Defining the stages of IT growth in the construction industry of

Singapore

Goh Bee Hua

Publication details:
Goh, B. H. (2013), Defining the stages of IT growth in the construction industry of Singapore.
The Professional Builders, Singapore Institute of Building, 106-117.

Abstract
Singapores construction industry has experienced different stages of growth for IT since the inception of
CORENET in 1995. Reviewing the key milestones shows three distinct phases: 1995 to 1998; 1999 to
2005; and 2006 to 2015. In order to ascertain the stage of growth by the second phase, Nolans Stages of
Growth Model, is adapted and applied to analyse the characteristics of IT users, enablers and suppliers by
their respective degrees of awareness, application and integration. The results support the hypothesis that
growth is at Stage II Growth by 2004. A similar survey is conducted in 2011 and the results are
compared. There are notable improvements. The recommendations are to instill a Culture of
Collaboration, adopt performance-oriented procurement arrangements for improved collaboration and
standardise the building project process. Mobile and BIM technologies have to be user-friendly to attract
demand. Workers and professionals have to be trained to become multi-disciplinary and process-oriented.

Keywords: Nolans Stages of growth, CORENET, Collaboration, BIM, Standard project process,
Performance-oriented contracting models

Introduction
The Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) is a 10-year master plan (2005 to 2015) that will transform
Singapore by enhancing competitiveness of the key economic sectors and build a well-connected society
through the use of infocomm technologies. As described by the Infocomm Development Authority of
Singapore (IDA), the broad intent of the master plan is to grow the infocomm sector, and chart the use of
technology for work, life and leisure. And, in order to achieve this aim, the plan will have to involve
identifying new possibilities for Singapores industries, economy and society through the innovative use
of infocomm technologies.
Building an intelligent construction industry complements the aim of iN2015. Since the launch of the
Construction and Real Estate Network (CORENET) in 1995 as the flagship project conceived under the
IT2000 master plan for the construction and real estate sector, it has come a long way to becoming a
major IT initiative. It is led by the Ministry of National Development and driven by the Building and
Construction Authority (BCA) in collaboration with other public and private organisations. CORENET is
a comprehensive network system consisting of a series of IT systems and services that allows seamless
and expedient communication and exchange of information between relevant government agencies and
parties involved in the construction and real estate industry (Sing and Zhong, 2001, p. 420). The goal of
CORENET is to re-engineer the business processes of the construction industry to achieve a quantum leap
in turnaround time, productivity and quality. In order to achieve this, the CORENET revolves around
developing IT systems and key infrastructure to integrate the four major processes of a building project
life cycle. The long-term effort is focused on developing a set of infrastructure and industry projects with
the objectives of providing information services to allow businesses to speed up business planning and
decision making processes, providing government to business (G2B) infrastructure to facilitate electronic
building plans submission, checking and approval processes, providing business to business (B2B)
enablers to facilitate building project collaborations and business transactions, providing a set of standards
to improve business communications, and providing a series of promotional, training and incentive
programmes to create awareness and encourage adoption.

Strategically, the Construction Industry IT Standards Technical Committee (CITC) has been formed in
1998 by the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING Singapore) in collaboration with
IDA. The Committees primary role is to establish an industry-wide framework for the development and
promotion of IT standards in the construction area. The CITC tracks, adopts and promotes construction
industry specific IT Standards. It ensures that national standards are aligned with international standards
as well as other industry de facto standards. To deploy strategic IT systems, the CITC works closely with

the buildingSMART Singapore Chapter (formerly IAI Singapore Chapter). The framework of CITC
focuses on 4 main thrusts, namely, design, procure, build and maintain that cover the entire life cycle of a
building project. As part of CORENET, the formation of CITC has further demonstrated a joint
government and industry effort to prepare the construction sector for the IT age of the 21st century.

After more than five years since the introduction of CORENET, a few major projects had been developed
with the aim to provide a G2B infrastructure to facilitate, through electronic means, central repository and
distribution of construction-related information in 2002, building plans submission in 2002, and building
plans checking and approval in 2004. Clearly from then, the industry has to fully migrate from the
traditional 2D design drafting platform to one that is 3D model-based. Since 2005, the use of building
information modelling (BIM) to prepare the design has been advocated on CORENETs e-Plan Check
project (Cheng and Teo, 2006). For BIM implementation in Singapore, the industry foundation classes
(IFC) has been adopted as the standard. In view of this adoption, the BCA has been working closely with
the buildingSMART Singapore Chapter to steer the industry towards the wider use of the IFC-based BIM.
A few commercial design BIM tools that have been certified as complying with the e-Plan Check
requirements for the architectural view include Autodesks ADT, Autodesks Revit and Graphisofts
ArchiCAD.

Based on a review of the key milestones of the industrys IT planning and implementation under
CORENET, the course of developments can be divided into three phases: the first phase is from 1995 to
1998, the second phase from 1999 to 2005 and the third phase from 2006 to 2015.
Scope and Objectives
The scope of the study entails the application of the IT maturity model, based on Nolans stages of growth
model, to the first and second phases to analyse the characteristics of users, enablers and suppliers by
their respective degrees of awareness, application and integration. The data has been collected through a
questionnaire survey of companies operating in the construction industry in February 2003.
Having ascertained the stage of IT growth from the characteristics found at the end of the second phase of
development, the study carries on to extend those findings into the current period (2006 to 2015) through
another survey conducted in May 2011 to present the characteristics of further developments by the same
respondent companies.
Given the scope as explained, the objectives are to:

i)

ascertain the phases of developments of CORENET in Singapore;

ii) determine the stage of IT growth in the period from 1999 to 2005 through an analysis of the
characteristics of IT users, enablers and suppliers by their respective degrees of awareness,
application and integration;
iii) measure growth of IT developments between the second phase (from 1999 to 2005) and the third
phase (from 2006 to 2015) through a comparison of results of the surveys conducted in 2003 and
2011; and
iv) draw inferences about the progress of IT developments and make recommendations to enable
further progress to be achieved.

Data and Methodology

In February 2003, a questionnaire was mailed to 754 companies operating in the construction industry in
the areas of architecture, engineering, quantity surveying, property development, construction, and
product manufacturing and supplies. The questionnaire comprised a total of 39 questions. They were
grouped under six distinct headings; Section A: General Information; Section B: Computers and
Software; Section C: Use of IT Systems; Section D: Data and Telecommunications; Section E: The Part
Played by IT in the Company; and Section F: Standardisation and CORENET. A total of 84 companies
(i.e. 11.1 per cent) responded to the survey. Response from the survey was analysed using the SPSS
software and the results and findings had been published (Goh, 2004; 2006 & 2007).

A post-verification of the results of the questionnaire survey was conducted with the CITC in 2004.
Expert views and comments were solicited from members of CITC on key findings of the survey.
However, as the survey and discussions had been carried out in 2003 and 2004, respectively, it was likely
that the results and findings could not reflect the most current state of development. Therefore, in order to
bring the analysis up to 2005, publications that were related to the topic, especially those published after
2004, had been reviewed.

In May 2011, a questionnaire was mailed to 59 of the 84 companies that had responded to the survey in
2003. The identity of the remaining 25 companies could not be ascertained as they had not provided any
contact information in the previous survey. A total of 24 companies (i.e. 40.7 per cent) responded to the
survey. They included companies operating in the areas of architecture, engineering, quantity surveying,
property development and construction. Response from the survey was also analysed accordingly.

Review of Stages of Growth

The Stages of Growth Model is a theoretical model that can be applied to study the growth of IT in a
business organisation. It was developed by Richard L. Nolan during the 1970s (Nolan, 1973 & 1979). The
original model had proposed four stages but subsequently two more stages had been added to comprise
the current six stages of evolution of IT in organisations. In Stage I Initiation, it is characterised by a
limited use of IT owing to lack of awareness or indifferent attitude of users, and an emphasis by the
organisation to spend on functional applications that can reduce costs. In Stage II Contagion, it is
characterised by a managerial need to explain the potential of computer applications to alienated users
and this leads to the rapid growth of adoption of computers in a range of functional areas. In Stage III
Control, it reacts to excessive and uncontrolled expenditures of time, effort and money on computer
systems, and the major problem for the management is the organisation of tasks for the control of
computer operating costs. In Stage IV Integration, it features the adoption of new technology to
integrate systems that are previously separate or standalone with an increased focus on data processing.
Stage V Data administration and Stage VI Maturity had been added to the model to further describe
the proliferation of IT in an organisation. These two stages feature a new emphasis on managing
corporate data rather than IT and, therefore, mark the development and maturity of the new concept of
data administration. In summary, the six stages of growth are given as follows:

i)

Stage I Initiation;

ii) Stage II Contagion;

iii) Stage III Control;
iv) Stage IV Integration;
v) Stage V Data administration; and
vi) Stage VI Maturity.
Given Nolans model as described, a simplified IT maturity model, comprising only three stages, is
adapted for assessing the progress of IT adoption in Singapores construction industry. The rationale
behind using a simplified model is that the assessment of progress would be made at the industry level
rather than at the organisational level as in the Nolans model and, therefore, three distinct stages of
growth are considered applicable at a macro-level. In essence, the three stages of growth to be applied to
the study are given as follows:

i)

Stage I Initiation;

ii) Stage II Growth; and

iii) Stage III Maturity via integration.
In Stage I Initiation, the same definition in the Nolans model applies which is marked by low
awareness and indifferent attitude of users. In Stage II Growth, it is characterised by the rapid growth of
adoption of computers in a range of functional areas and, therefore, an increased functional application of
IT is key. In Stage III Maturity via integration, it features user and systems integration through the
development of networks and database.

The characteristics of three distinct categories of stakeholders are to be clearly defined for each of the
three stages of growth. The intent is to provide a set of objective criteria for the assessment of progress of
IT adoption at the industry level. The distinct categories of players are given as follows:

i)

IT users (such as government, public and private organisations, R&D institutions, etc.);

ii) IT enablers (such as regulatory agencies, telecommunication companies, education and training
institutions, R&D institutions, etc.); and
iii) IT suppliers (such as hardware and software manufacturers or developers and suppliers, R&D
institutions, etc.).
In Stage I Initiation, the industry is typically characterised by low user awareness, limited use of IT
owing to no or little planned expenditure on IT hardware and software. During this stage, IT enablers
have no or little governmental support owing to a lower priority accorded to develop them. In view of the
low demand for IT products and services, there are few local software developers and the industry
generally depends on overseas IT vendors for its supplies.
In Stage II Growth, the industry is typically characterised by the increasing user interest to improve
efficiency and productivity through the adoption of IT for functional applications. During this stage, there
is a coordinated effort by the IT enablers to promote usage, set standards, provide education and training
among others. Correspondingly, there is an emergence of software development by the IT suppliers, as
well as software and hardware integration, as a means to customise their products and services to cater to
the needs and requirements of local users.

In Stage III Maturity via integration, the industry is typically characterised by the increasing availability
of user-friendly technologies as a result of an expanding IT user base. Correspondingly, the roles of the IT
enablers have primarily become market-driven. During this stage, the IT suppliers mainly direct their
products and services towards driving user and systems integration through the development of networks
and database.

In summary, the main characteristics that depict each group of stakeholders at the stages of growth: Stage
I Initiation, II Growth and III Maturity, are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Main Characteristics of Users, Enablers and Suppliers by Stage of IT Growth
Stage
I. Initial Stage
(Awareness)

IT Users
a) There is little
awareness.
b) There is limited use.
c) There is no/low
planned expenditure
on hardware and
software

II. Growth Stage

(Application)

a) There is increasing
interest in improving
efficiency and
productivity from the
use of IT.

III. Maturity Stage

(Integration)

a) There is emphasis on
user friendliness.
b) There are expanding
IT user bases.

IT Enablers
a) There is no/low
government
support.
b) There is no/low
priority for
supporting or
developing IT
enablers.
a) There is coordination to
promote IT use, set
standards, provide
education and
training.
a) There are marketdriven facilitating
roles.

IT Suppliers
a) There are few software
developers.
b) There is heavy
dependence on
overseas IT suppliers.
c) There is no/inadequate
protection of
copyrights.
a) There is emergence of
software development.
b) There is integration of
hardware and software.

a) There is systems
integration.
b) There is development
of networks and
databases.

Source: Adapted from Nolan (1979)

Analysis of IT Growth (Phases 1995 to 1998 and 1999 to 2005)
Using the simplified three-stage IT maturity model, it was hypothesized that Singapores construction
industry was at Stage II Growth given its progress in IT adoption at the industry level. For the
purpose of validating the hypothesis, information obtained from the questionnaire survey, follow-up
discussions and literature review were analysed according to the characteristics of three categories of
players, the users, enablers and suppliers at the hypothesized stage of growth. The hypothesis was
supported by the results of the analysis (Goh, 2009).

Validation through IT Users

The survey found a very high percentage (97.6%) of respondents had indicated that their staff use the
personal computer or terminal at work, and a very high percentage (94.6%) of them had also indicated
that their staff have their own personal computer. From this, it was evident the statistics showed a very
high level of IT awareness and use among the companies surveyed. The survey also found that these
companies had focused their attention on computerising administrative functions such as book-keeping
and invoicing. The respondents had generally noted a reduction in mistakes in documents as the positive
outcome of using IT, and they had highlighted the top three advantages as Work Done More Quickly,
Better Quality and Faster Access to Information. These aspects of derived improvement clearly relate
to efficiency and productivity.

Validation through IT Enablers

The survey found that the respondents had generally used national IT standards relating to CAD and
construction costs. They are, namely, SS CP80: 1999 Classification of Construction Cost Information
Standard and SS CP83: 2000; 2004 Computer-aided design (CAD) Standards. A high percentage
(80.3%) had responded that they benefited from information standardisation which was an on-going
project of the CORENET. A moderately high percentage (64.9%) had also responded that they would like
to have more activities of promotion and training for the various projects under the CORENET. This
could be seen as a positive response from existing and prospective users. It could also signal that the roles
of the IT enablers need to be enlarged.

Validation through IT Suppliers

The survey found that a moderately high percentage (77.1%) of respondents benefited from the One-Stop
Submission Centre (OSSC) project of the CORENET. The project was set up to build a network
infrastructure that supports electronic submission of building project documents to regulatory agencies for
processing and approval through a secure environment. From this finding, it was possible to infer that
software vendors had tailored their products to meet the specifications of the national standard (i.e. SS
CP83) to bring about wider applications of CAD in the industry to meet the requirements of electronic
submission of building designs for obtaining planning approval. Hence, where there is demand for
customisation, there will be supply of new products.

Analysis of Current Stage of IT Developments (Phase 2006 to 2015)

The next stage of growth would be targeted at achieving integration. In essence, having integration of
technology, process and people would be key. Clearly, the new platform had to be model-based and
CORENETs e-Plan Check system was developed in 2004 to drive the migration from the traditional 2D
design drafting platform to 3D model-based. It had to steer the industry towards preparing designs using
BIM tools. Starting from June 2010, companies in the construction industry were able to tap on
government funding, known as the Construction Productivity and Capability Fund (CPCF), to adopt
technology and build capability (BCA, 2011). A five-year plan had been formulated by the BCA to move
the industry towards adopting BIM whereby electronic submissions in BIM format would be mandated
for architectural, structural, and mechanical and electrical plans for building works for regulatory
approval by 2015.

With integration as the goal, companies that were sent a copy of the questionnaire in May 2011 had to
respond to questions that relate to three parts: their use of IT systems in general; the part played by IT in
their company; and their use of BIM technology in specific. The response obtained was analysed and the
results of the first two parts were compared with those of the earlier survey in 2003. Inferences drawn
from the comparison would allow better understanding of the change in the extent of IT adoption for the
industry as a whole. An analysis of the response to the third part on the use of BIM would unveil several
characteristics of use. A preliminary assessment of whether a widespread use of BIM could bring about
integration at the industry level entailed.

Survey of Use of IT Systems (Part 1)

Results from the survey in 2011 indicated that a moderately high percentage (79.2%) of respondents had
computerised their design work, bookkeeping (79.2%) and technical calculations (79.2%). A higher
percentage of companies responded that they had computerised their invoicing (87.5%). However, only
50% and 54.2% of the respondents had computerised work descriptions and quantities take-off,
respectively.

A high percentage of respondents indicated that their use of IT systems had increased in the last two years
(85.7%) and, similarly, a high percentage of them (81%) anticipated that it would increase in the next two

10

years. A high percentage of them (85%) also gave indication that their use of IT would increase between
the next two to five years.

Survey of Part Played by IT in the Company (Part 2)

On the strategic use of IT, there was clear indication from respondents that having an IT strategy was
necessary, either written or oral (refer to Table 2). There was also clear indication that companies would
invest more over the next few years (refer to Table 3). All respondents (100%) indicated that their
company had made an investment in IT in the last two years. A moderately high percentage of
respondents (69.6%) anticipated that their IT investment would increase in the next two years. Similarly,
a moderately high percentage of respondents (71.4%) anticipated that their IT investment would increase
between the next two and five years.

On the ranking of very important reasons for making decisions about new IT investments, the top very
important reason was more efficient technical work. The second very important reason was to be
ahead technically. Respondents ranked customer demand as the third very important reason. The
companies also responded if IT had resulted in changes in their work processes in the last two years in
positive ways of which the details are shown in Table 4.

On productivity issues, the companies were asked to respond to what effect IT had on their work
processes such as general administration, project management, design and site management. Generally,
the respondents noted an increase in productivity levels by more than 10% in the last two years in terms
of value of output per man-day for the domains concerned.

When the companies were asked about specific areas they plan to increase the use of IT in the next two
years, the top three areas indicated were CAD, document handling or project management, and
portable/mobile systems. The top three advantages indicated by the respondents when asked about how
IT provided benefits at the workplace were work done more quickly and better quality of work,
sharing information and better communications. The top three disadvantages of IT at the workplace
were need to continuously upgrade, investment cost is too high, and incompatible software.

11

Table 2. Adoption of an IT Strategy

Form of IT Strategy

Survey Results in
2011 (in %)
30.4
30.4
13
13
13
0

Yes, in written form

Yes, in oral form
Yes, in both written and oral forms
No strategy, but one is needed
No strategy, it is not necessary
Do not know
Table 3. Companys IT Investment
IT Investment and Change in Future

Yes, there has been investment in IT

Yes, IT investment will increase in the next 2 years
Yes, IT investment will increase between the next 2 and 5 years

Survey
Results in
2011 (in %)
100
69.6
71.4

Table 4. Change in Work Process Attributed to IT

Change in Work Process
Mistakes in documents
Construction errors
Errors in FM documents
Document quality
Speed of work
Complexity
Degree of difficulty
Need for administration
Proportion of new work

Survey Results in 2011

(based on highest %)
Reduced
Reduced
Reduced
Increased
Increased
Increased
Increased
Increased
Increased

Survey of Use of BIM Technology (Part 3)

Since 2005, when the introduction of the e-Plan Check system had made possible a widespread
application of BIM technology in Singapore, AEC/FM companies were surveyed in 2011 to gauge and
understand their use of this technology. They were asked how BIM was being used at their workplace,
how it would change in future, what effect it had on productivity, what reasons were important to them to
want to use BIM, and whether they were aware of the availability of funding by the Government.

12

A majority of the companies surveyed (69.6%) indicated that BIM technology was not being used in the
workplace. For those who use it, the areas where BIM was being used are ranked according to the
percentage of response (refer to Table 5). However, all of the companies that use BIM (100%) indicated
that their use of BIM would increase in the next two years, as well as between the next two and five years.
On those areas of BIM application, the respondents were asked about the effect that it had on
productivity. On design, electronic submission and project collaboration and coordination,
companies noted the effect of an increase in productivity levels by more than 10% (refer to Table 6). The
top five very important reasons for them to want to use BIM were ranked according and they are userfriendly BIM software, more efficient technical work, to be ahead technically, government
funding, for competition and customer demand (refer to Table 7).
Table 5. Areas of BIM Application at the Workplace
Area of BIM application

Survey Results in 2011

(ranked by highest %)
29.2
25
25
25
8.3

Design
Electronic submission
Project collaboration and coordination
Project planning
Tender preparation
Table 6. The Effect BIM had on Productivity
Area of BIM application
Design
Electronic submission
Project collaboration and coordination
Project planning
Tender preparation

Survey Results in 2011

Increased by more than 10%
Increased by more than 10%
Increased by more than 10%
Do not know
Unchanged & Do not know

Table 7. Very Important Reasons for Companies to Want to Use BIM

Very Important Reason
User-friendly BIM software
More efficient technical work
To be ahead technically
Government funding
For competition
Customer demand
To develop new products/business
Project partner demand
Employee demand

Survey Results in 2011

(based on ranking of %)
1st
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th

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When the companies were asked if they knew about the government fund for BIM, slightly more than half
of them (58.3%) responded positively. This group mainly comprised architectural design firms as well as
construction companies. The remaining 41.7% of the respondents were not aware that there was a type of
fund provided by the government to assist them in building up capability in adopting BIM technology for
raising productivity. Those that were not aware are mainly engineering design firms, quantity surveying
consultants and property development companies.

Discussion of Findings

First, it was noted there had been positive change in the extent of IT adoption by the industry as a whole.
Since 2003, there were more companies that had computerised their operations in the workplace. The
operations ranged from invoicing to bookkeeping and design work. Many companies indicated they
would continue to use more IT over the next five years.

Second, it was noted there had been efforts made by the industry towards more strategic use of IT. There
were clearly more companies, as compared to 2003, having an IT strategy to formalise their goals and
means of achieving the goals of using IT. Among the different forms, the largest increase was in
companies having adopted a written form of the strategy. With a clearer understanding of IT goals among
those companies, many more had been investing in IT since 2003 and would increase their investment
over the next five years. While most had based their decisions about making new IT investments on
reasons of enabling more efficient technical work as well as administrative work in 2003, companies have
now broadened their priorities of spending on IT to include building up business competitiveness and
meeting customer demand. Clearly, the shift in priority is in line with neo-classic competitive strategies
where IT plays a more prominent role to allow companies to continuously improvement through
innovation and customer orientation. For a start, companies have to better align IT goals with long-term
business goals for better strategic use of IT as part of their changing competitive strategies.

Third, while it was noted that using IT had increasingly been generating more new work for companies,
the net (positive) effect was increased productivity by more than 10% in all domains of work, ranging
from general administration to design, and project and site management. Specifically, companies were
benefiting from having work done more quickly and better quality of work. Besides, productivity levels
improve where there is collaboration among project stakeholders via IT platforms to bring about better
sharing of information and better communications. In addition to collaborative project management tools,
portable or mobile systems have become important and companies plan to increase the use of mobile

14

technologies for site-based work. However, despite gaining from productivity, software costs in both of
initial purchase and upgrade, as well as software incompatibility, were still the greatest obstacles. Clearly,
all benefits come at a cost and the best way for companies to obtain real productivity gains is to deploy
technology as a strategic resource by customising it to re-designed work processes. In other words, using
cheaper off-the-shelf technology may not always work.
Fourth, it was evident that not as many companies were planning to increase spending on staff training as
compared to investing on IT systems. More companies must want to continue to invest in IT training for
staff as skills upgrading should be just or if not more important than technology upgrading. While
understandably, small and medium-sized (SME) companies often regard giving time off for staff to attend
training a problem, owing to a lack of slack human resources, they must also realise that achieving
technological integration alone cannot produce results that are sustainable. Companies have to be
focusing their attention on achieving integration of technology, process and people to sustain their
competitive advantage.
Fifth, the plan for achieving integration with BIM was clearly not in many companies pipeline. But for
those that use the technology, they expect to increase their use over the next five years. It was evident to
these companies that productivity had increased by more than 10% in all domains of work, ranging from
design to electronic submission and project collaboration, except in project planning and tender
preparation where the effect of BIM was not known yet. Companies want to be using BIM to raise
technical efficiency in order to be ahead of their competitors in that respect. However, most importantly,
they have to be very comfortable with using the software, signaling to vendors to better tailor their
products to users specification. Government support in the form of monetary incentives for adopting
BIM was among the top three very important concerns of companies. It was evident that appropriate
policies had been put in place to incentivise adoption, known as the BIM Fund under the broader CPCF,
for companies to tap on. But certain segments of the industry, such as those in engineering design,
quantity surveying and property development, were generally still lacking in awareness of the Fund.
Perhaps, that had caused many more not to have considered using the technology yet.

Main Recommendations

In the third phase of IT developments from 2006 to 2015, the national plan is to have arrived at
technology integration and collaboration by 2015. The direction for the construction industry is towards
the adoption of BIM technology to bring about quantum leap change.

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The industry had progressed to the third stage of IT growth whereby maturity would be achieved through
integration. The studys findings had shown that the use of technology continued to be strong and selfsustaining for the industry as a whole. However, technology alone is not sustainable as a strategy. While
IT plays a vital role to integrate construction both vertically (between project phases) and horizontally
(between different disciplines at a given project phase), it requires also the integration of data, process and
participants on the entire building project life cycle for a unified model to work. To this end, there would
be need to reach a more balanced and integrated mix of attention towards technology, process and
participants. First, the study recommends that a Culture of Collaboration among project stakeholders be
created, nurtured and sustained. Emerging signs had shown that companies were reaping real benefits
from sharing information and better communications via IT platforms. For this recommendation, IT
enablers can play an active role to explore new procurement arrangements that will lead to creating and
sustaining a culture of collaboration within the industry. Beck (2001, p.35) has made a point that owners
and practitioners must initially identify the project goals, along with meaningful metrics, and then
experiment with contracting alternatives that link the financial motivations of all participants with those
goals. In short, he stressed the need to develop new performance-oriented contracting models whereby
owners must motivate practitioners to explore substantive process changes by sharing a meaningful
portion of any enhanced value. When such new arrangements are available, their processes (or workflow)
can be standardised across the main project stages to create a standard project process of construction.
In developing such standards, aspects of the operation and relationship between the parties must be
sufficiently prescribed and detailed. Cooper et al. (2005) have suggested that technology can assist the
attainment and maintenance of a new project process if details of workflow and parties relationship are
specified and incorporated into the process. In essence, this recommendation aims to achieve project
process (or workflow) re-design through adopting new procurement arrangements to bring about better
integration and collaboration to the entire value chain.
Next, the studys findings had indicated that there was more strategic use of IT by companies as they
became aware of more areas that IT could benefit the business. Besides achieving technical efficiency, the
new areas include raising competitiveness and meeting customer demand. Increasingly, companies were
conscious about measuring the benefits in productivity terms to justify for new investments to be made. In
short, there is an expanding user base that is both strategic and knowledgeable about IT. This is typical of
Stage III Maturity. The second recommendation concerns new development of software that must
focus on user friendliness. It is key to attracting higher demands for them and, as a result, lowering the
prices of products and services to attract even higher demands. Hence, for this recommendation, IT

16

suppliers can play an active role in developing new and better technology, and promoting them to
potential users. Mobile technology is one key area to expand on, as noted from the response. The
seamless use of IT between the office and site can produce exponential results in all domains of
construction efficiency and productivity. Another area is BIM technology. It will become the mainstay in
view of the prevailing government policy to mandate use by 2015. Clearly from feedback, further product
development has to better embrace user needs and requirements. IT suppliers together with IT enablers
(i.e. the BCA) have to strengthen their R&D programmes and promotion of BIM, as well as the BIM
Fund, to segments of the industry that are still resistant to change.

Finally, developing human capabilities is the third recommendation. Tsai (2003) emphasized that new
business processes and emerging technologies require new skills. Companies must organise these skills to
provide the most flexible, efficient and effective execution. While success requires companies to acquire,
train and retain the right talent, failure often comes from the lack of seamless integration of the new skills
with existing skills, processes and technologies to create a holistic e-business solution. Essentially, such
new skills developed must align well with the core infrastructures of IS and the organisation. Despite
knowing the importance of developing human resources, the studys findings had indicated that
companies were generally less keen to increase their levels of training for staff as compared to increasing
their investments in technology. Evidently, there would be lack of seamless integration. Effective
alignment of organisational infrastructure with that of the IS cannot be realised in a company when
human skills lag behind technology development. Hence, existing policies on giving incentives for
training can be reviewed by IT enablers (i.e. the BCA) to involve first a better understanding of the
practical issues facing SMEs when staff are away on training, before putting in place more targeted
assistance schemes that can address them. Strengthening efforts on giving recognition to companies that
are committed to training should be considered. Concurrently, IT enablers (i.e. R&D, education and
training institutions) can be looking into re-designing research, training and education for the construction
industry to create programmes that train workers and professionals to be more multi-disciplinary in
approach and less discipline-specific. They should also be more process-oriented and less task-oriented.
The new mindset and skills will align well with the proposed Culture of Collaboration.
Conclusion

In conclusion, a summary of the findings and recommendations is as follows:

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i)

From reviewing the key milestones of CORENETs developments, the course has been mapped onto
three distinct phases. The first phase is from 1995 to 1998, the second phase from 1999 to 2005, and
the third phase from 2006 to 2015.

ii) A simplified version of the Stages of Growth Model developed by Nolan has been applied to assess
the progress of IT adoption by the second phase from 1999 to 2005. Results from the analysis of the
characteristics of IT users, enablers and suppliers have supported the hypothesis that Singapores
construction sector was at the second stage of growth in the model. During that stage, there tends to
be increased interest of users to improve efficiency and productivity through adopting IT for
functional applications, a coordinated effort by the IT enablers to promote use, set standards, and
provide education and training, and an emergence of software development by the suppliers to
customise products and services for local use.
iii) On measuring growth from the second to third phase, there has been positive change in the extent of
IT adoption by the industry as a whole. There have been efforts made by companies towards more
strategic use of IT. More of them have an IT strategy to formalise their goals and means of achieving
the goals of using IT. Companies have also noted net (positive) effect from increased productivity by
more than 10% in all domains of work, ranging from general administration to design, and project
and site management. However, not as many companies were planning to increase spending on staff
training as compared to investing in IT systems.
iv) The plan for achieving integration with BIM was clearly not in many companies pipeline. In order
for the national plan of realising integration through BIM to succeed, recommendations have included
creating, nurturing and sustaining a Culture of Collaboration among project stakeholders, exploring
new procurement arrangements for improved collaboration together with developing new
performance-oriented contracting models and creating a standard project process of such new
procurement arrangements. Also, R&D programmes have to be strengthened for mobile and BIM
technologies that must focus on user friendliness to attract higher demands for them to bring down
prices. Promotion of BIM and the BIM Fund has to reach out to more segments of the industry.
v) Developing human capabilities in the company has to emphasize on effective alignment of IT skills
with the organisational and IS infrastructures. It is to help achieve seamless integration of the new
skills with existing skills, processes and technologies to create a holistic e-business solution.
Specifically for the construction industry, there is need to look into re-designing research, training
and education to create programmes that train workers and professionals to be more multi-

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disciplinary in approach and less discipline-specific. They should also be more process-oriented and
less task-oriented.

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