Strategic IT maturity of construction companies

It is evident that the alignment of IT and business strategy has not been a prime focus for all companies in the construction industry and this contrasts with the competitive advantages gained by companies in other industry sectors. The extent of research into the relationship of IT and competitive strategies within construction organisations is also limited. However recent research by Construct IT (1997) has demonstrated the importance of innovating with IT. Hampson (1993b) has also demonstrated a positive relationship between technology strategy and competitive performance in the bridge construction sector but little is known of this relationship in the construction industry. The construction industry has often made easy gains from automation but these have not resulted in sustained advantage for companies. A limited number of companies have gained competitive advantage from ongoing technological and organisational innovation (DISR 1998). This approach replicates IT use by other industries where automation is the first phase of IT adoption. IT is used to carry out tasks that previously were performed manually and minimal benefits were achieved. Some construction companies use the information they collect from automation to improve their management processes and deliver increased value. This approach demonstrates the next level of IT maturity when companies "informate". Some of the companies studied in this research have started to re-engineer processes and the way they deliver products and services. This represents a higher level of strategic IT maturity. One of the aims of this exploratory research was to explore the approach that construction companies have taken to the strategic use of IT, and to identify the key factors that enable alignment of business strategy, business infrastructure, IT strategy and IT portfolio. With this knowledge a theoretical strategic IT maturity model was developed for use in the construction industry. The findings of a number of case studies were then used to test, modify and generalise the theoretical strategic IT maturity model. The strategic IT maturity model developed and tested in this research provides researchers and managers with a tool to evaluate the alignment of business and IT within their company. The four major elements of the model - namely, business strategy, business infrastructure, IT strategy and IT portfolio - were revealed in the literature review, as were a number of maturity frameworks and alignment models. A set of eighteen theoretical propositions were tested, and from these, a set of fourteen revised propositions with detailed characteristics were confirmed. Researchers can use the model and propositions for further investigation of strategic IT alignment and practitioners can use the same tools to better understand the dimensions of their strategic management processes. The literature review also disclosed that knowledge of strategic management processes in construction companies was very limited and a supplementary quantitative analysis based on research in the UK (Construct IT 1997) was completed. The findings of this research for a large number of Australian construction companies was compared with international data. It was evident that the strategic use of IT by construction companies in Australia was stratified, into three levels of maturity, and that this was consistent with the results from other countries. The benefits arising from the development of this new model include an improved understanding of strategic alignment, the role IT plays in strategic planning and the different patterns of alignment associated with immature and mature processes. The case studies can also be used to provide examples of construction companies at each of the maturity levels, and the research can then be used for benchmarking the resourcing, support and use of IT in construction companies.