Capital projects run over budget by an average of $1.2 billion, while delays extend timelines by six months to two years. Even in industries like energy and renewables, where execution should be a strength, the numbers don’t look better.. As capital spending ramps up, complexity is outpacing the systems meant to manage it. Static dashboards, outdated schedules, and siloed data simply can't keep up.
As a result, project owners and EPC managers are asking:
The answer lies in adopting an AI Control Tower for Capital Projects, a solution designed precisely to provide the early visibility, proactive foresight, and strategic agility these projects demand. In this post, we’ll explore why now is the moment to adopt an AI Control Tower and how it can transform your project delivery.
Energy projects are more complex than ever with longer supply chains, tighter labor markets, long lead equipment constraints, and growing demand from AI data centers.. McKinsey reports that nearly 80% of projects exceed their original budgets. In industries already facing margin pressures, this level of inefficiency is simply unsustainable.
Why do traditional project tools fail to keep up?
Traditional tools are built for plans, not change. Schedules fall out of sync the moment something shifts—yet there’s no easy way to see which contractors are slipping or why. Change orders often surface only after costs have already blown past control. And the data to catch issues early? It’s scattered across ERPs, scheduling software, emails, and site reports and more, forcing project leads to make decisions with half the picture.
Global capital spending is growing, over $3.5 trillion annually, driven by energy transition, demand for AI data centers, infrastructure upgrades, and new industrial capacity. But execution methods haven’t evolved at the same pace. This mismatch has created a rare window: project leaders know their systems can’t scale, and many have already seen the upside of AI in areas like supply chain and logistics. The appetite for real transformation is finally here.
Most project tools show you what’s already gone wrong. A true AI Control Tower does something different: it thinks across your data. It reads the fine print in contracts, picks up signals in emails and weekly reports, and connects them with live schedules and contracts, just like a sharp project manager would. It doesn’t wait for issues to show up in dashboards. It catches the delay hinted at in a missed shipment update, or the claim buried in a contractor’s daily log, before they hit your budget or timeline.
The most effective AI Control Towers deliver several critical capabilities:
A Control Tower keeps an eye on your project's pulse across all data sources all the time, so you don't have to wait for problems to come up in progress meetings. Discover how you can turn scattered signals into early warnings with Bolo AI's Control Tower for Capital Projects.
The impact of a true Control Tower is clear: it helps teams act earlier, avoid surprises, and stay in control of cost and schedule. Here’s where it delivers the most value.
But the impact goes beyond dollars and days. An AI Control Tower also drives strategic value. It builds organizational agility, enabling teams to adapt quickly to changing project conditions. And it fosters a culture of data-driven decision making across the enterprise.
Implementing an AI Control Tower for Capital Projects is a strategic move, but success depends on how you approach it. Here’s how top-performing organizations do it.
Start by evaluating your organization’s readiness:
A clear readiness assessment helps align leadership, technology, and change management from the outset.
Don’t aim for a “big bang” launch. The most successful implementations start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) focused on high-value use cases. This approach delivers early wins and builds momentum for broader adoption.
Begin by:
For teams ready to move forward:
As capital projects grow more complex, traditional tools and methods are no longer enough to keep pace. Static reports and reactive management leave too much to chance, driving costly delays, overruns, and lost opportunities.
An AI Control Tower for Capital Projects changes the game. It empowers leaders to anticipate risks, make faster and smarter decisions, and deliver better outcomes across the entire project lifecycle. The result? Stronger margins, greater stakeholder confidence, and a true competitive edge.
The market is moving fast. Leading organizations are already leveraging AI to transform project performance, turning project risk into a strategic advantage. The question isn’t if your team should adopt this approach, but how soon.
Ready to lead the way?
Bolo AI’s Control Tower for Capital Projects enables capital project teams to optimize project execution, control risk, and drive measurable business results.
By transforming meeting minutes, emails, and reports into early-warning signals, Bolo AI empowers your teams to act before delays, claims, or cost overruns take hold.
Send us a mail at info@bolo.ai to schedule a tailored demo or consultation.
