Background Study
Cloud computing involves use of todays’ technology such as internet to access both hardware and software from anywhere across the globe. With cloud computing, organizations does not require centralized physical office to manage its operations. It is possible to have virtual office that coordinates all construction working sites from single location. Each working site can be turned to an office because employees can access, control, update and receive all communication via the internet (Amarnath, Sawhney & Maheswari 2011, p. 1238). With cloud computing, all stakeholders can participate in the construction process from different parts of the world. It is obvious that many of the contractors have used technology for one reason or the other. Their use of technology might be on research, get updates on state government changes in construction rules and regulations as well as communicate to other contractors. Despite these use, it is important for contractors to understand technology can still be used in the management of construction processes from early stages to later stages including management of residential houses and other facilities. Adoption of cloud computing technology in the industry makes the entire process efficiency, cheaper and easier to manage (Chong, Wong & Wang 2014, p. 159). In this regard, the main question is, do we need to incorporate technology in construction industry?
Technology adoption has been noted to be the key driver in almost all sectors of the business. Its adoption depends on the nature of business and the market gap that specific business indents to tap. However, construction industry has not been advocating technological adoption because its major stakeholders such as contractors have been resisting its use (Spoorthy, Mamatha & Kumar 2014, p. 308). Technology adoption in the construction industry has been gaining momentum over the years. In the past 5 years, a research shows that use of cloud computing in construction industry by contractors has increased substantially from 16% to 85% in the year 2017 (Cooley & Cholakis 2013, p. 4). The percentage of technology use by contractor can be used as an indicator to measure the rate of cloud computing penetration in the industry. There has been notable difference between contractors who uses technology in the construction processes and those do not. Contractors advocate that cloud computing technology offers more benefits than it was initially believed.
To leverage use of cloud technology in the industry, several services need to be integrated in order to make its implementation successful. These services are majorly classified into infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) which is used by customers’ to either access, start or carry out some configurations to virtual servers as well as other storage facilities (Puthal et al. 2015, p. 118-119). IaaS provides an opportunity to service consumers to change necessary settings of the existing infrastructure in order to suite specific customers’ need. The next cloud computing service involves Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) which brings together various software development tools. These tools are usually hosted by service provider and consumers makes access to such tools through use of other supporting tools available on users’ computer. Lastly, Software-as-a-Service provides an opportunity to users’ to interact with it and access available services through browsers and website portal. SaaS is commonly known to be one of the robust tool that covers almost all types of industrial application (Sareen 2013, p. 3). Due to this capability, SaaS consumers’ does not need to worry about system and data maintenance. Required services are readily available throughout and from any part of the world. With these three types of services from cloud computing, it is quite possible for construction industry players to take advantage of them and automate all construction processes.
Cloud Computing Services
It has been on the public domain that technology is the key driver to the business operations. In this regard, cloud computing offers the following benefits in construction industry; it is a cost saving tool because many processes can be done over the cloud resulting to reduced cost of operations. Through use of collaboration tools, construction companies are able to collaborate with other state agencies to obtain required operational approvals (Abedi, Fathi & Rawai 2013, p. 14). Before construction processes can start, there is so much back and forth from several state government agencies in a bid to obtain certifications. Similarly, organizations activities may require frequent movement from working site to main office to obtain, sign and share some data. Movement from working site to the office and to other state offices has been resource intensive and time consuming. Besides, at times most construction organization finds it possible to hire an individual to take information to and from these areas (Feuerlicht & Margaris 2012, p. 7). In this case, organizational use of cloud computing makes it possible to have a common working platform which cuts off all these movements and additional personnel. This minimizes the number of working personnel and reduces time wastage which in turn lowers cost of construction.
Additionally, communication amongst stakeholders in the industry has been a major problem but adoption of cloud computing has eliminated this barrier. Before a construction process can start, it would be important for organization to set up all required parameters in order to facilitate smooth operations (Habjan & Pucihar 2017, p. 262). With a shared platform, all stakeholders are provided with required privileges in order to avoid need for signatures and stamps. In this regard, contractor would be required to raise any authorization demand with relevant bodies and approvals would be granted travelling to state government offices. On the same note, change requests, communication and updates on the progress can be made easily by contractor. All other stakeholders are able to access such information on real-time and act accordingly in order to make entire process a success. The next benefit is competitive advantage offered by cloud computing. Minimizing movements, employees, documentation and document maintenance, the entire construction cost is substantially reduced. During contract quotation, it is obvious contractor who does not use technology ends up quoting higher prices in order to cover all expenses (Hassan et al. 2017, p. 31). On the other hand, techno brain contractors would have much lower quotation. Upon evaluating the reason of having lower operating costs, the contracting organization would be convinced by technology use in the entire process. Again, there would be much trust on contractor who uses technology to maintain business operations.
Further, through use of cloud computing technology, it has been possible to monitor and control quality of services offered by accessing real-time data. Quality is a very important aspect in construction and should be monitored and controlled at every stage. Real-time monitoring and control can only be achieved through use of technology (James & Verma 2012, p. 1658). Through cloud computing technology, product owner can have a feel of the service while development is in progress. In order to facilitate real-time monitoring, contractor can combine cloud computing technology with other aspects such drones to capture real-time image or videos. Once collected, such data is uploaded directly to the collaboration platform to be accessible by every relevant stakeholder. Analysis of the collected data can be done on the same platform and feedback provided with suitable recommendations. Finally, adoption of cloud computing does not limit users on basis of devices to use. Cloud computing provides accessibility to all nature of devices including modern mobile phones such as smartphones (Juan & Zheng 2014, p. 54). Its users does not to invest heavily on either hardware or software because it makes use of devices which are readily available, cheap and easy to operate. In this regard, use of simple devices such as smartphones makes use of cloud technology convenient and cost effective.
Importance of Cloud Computing in the Construction Industry
Technological adoption has been associated with many benefits but it is obvious that there are limitations associated with it. Security is a fundamental aspect that should be greatly factored in construction industry. The nature, purpose and use of the facility determines the security to be accorded. In this case, security parameters would range from; hacking of the collaboration platforms with intention of interrupting the entire process (Kumar, Cheng & McGibbney 2010, p. 315). Once construction supporting technology has been setup, its security need to be guaranteed. Cloud computing technology can be set up to support sensitive construction such as nuclear plants which are of great economic importance to state governments. It would be extremely dangerous to expose construction techniques to unauthorized individuals. Competitor’s revelation on use of cloud computing technology may result to undetected monitoring. All construction secretes can be accessed through snooping with aim of bringing down the entire facility. Besides interruption, every industry is prone to competition and there is need to protect business operational privacy. Every contractor would like to remain relevant in the market and this can only be achieved by keeping operational procedures confidential. Construction of some facilities require sophisticated technology and procedures (Sharma, Suri & Kumar 2017, p. 49). Failing to protect how facilities such as military set ups are implemented may expose country’s security to wrong people such as terrorists.
The next challenge is on lack of skilled and knowledgeable personnel to implement and support required technology setups. Cloud computing technology is a new tool in construction industry and as a result industry does not have sufficient skilled personnel. Many contractors have expressed need to use cloud computing technology in construction but they have been facing operational challenge. Though there are many benefits realizable from use of such technology, if contractors do not have required skills to maintain it, its implementation would be in vein. The last issue in cloud computing is bring all individuals on board. If technology has to be adopted, it is important to bring all stakeholders on board to avoid partial implementation of technology. In this case, planning should be very intensive such that all parties are aware of technology set up, how to use it and its accessibility (Oliveira, Thomas & Espadanal 2014, p. 504). Bringing together all stakeholders required effective relationship management in order to make sure all parties have been factored in order to avoid further delay once project has been started.
Challenges faced by construction industry during implementation of cloud computing technology should not be taken as an excuse to limit its implementation. To solve security issues that are associated with hacking, privacy and confidentiality, organizations should focus on implementing data protection techniques (Chen & Zhang 2014, p. 330). Some of these techniques are; data encryption which protects data from being used once hackers gain access to data servers. This is one of the fundamental aspect that construction industry should focus on in order to make sure its data is unusable by unauthorized users. Similarly, system authorization and authentication should be clearly defined and enforced through formulation of strict rule and regulations. Before new devices can access required data, proper authorization should be done accordingly. System access can also be enforced through security codes which does verification checks. Next, privacy and confidentiality of operational procedures can be done through patenting of ownership rights. Patent right protects individuals from implementing services or product without proper authorization from its owner. Further, the issue of skilled personnel can be solved by training relevant employees on use of cloud computing in order to be able to implement and use it without operational challenges (Jakimoski 2016, p. 52). Finally, bringing all stakeholder on board can be resolved by liaising with relevant bodies. In this regard, personnel would be assigned to monitor entire process as well as grant required authorization.
Conclusion
Cloud computing technology in construction industry is a game changer in the entire process. It is one of the operational tool that makes it possible for any construction organization to streamline its daily activities. With cloud computing, it is possible to bring all construction stakeholders on board in order to make it possible to share required data. Through use technology, contractors are able to decentralize their operations from office to all working sites. In such a case, it would be possible to minimize waste of time as well as operational costs which in turn lowers cost of construction. Generally, cloud technology is a tool that all stakeholders’ in the construction should advocate and implement at all cost.
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