Abstract
This paper presents the results of a preliminary survey in Benin, a West African country. The aim of the study is to estimate the use and the impact of IT in the Benin construction industry. To ensure that the results can be compared to other related surveys, this study used the “IT Barometer” questionnaire. The results show that while office and design software are widely used, Internet-based solutions for the construction industry seem less well known. In addition, very few firms have an IT strategy and the proportion of management activities with IT support remains low. The respondents seem very optimistic regarding the role of IT in their organizations but most of them think that the constant need to update and the cost of investment in IT are the main barriers to their implementation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
References
Futcher K, Rowlinson S (1999) IT survey within the construction industry of Hong Kong. In: 8th international conference on durability of building materials and components, 1999, vol 4, pp 2306–2315
Howard R, Kiviniemi A, Samuelson O (1998) Surveys of IT in the construction industry and experience of the IT barometer in Scandinavia 3(November):45–56
Samuelson O (2008) The IT-barometer–a decade’s development of IT use in the Swedish construction sector. ITcon 13(December 2007):1–19
Scheer S, Leusin de Amorim S, Santos E, Ferreira R, Caron A (2007) The scenario and trends in the Brazilian it construction applications’ experience. J Inf Technol Constr 12:193–206
Boton C (2009) Gestion de l’information au sein des projets de construction: De l’expérience luxembourgeoise à la propositiond’un modèle de système d’information pour l’Afrique. Université Senghor d’Alexandrie
Björk BC (1999) Information Technology in Construction–domain definition and research issues. Int J Comput Integr Des Constr 1(1):1–16
Mélèse J (1990), Approches systémiques des organisations: vers l’entreprise à complexité humaine. Les Editions d’Organisation
Fischer M, Kunz J (2004) The scope and role of information technology in construction. In: Proceedings-Japan society of civil engineers, 2004, pp. 1–32
Ahmad IU, Russell JS, Abou-Zeid A (1995) Information technology (IT) and integration in the construction industry. Constr Manag Econ 13:163–171
Rivard H (2000) A survey on the impact of information technology on the Canadian architecture, engineering and construction industry. Electron J Inf Technol Constr 5(February):37–56
Kubicki S, Boton C (2014) IT barometer survey in Luxembourg: first results to understand IT innovation in construction sector. In: Computing in civil and building engineering, 2014, pp 179–186
Arif AA, Karam A (2001) Architectural practices and their use of IT in the Western Cape province, South Africa. J Inf Technol Constr 6(September):17–34
Molony T (2008) The role of mobile phones in Tanzania’s informal construction sector: the case of Dar es Salaam. Urban Forum 19(2):175–186
Musa NA (2010) A study of the impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on the Quality of Quantity Surveying Services in Nigeria. Electron J Inf Syst Dev Ctries, 42
Oyediran OS, Akintola AA (2011) A survey of the state of the art of e-tendering in nigeria. J Inf Technol Constr 16(March):557–576
Jung W, Lee G (2015) The status of BIM adoption on six continents. Int J Civil Struct Constr Archit Eng 9(5):406–410
Abanda FH, Manjia MB, Pettang C, Tah JHM, Nkeng GE (2014) Building information modelling in Cameroon: overcoming existing challenges. Int J 3-D Inf Model 3(4)
Wang C (2015) Assessment of BIM implementation among MEP firms in Nigeria. Int J Adv Appl Sci 4(3)
United Nations (2010) Guide de l’investissement au Bénin. Opportunités et conditions. New York & Genève
I&P (2010) Libérer l’esprit d’entreprise en Afrique. Rapport d’activité 2009–2010. Paris, France
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Boton, C. (2020). Use and Impact of Information Technology in the African Construction Industry: A Preliminary Survey from Benin. In: Adjallah, K., Birregah, B., Abanda, H. (eds) Data-Driven Modeling for Sustainable Engineering. ICEASSM 2017. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 72. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13697-0_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13697-0_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-13696-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-13697-0
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)