E-readiness for Industrialised Building System (IBS) components management: Exploratory study in Malaysian construction projects

Construction materials usually constitute a major portion of the total cost in a building construction project, which makes the control of this resource important. Despite the potential benefit of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), convincing construction organisations to embrace its use and implementation has proved a difficult task. This paper aims to present a review of the existing literature on e-readiness (ICT uptake) in Industrialised Building System (IBS) components management in construction projects and a recent exploratory study done amongst some prominent IBS manufacturers in Malaysia. The exploratory study that has been analysed will address on the issues of E-readiness implementation in the IBS components management. Previous research found that ICT has brought about a competitive advantage to the IBS construction industry from the global perspective. However, the e-readiness in Malaysia is rather low. Thus, there is a great opportunity for the future development of more effective frameworks to encourage e-readiness in the IBS construction field and thus for the increased ICT adoption for the overall construction industry.