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Question: Discuss about the ICT in Construction Industry. Answer: Introduction ICT is an effective way to integrate all the telecommunications operations running in an organization. The use of ICT is wide in globalization of business and can be effectively used in construction industry as well. ICT provides technologies that help in accessing the information through telecommunication. The use of internet, wireless networks, cell phone and other communication devices is foremost in ICT and these equipments are used to streamline different operations in an organization (Spirit 2014). The report evaluates the use of ICT in a leading construction company of Australia, Lendlease that operates globally with branches across the world. It is one of the largest construction companies in Australia and makes effective use of ICT in spreading their business all over the world. The report further discusses the advantages of using ICT in Lendlease and process in which it is helping the organization to reach a global audience. Many problems can be faced in global implementati on of the business, the use of ICT considerably helps in operating in global as the business might face some challenges of culture and practice (Bacaoanu 2014). The organization operates globally, with its branches spread across New York, Singapore and London. Lendlease have successfully worked in the projects such as Barangaroo south, darling Square, Victoria Harbor and Brisbane showground in Australia. ICT in Construction Industry: Lendlease The importance of using innovative methods in business process is widespread in construction industry. This is needed for increasing the construction efficiency and solves the challenges faced while operating a business globally. Lendlease effectively uses ICT, for enhancing the process and methods of its operations. A construction industry needs proper positioning, design requirements, materials and proper budget constraints for developing a unique project. Lendlease uses ICT as an effective tool for providing the stakeholders of a project, detailed information of the construction delivery processes (Doloi 2012). It is an analytical tool for monitoring and controlling the project progress. The ICT equipments Lendlease used includes computer hardware, software, communication devices and internet that allows easy access and communication both at local and international level. The key advantage of using ICT is that, the major project changes are delivered to the project stakeholders just in time (Change 2014). ICT therefore creates a big integration in Lendlease. The Construction projects undertaken by Lendlease all over the world are unified with the help of ICT (Harris and McCaffer2013). Another major use of ICT in Lendlease is developing a proper design for the construction project. Precise architectural designs have been possible to make with the help of different designing software, the major one being the CAD. The other usage of ICT in Lendlease includes global marketing, production engineering and manufacturing. Lendlease mainly works on construction projects that are designed from the scratch. This includes involvement of lot of people, stakeholders and project team members across the world. The use of information and communication technology helps in connecting the people all over the world. Since the process of data transfer is easier with the implementation of ICT, the project management of the construction projects becomes easier (Fulford and Standing 2014). Why use ICT? With the emergence of ICT the data transparency is easier to maintain. The rapid transmission of data over internet helps in easier management of the project across the world. Lendlease makes effective use of ICT in reduction of overheads. Lendlease is an Australian company with the head office in Sydney. Use of ICT helps the organization in email management and meeting the arrangements (Hosseini et al. 2013). One of the major ICT equipments is extranet that enables the organization in centralizing the electronic documents. This helps Lendlease to work in a collaborative fashion with all the branches across the world. This is a huge step and a move away from the traditional paper based system that allows the organization in operating globally. ICT provides the ability to communicate and manage the project data among the different branches of Lendlease thus acting as a business process system (Akintoye, Goulding and Zawdie 2012). The process of communication using ICT facilitates the data sharing and collaboration of data across the world. This allows the organization in operating globally. The data is managed with engineering integrity. The organization operates a managed data system as a part of ICT. This managed data system helps Lendlease in controlling the project data integrity that includes the reference files, components, cell blocks, models and drawings of a particular project and sharing it with the experts across the world (Tehrani and Shirazi 2014). Use of Mobile Technology in Lendlease The use of mobile technology is prolonged in Lendlease. The mobile technology is the highest priority ICT devices used in the organization. Since Lendlease majorly deals with a large sized construction projects, a switch of many professionals can be seen in a project life cycle (Lendlease.com, 2017). The mobile technology enables immediate communication among the stakeholders easier. Lendlease ensures that every project team members are on same page during the implementation of a project and this is ascertained by ensuring constant communication among the multiple parties associated with the particular project (Kelly, Male and Graham 2014). Furthermore, the use of mobile technology helps the organization in efficient management of their global business. Lendlease ensures that no confusion in communication occurs. Use of mobile email and real time submission of the documents considerably helps achieving zero communication gap among the project members. This reduces the number of reworks and therefore helping the company in occupying a large place in the global market. The preciseness in their construction process helps Lendlease in obtaining a place global market and intelligent use of ICT made it possible to collaborate with all the active business processed across the world. How Lendlease uses ICT? Few examples that cites the effective use of ICT in Lendlease are elaborated below- Access to the real-time information- The use of ICT or more precisely, the use of mobile applications allow the field workers in sharing the documents and project progress in real time. This enables a live monitoring of all the project works that helps in eliminating or reducing any errors associated with the project work. Furthermore, use of mobile technology in the project site enables the workers to request information globally, which in turn saves time and money. Management of project work in a global basis is possible as with the help of mobile technology, the workers are able to submit the daily report via Email, RFIs and other form of communication in real time. The digital record keeping helps in managing the projects that Lendlease undertakes all over the world. The process of record keeping, sharing and receiving is easier with the help of ICT devices that saves a considerable amount of time and money. The ICT devices enable GPS capabilities that enable a project manager to track the project works on site. Furthermore, the real time data sharing and data keeping further helps in documentation that is more accurate. The use of ICT helps in easier integration of the different systems that the company uses (Cheng and Teizer 2013). Lendlease and their global operation The successful implementation and use of ICT in Lendlease have helped them in spreading their business globally. Use of ICT has helped in business integration across the world. It has eroded the barriers of time and space that have helped the organization in making international communication easier. This is because, the use of digital technologies and infrastructure facilitates the acquisition, storage analysis and manipulation and distribution of critical information to the different branches across the world. The information is collected and transmitted across the branches of the organization in a number of ways (Zhang et al. 2013). This includes voice, data, text, video and animation. Other ICT equipments such as webcams, email, DVD, flash memory and hard drives increase the efficiency of the business process in global operation. The human interaction irrespective of time and geographical location has been made possible with the use of ICT. This helps in managing all the construction works taking place across the world under Lendlease through the head office. Therefore, it can be said that ICT encompasses the digital technologies that facilitates the globalization process of Lendlease. Implementation of ICT helps the organization in developing a connected workplace that further helps Lendlease in operating globally. The use of intranet site helps the organization in keeping all the project members in the loop to communicate the new information. Furthermore, the organization maintains a website that helps in global marketing. The website enables the organization in reaching a global audience and increases the value of the organization in the marketplace. The organization uses email as a standard medium of business communication. This enables a smooth communication channel across the organization and helps them in their global operation. This acted as an effective tool for integrating all the operational works while working on the project titled Elephant and Castle in UK. Lendlease works with providing efficient and admirable construction projects. The use of CAD helps in developing flawless engineering drawings that can be shared with the different construction project teams in no time (Lendlease.com, 2017). Furthermore, Lendlease makes use of Building Information Modeling or BIM in developing interactive and 3D designs. All this have been possible due to the use and implementation of ICT in their business processes (Zhang et al. 2013). The use of this ICT tool was significant for successful completion of the International Quarter London project of UK. The use of CAD and 3D modeling has helped in developing this stunningly beautiful project. The major advantage of implementing ICT in Lendlease is that, it increases and promotes the communication process among the people across the world. It helps the different branches of Lendlease that are spread across the world work as a team with the help of an efficient communication system and plan. The use of internet, emails, video chat helps all the branches of the organization in working as a team, which in turn increases the global reach. A major example of successful global reach is construction of Paya Lebar Quarter in Singapore. The efficiency in dealing all the construction process, taking place in all the branches of Lendlease earns it the title of the second largest construction company in Australia (Lendlease.com, 2017). The efficient and planned networking system of Lendlease eliminates the problem for the alliance to exchange and share information among the distant alliance partners. Efficient networking system and internet provides an exceptional opportunity for communication and data exchange among and within the different branches of Lendlease that are spread across the world. This process can be simply defined as the connection between the different computers and digital devices in order to establish digital communication among them (Nourbakhsh et al. 2012). This can be done irrespective of the physical distance and differences in culture, and therefore this helps the organization in operating globally. The leading construction company of Australia is planning to spread its business in few other countries as well. The use of ICT will certainly help the company reaching a wider marketplace. This had helped Lendlease in earning major projects such as Tun Razak Exchange in Kuala Lumpur and project Riverline in United States. Lendlease made the correct usage of the emerging technologies that have considerably helped the organization in reaching a global audience and spreading its business across the world (Keller and Heiko 2014). Conclusion Therefore, from the above discussion it can be concluded that efficient use of ICT have not only helped Lendlease in integrating their business process in Australia but also helped the organization in operating and global business. Use of mobile technology has considerably helped in streamlining the communication network on a global basis irrespective of the time and geographical limitation. With the advent of ICT, the real time monitoring of the projects gave been possible that increases the quality of the project work. The use of emergent designing software like CAD and real time data sharing has made it possible for Lendlease to deliver quality services to the clients that paves the way for the organization to spread in many other countries across the world. Therefore, it can certainly be said that the role of ICT is huge in making the global operation for Lendlease possible. Apart from this, the use of ICT is widespread in the construction industry across the world due to the adv antages it offers. The use of ICT in Lendlease and the process of business enhancement that has been possible with the appropriate use of ICT are discussed in the report. It gives an insight of the use of ICT in reaching a global audience and spreading the construction business across the world. References Akintoye, A., Goulding, J. and Zawdie, G. eds., 2012.Construction innovation and process improvement. John Wiley Sons. Bacaoanu, A.I., 2014. ICT in Business. Change, I.I.S.O., 2014. ICT in Business. Cheng, T. and Teizer, J., 2013. Real-time resource location data collection and visualization technology for construction safety and activity monitoring applications.Automation in Construction,34, pp.3-15. Doloi, H., 2012. 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