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Abuelmaatti, A and Ahmed, V (2010) The potential of collaborative environments implementation in small and medium enterprises for the construction industry. In: Egbu, C (Ed.), Proceedings 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2010, Leeds, UK. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Vol. 1, 663–72.

  • Type: Conference Proceedings
  • Keywords: collaborative environments; SME
  • ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-9552390-4-5
  • URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/ar2010-0663-0672_Abuelmatti_and_Ahmed.pdf
  • Abstract:
    Emerging technologies in the UK offer the construction industry many opportunities for computer supported collaborative environments to address some of the aspects that result in a complicated and complex construction process. However, the companies adopting these technologies usually fail in achieving the full benefits from their implementations. The use of collaboration technology remains low among 99% of companies in the UK construction industry usually referred to as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs < 250 employees). The paper firstly reports results of a literature review on the benefits of collaborative environments and barriers to its implementation. Secondly, it summarize the results of case study providing the perspective of construction SMEs on the current success level and success criteria. While SMEs are key players in supporting large construction companies adopting collaborative environments, the paper reveals that there is lack in introducing collaborative environments to SMEs with regards to the management required in order to obtain the full benefits from their implementation. The paper then concludes with some insights into how construction SMEs can improve the implementation of collaborative environments and the necessity to developing an approach blending the right combination of factors which are believed to contribute towards the improvement and implementation of collaborative environments