Using benchmarking to facilitate strategic IT implementation in construction organisations

Abstract

An IT benchmarking and IT performance measurement (ITPM) culture needs to be instilled in modern construction organisations to evaluate and justify IT implementation. This paper discusses the strategic implementation of IT benchmarking and ITPM. Firstly it highlights the importance of IT benchmarking at three levels; internal, external, and at the project level. Secondly, it focuses on ITPM at decision-making tiers of a construction organisation. Due to the nature of the construction industry, it is difficult to define distinctive decision-making tiers within a construction organisation. However, the most commonly used decision-making tiers are the ENTERPRISE, BUSINESS UNIT and PROJECT levels. This paper argues that a tiered ITPM approach offers several advantages, including alignment of IT measures with organisational objectives, systematic linkage among IT measures and enterprise, business unit, project, and individual objectives, and enhanced communication and understanding of IT performance measurement throughout the organisation. Tiering also has the added advantage of enabling performance accountability to take place and determines where ITPM ownership lies.