BENCHMARKING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN JORDAN

This paper reports the findings of conducting a modified version of the IT barometer survey in the construction industry in Jordan. The study collects data from 207 firms. Thirty-four percent of these firms are general contractors, 37% are architecture and engineering firms, 19% are consulting and architecture and engineering firms, and 10% are consulting firms. The participating firms are involved in the construction of buildings, roads and bridges, water and sewage projects, and electromechanical projects. The size of firms in terms of number of employees varies widely with some firms have only one employee, while other firms have over 150 employees. The study shows that there is a 0.46 desktop computer and a 0.024 laptop computer per employee. Among the top software utilized by the industry are Word, Excel, web browsers, and e-mail. AutoCad dominates the production of engineering drawings with most firms utilize the software almost 100% of the time. Eighty-two percent of firms have increased their IT investment in the last two years. Eighty-five percent are committing more dollars to invest in IT in the next two years. According to 92% of respondents, demands from customers are a very important motivator for new IT investment. The perceived benefits for IT adoption according to the respondents are better quality of work, work done more quickly, better financial control, better communications, faster and simpler access to common data, greater felxibility to satisfy customers, possibility of sharing common information, easier to use lots of data, and possibility of telecommuting. The main obstacles for IT use are investment costs too high and greater know-how required from staff. In conclusion, this paper benchmarks the current IT usage, availability, and perceived impact in the construction industry in Jordan. Such benchmarking is of prime importance to both construction education and practice to understand current trends, forecast future directions, and conduct international comparisons.