Exploring Information and Communications Technology for Enhanced Communication in Non-traditional Procurement

Abstract

In today’s digitalization era, the global construction industry has witnessed a naissance Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools and platforms for which have had significant impact on the way project teams and organizations interact as well as having impact on storing, processing, retrieving, disseminating and sharing of information. The information-intensive nature of construction project delivery process requires real-time access and flow of information between all the project team members. Given the present scenario, when project participants are geographically separated and with increased virtuality, adoption of ICT that enables effective communication is critical. However, despite the wave of enthusiasm for many ICT tools such as intranet, Internet, extranet, project Website, BIM, Internet of things, augmented and virtual reality as a platform for information sharing and interactions, among project teams, issues of their performance and information-sharing behaviours across various procurement typologies are yet to be explored as a strategic tool towards effective communication. In the current state of the industry, there is also growing recognition of the need to understand the ICT needs of the individuals and how they use these tools to communicate within project teams to engender effective communication. Additionally, project team participants come from different organizations and perform varied roles using varieties of information systems and tools, having different rates of adoption of the available communication tools as well as preferences for specific means of communication and information sharing. In the current digitalization era, the effectiveness of the project team information sharing and interactions is dependent on clear understanding of the performance of specific ICT communication media and tools adopted across various procurement typologies and their information-sharing behaviours. This chapter explores the evolution of ICT tools and platforms for information sharing and interaction in construction project delivery in non-traditional procurement models. This knowledge will enable the strategic adoption of ICT tools for information sharing and interactions among project teams in construction project delivery. By this strategic drive, the use of these ICT tools can aid in improving collaborative working and integration of project participants which is proving to be elusive in practice especially in conventional procurement models.