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THE
ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT AND USAGE OF ICT BY CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
With
technological advances, the construction industry in Nigeria has been
accelerated; growing globally and locally. Construction industry has been used
for measuring economic activity in any economy. According to Ozumba and
Shakantu (2008), contribution of construction to Gross National Product (GNP),
in different countries at various levels of development reflects appreciable
growth, Ozumba and Shakantu (2008). This can be attributed to increasing world
population and the need for more infrastructural facilities to meet the
increasing demand. A recent survey of investment in information technology by
large engineering contractors demonstrates an increasing trend in the
construction industry's use of data management, web application and virtual
reality (Songer et al. 2001). In light of this growing interest in ICT up-take
to prepare organisations for the future, Information and communication
technology has continued to develop rapidly in many spheres of construction
industry
In a recent
research carried out by, Ozumba and Shakantu (2008) ICT has been applied
extensively in pre-construction stage, in product design, production planning
and scheduling. This further proves the indispensability of ICT in the
construction industry.
Nigeria
started implementing her ICT policy in April 2001 after the Federal Executive
Council approved the policy by establishing the National Information Technology
Development Agency (NITDA), the implementing body. (Agyeman, 2007) The policy
empowers NITDA to enter into strategic alliances and joint ventures and to
collaborate with the private sector to realise the country’s vision of making
Nigeria an IT compatible country in Africa. This vision also extends to making
Nigeria a key player in the information society by the year 2005 through the
use of IT for sustainable development and global competitiveness. Other
objectives of Nigeria’s ICT policy are:
• To ensure
that ICT resources are readily available to promote efficient national
development
• To
guarantee that the country benefits maximally, and contributes meaningfully, by
providing
the global solutions to the challenges of the Information Age
• To empower
Nigerians to participate in software and ICT development
• To
encourage local production and manufacture of ICT components in a competitive
manner
• To
establish and develop ICT infrastructure and maximise its use nationwide
• To empower
the youth with ICT skills and prepare them for global competitiveness
• To
integrate ICT into the mainstream of education and training.
Against the
backdrop of the nations ICT policy, all sectors of the economy should
effectively harness the ICT potentials to promote effective national
development and global competitiveness. In view of the highlighted importance
of ICT to the construction industry, it may be timely to conduct research as to
evaluate the use of ICT by construction industry consultants in Lagos state.
1.2STATEMENT
OF PROBLEM
Construction
sector has not been making full use of the potentials of collaborative systems
that information sharing and coordination has been offering to parties in
projects, the industry has not taken full advantage of ICT solution for digital
information exchange and sharing of documents as well as e-tendering which are
benefits accruing from practice of ICT in the industry. In view of this non
full utilisation of ICT concepts in the industry, it may be worthwhile effort
to evaluate the use of ICT by construction industry consultants as to improve
project communication and performance.
The research
questions for this study are stated below:
1. What are the ICT tools used
by construction industry consultants in Nigeria?
2. What is the level of usage of
the ICT tools by construction industry consultants?
3. What impact does ICT tools
have on operational efficiencies of construction industry consultants?
4. What are the constraints to
the usage of ICT tools by construction industry consultants?
1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of
this study is to evaluate the use of ICT by construction industry consultants
in Nigeria and the study set out to achieve the following objectives.
1. To identify and assess the
factors that determine the ICT tools used by construction industry consultants
in Nigeria
2. To evaluate the level of
impact of ICT on consultants’ work
3. To assess the benefit of ICT tools on operational
efficiencies of construction industry consultants
4. To identify the constraints to
the usage of ICT tools by construction industry consultants
1.4 STUDY HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses are postulated for
the study
1. Most professionals in the construction
industry are not familiar and have not used GSM/cell phones, fax mille,
voicemail, electronic datammanagemment, video conferencing,, intercom,
internet, project management soft wares, auto cad, word processing, spread
sheet, master bill and snap vector in construction projects.
2. The use of GSM/cell phones, fax mille,
voicemail, electronic datammanagemment, video conferencing,, intercom,
internet, project management soft wares, auto cad, word processing, spread
sheet, master bill and snape vector by most professionals do not impact on ICT
in the Nigerian construction industry.
3. Benefits of the use of ICT in construction
are not the issues of making professional jobs easier, facilitating decision
making, saving operational cost, improving public image of users, giving
competitive advantage, enhancing productivity, saving time, and improving
project presentation
4.
Constraints to the usage of ICT in construction do not include insufficient
power supply, job size and fees not enough for ICT, High cost of hardware and
software, fear of virus attack, high rate of obsolesce of hardware and
software, inadequate ICT content in construction education, scarcity of
professional software, high cost of engaging computer staff, lack of management
desire and appreciation of ICT, low return on ICT investments and fear of ICT
making consultants redundant.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Although the
first hype around the role of information and communication technologies (ICT)
in improving the competitiveness and productivity of enterprises has given way
to disillusionment, these technologies are still central to growth and
competitiveness Zwick, (2003). The construction industry can benefit immensely
from the use of ICT. ICT use also provides opportunities to solve coordination
problems associated with construction fragmentation (Latham 1994). Construction
projects demand the intensive generation and communication of information
Brewer, Gajendran, McCann and Chen
(2003).
The
architects, for instance, can start by creating an intelligent 3D CAD models
that can be viewed and shared with the rest of the design team members. Working
from the same base model, the engineers can rapidly develop their respective
engineering and detail designs allowing the quantity surveyors to quickly
quantify preliminary cost estimates of the project. This allows a higher
productivity and enhanced performance among construction consultants. When
these CAD capabilities are well exploited, owners will find that very
significant savings in costs and time can be achieved associated with
Construction fragmentation (Latham 1994).
1.6
DEFINITION OF TERMS
ICT: Information and communication technology
CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRY: The construction industry includes all stakeholders including clients
involved in the construction of buildings and civil/heavy engineering works.
THE DESIGN
CONSULTANTS: Professionals who are registered and authorised by professional
bodies to render services to clients in the area of construction such as
designing the architectural, mechanical and electrical plans sections and
elevations of a building including costing for same. These professionals
include the quantity surveyor, the civil/structural engineer, the mechanical
and electrical engineer and the architect
INTRANET: is
defined as an internet network utilizing internet and web protocols located
within an organization’s information technology (IT) security domain and
intended primarily for use by organization’s members (Slyke and Belanger,
2003); in particular for organization applications such as: electronic mail (
e-mail) , file transfer protocol ( FTP), telnet and the World Wide .
EXTRANET: an
extranet is a network that uses internet protocols and the public
telecommunication system for communicating both privately and selectively with
the contractor’s clients and business partners. Extranets can be used to
exchange large volumes of data, including the sharing of the product
catalogues, providing design specifications and details.
ELECTRONIC
COMMERCE: electronic commerce is employing information technology to improve
transactions between companies. It involves the integration of e-mail, and
similar technologies into a comprehensive electronic- based system of business
functions. It is based on the electronic processing and transmission of data,
including text, sound and video.
INFOBASES: infobases are commercial databases that cater
for the information resource needs of specific interest groups. The main
benefit is the ready accessibility of information that is current.
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