Four out of five construction firms plan increased IT spend

The vast majority of the UK’s construction companies are planning increased investment in IT, according to the first Contract Journal IT survey, carried out in association with software house Causeway Technologies.

The research, which drew responses from more than 500 people working across a range of businesses, presented a far more positive image of construction’s attitude to IT than the industry
is usually given credit for.

Some 79% of those surveyed said their firm was increasing its IT spend, with only 1% expecting it to decrease.

Process efficiency and compatibility with existing systems were seen as the most important considerations when making IT purchasing decisions, scoring far more highly than customer and supplier relationships, and, more surprisingly, price.

More than half of respondents felt their main board was up-to-speed with IT developments, although by way of contradiction, almost a third felt the overall performance of their business suffered as a result of low investment in IT.

Perhaps most worryingly, many still felt the industry was seen as an IT technophobe. Almost 40% thought construction’s backward IT image made it harder to recruit young people into the sector.