It is widely accepted that IT has become an important element of any organizational infrastructure, and this is particularly true within the construction business remit. However, there is also ample evidence to indicate that IT investment in construction organizations have repeatedly and systematically failed to fully leverage competitive advantage over the past decade. Moreover, these investments have particularly failed to capitalize on strategic opportunities. In this context, the cost of these `missed opportunities' has, therefore, created a chasm of dissent between decision-makers, whereby IT investment decisions are now treated with palpable apprehension and scepticism. Senior managers and executives have now repositioned their investment policies on IT to bring about efficiency gains, rather than to seek competitive advantage or strive to achieve innovation gains. This `rethinking', could (if left unchallenged) not only act as a core barrier to innovation and inhibit the industry's ability to embrace developments in other business sectors, but also its ability to lead. In order to bring about IT-based innovation within the construction sector, it is important to fully understand the core rationale and thinking of key decision-makers making those investment decisions. This is crucial, as understanding the way investment decisions are made is an important step for determining views, perceptions, and opinions on such issues as risk analysis, opportunity assessment, etc. Moreover, understanding the need for change regarding the positioning of IT as a core enabler of the business needs to be fully understood, along with any core barriers or gaps in thinking (or understanding) of the need for change.
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