running highly complex capital projects still rely heavily on disconnected spreadsheets, email threads, marked-up printouts, and manual data entry.

That semi-analog approach slows decision-making, raises risk, and makes it harder to detect early warning signs before they escalate into cost overruns and rework. It also makes optimization opportunities easy to miss. The first step toward closing the gap, the research suggests, is an honest, externally benchmarked view of where an organization stands.

Closing the Digital Maturity Gap Starts With Connected Project Data

Closing the gap requires a clearer view of how work actually gets done: where data is captured, where it is re-entered, which decisions still depend on spreadsheets, and whether project information can move across cost, schedule, contracts, documents, and field workflows.

"The most concerning finding isn't that three-quarters of capital project organizations aren't digitally mature. It's that many of those same organizations think they are,” said Jake Macholtz, CEO of InEight. “You can't fix a problem you don't see — and right now the industry has a self-awareness gap on one of the most consequential issues it faces. That's a harder problem than adopting new technology."

The finding is drawn from InEight's research on digital maturity across capital project organizations worldwide, published in Become Unbeatable: A Playbook for Aligning Your Team.

About InEight
InEight is a leader in construction project controls software, empowering over 850 companies taking on challenging projects in industries including construction and engineering; transportation infrastructure; mining; water; power and renewables; and oil, gas and chemical. Uniquely suited to capital construction and other complex work, our integrated, modular software manages projects worth over $1 trillion globally, taking control of project information management, costs, schedules, contracts, and construction operations, and delivering insights with advanced analytics and AI. InEight’s solutions adapt and scale to meet the dynamic needs of modern construction, driving operational excellence and successful project outcomes. For more information, follow InEight on LinkedIn or visit InEight.com.

Media Contact Information:
Whitney Wood, Marketing Director | whitney.wood@ineight.com