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Current facility management (FM) practices are inefficient and ineffective, partially because of missing information and communication issues. Information and communications technologies (ICT) are asserted to provide a promising solution for managing and operating facilities. However, the impact of ICT applications on current FM practices needs to be validated and the perception of FM professionals on ICT-based FM needs to be understood. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impacts and the perception of ICT application on FM practice and further develop an ICT-based integrated framework for smart FM practices.

To achieve the objective, the research starts with reviewing several promising ICT for FM, including building information modeling, geographic information systems, unmanned aerial vehicle and augmented reality. On this basis, a conceptional framework was synthesized in consideration of the benefits of each technology. A survey questionnaire to FM professionals was conducted to evaluate the proposed framework and identify the challenges of adopting ICT in the FM industry. Furthermore, return on investment and strength, weakness, opportunities and threats analysis have been used in this paper as evaluation methods for ICT industry adoption.

The survey results are validated by FM professionals for the future engagement of the integrated ICT applications. Also, the proposed framework can assist the decision-makers to have comprehensive information about facilities and systematize the communication among stakeholders.

This research provides an integrated framework for smart FM to improve decision-making, capitalizing on the ICT applications. Apart from this, the study sheds light on future research endeavors for other ICT applications.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The construction industry’s daily processes demand heavy data usage and communication between project participants to meet client requirements. Thus, the application of information technology in project implementation has been increasing in the construction sector (CS) lately. However, the same cannot be seen in public sectors responsible for implementing government projects in South Africa. This study aimed to investigate the causes and effects of the underutilisation of information communication technology (ICT) in the building section of a public sector in a municipality in South Africa.

A qualitative approach was adopted for the study, using a public sector in one of the municipalities as a case study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among the building unit workers, using unstructured interview questions. The data collected were analysed using the ATLAS.ti software.

The findings indicate a lack of understanding of existing and newly available ICT software and hardware technology among staff within the building technology due to lack of digitalisation in construction projects implementation, inadequate system upgrades, lack of adequate ICT resources, lack of financial resources for internet and software application subscriptions and lack of ICT training leading. The issues mentioned above have led to the outsourcing of projects professionals, slow pace of electronic emails, untrained professionals, usage of different and unlicensed software, resulting in the underutilisation of ICT within the whole building section. This change also adversely affects all officials, especially the junior officials who have graduated using the most recent ICT technology during their studies.

The building department of only one public sector was used for the study; therefore, the findings may not be generalisable. The case study public sector’s name is withheld for confidentiality purposes.

Adequate change management and continuous development, combined with the allocation of proper resources, would be necessary for all staff members. Enormous investments had to be made in the ICT equipment by providing a sufficient budget in the building section of the public sectors. The building section within public sectors should provide change management to all aged skills staff by attending seminars to learn new ICT technology applied within its work environment.

The study established the causes of the underutilisation of ICT in the CS, especially in the public work departments and municipalities, and how this contributes to service delivery.

The paper discusses the potential impact of videoconferencing on practices and processes within the construction industry, based on analyses carried out on its use and impact in the healthcare sector – which like construction involves technology‐intensive processes which are dependent upon cross‐professional and cross‐disciplinary relationships and communications, operate within an increasingly regulatory and litigious climate, and involve organizationally fluid, virtual, teams spanning several subindustries. Recently published research evidence from the healthcare sector suggests that whilst videoconferencing and other advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) have pervasive capabilities, successes in their application may be shortlived and modest in achievement. In use, their actual uptake and application have been found to be fundamentally affected by a range of social and operational issues, such as fears over a new formalization and trackability of previously informal conversations; a rebalancing of power relationships (between professionals using the ICTs as well as between doctor and patient); pressures on social/cultural and procedural alignment between participants; and personal and corporate attitudes to the technologies (including simply disliking the ICT). There is also evidence from the healthcare sector to suggest that ICTs increase the complexity of the delivering healthcare, and that the limitations of the technologies emphasise an existing dependency of communications and processes on tacit knowledge which is not readily formalized for communication via ICTs. However, the paper also notes an increasing pressure on the construction industry to respond to the globalizing potential that ICTs offer for the supply and delivery of knowledge‐based services, and discusses the implications of the issues found in the healthcare sector for the use and potential abuse of ICTs in the construction industry that will have to be successfully addressed in order to avoid ICTs being perceived as threatening and to allow their use to help organizations address the globalising marketplace.

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify factors affecting adoption and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in large ICT‐experienced Australian construction organizations. During 2002 the researchers undertook an online survey, supplemented by a hardcopy collection option, to gather data from three major construction organizations with many years experience with implementing and adopting IT. The analysis concentrated on a common class of ICT adopted across the three organizations so that factor analysis could be validly undertaken. Results identified 11 factors that were found to influence ICT diffusion and adoption by the organizations that were grouped into management, individual, technology and workplace environment categories. These concurred with theory from the change management, innovation diffusion and organizational learning literature. Further, in‐depth qualitative analysis through case studies (beyond the scope of this paper) also helped to explain and make sense of the results. The results help to better explain human related factors in particular in terms of the broader and emerging literature of organizational learning and innovation adoption with a clear focus on how the people‐side of ICT diffusion and adoption is undertaken. This ICT diffusion and adoption study is undertaken at the firm‐level (micro analysis) as opposed to the industry level (macro analysis) and so provides insights into the interplay between diffusion and adoption concepts.

This study was conducted to investigate the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in special libraries in Kerala, India.

The following methods were used to collect data for the study: questionnaire survey of librarians and library users, semi‐structured interviews with librarians, and observational visits in the libraries. This study was confined only to the automated special libraries in Kerala.

The analyses revealed that though the libraries had hardware, software, and communication facilities to some extent, ICT‐based resources and services were not reaching the users to the expected extent. Library automation in special libraries in Kerala was largely commenced during the period 1990‐2000. CDS/ISIS was used more in the libraries than any other software. The library catalogue found to be the most popular area for automation. The ICT‐based resource used by the largest percentage of the users was the e‐mail. Most of the libraries were hampered by lack of funds, lack of infrastructure, and lack of skilled professionals to embark on automation of all library management activities and application of ICT. A good number of the library users were not satisfied with the application of ICT in their libraries and indicated “inadequate ICT infrastructure” as their major reason for dissatisfaction. They proposed a variety of measures of formal orientation and training on ICT to become more effective users.

The study provides recommendations to enhance library automation and effective and efficient application of ICT.

Information technology can be seen as one of the key drivers in a changing business environment as it is integrated into almost all aspects of business. All the research investigating the skills and abilities that a professional accountant will need in future emphasises the importance of understanding and being competent in the use of information technology. Whether professional accountants function as financial managers within a specific organisation, act as independent evaluators of an organisation, financial information and systems, or act as consultants advising organisations, they will have to interact with and be knowledgeable about information technology to enable them to perform their jobs competently. The purpose of this article is to identify which information and communication technology (ICT) skills are critical for professional accountants who wish to be competent in the current and future working environment. A literature review was conducted of research by various professional accountancy bodies and other stakeholders to determine: the competence that future professional accountants will need; and the impact of the changing environment on the curricula set by professional accounting bodies. The article concludes with a description of the ICT skills required by professional accountants in order to be competent in today’s work environment. The article concludes with a discussion of the ICT skills that professional accountants must be competent in using.

Although communication is of vital importance in construction projects, the construction industry is confronted with great communication difficulties and an ineffective use of information and communication technology (ICT) systems. In this study, the objective is to analyse obstacles and preconditions for an effective use of ICT by focusing on characteristics of interorganizational communication in construction projects. Interorganizational communication and ICT are studied by elaborating on these phenomena from the perspective of two paradigms – the traditional functionalist and the radical humanist – and theories representative for these paradigms – the agency theory and Habermas’ critical social theory. By using the method of metatriangulation, it is shown that in addition to the functionalist perspective, the critical social theory of Habermas is an appropriate theory for analysing obstacles and preconditions for an effective interorganizational communication and use of ICT. Based on this analysis, a critical research agenda on communication and ICT in construction is formulated. It is concluded that this type of research will lead to a more articulated view on the alignment between ICT applications and communication in construction projects and will show new directions for ICT development in the future.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have featured strongly in all the recent national foresight studies. This paper documents some of the common trends that emerge from a comparison of these different studies and attempts to draw some strategic conclusions. The first section charts their relative importance. The main trends identified in the national foresight studies are then discussed by main technological areas in turn: software, components and peripherals, advanced telecommunications and telematics applications. Finally, the third part of the paper, strong interactions that ICTs have with other technological disciplines is considered, especially in relation to new materials, nanostructures and bioinformatics.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are involved in emerging information and communication technology (EICT) adoption by concentrating on the adoption process and the role played by various actors in the process. Information and communication technology (ICT) adoption research, especially in SMEs, has moved from a simple adopters’ participation process to involving diverse actors that continually interact and influence the process. SMEs need to constantly interact with various human and non-human actors to keep up with the EICT adoption. However, this has proved difficult.

This study adopted a qualitative method to examine the dynamic process of EICT adoption in service SMEs in the UK, and deployed both unstructured and semi-structured interviews in two separate rounds with 26 participants drawn from Crunch Online Database and Luton Business Directory. The participants include managers, customers, government agencies, SMEs consultants and information technology (IT) vendors, with the help of purposeful random sampling.

The study develops a framework informed by actor network theory (ANT) concepts and found that using ANT to examine the process of adoption helps to unveil the recursive nature of the process and the roles of actors which vary from one stage to another. The finding reveals that adoption of EICT is not straightforward; rather, it is evolutionary and dynamic, and small business managers’ play an important role in the process amidst other actors influence. The framework supports businesses of all types. Although ICT applications are influenced by diverse actors including IT experts, customers and vendors, the decision of SME managers regularly shape the values and beliefs of other actors if adequate information are conveyed by the numerous actors. Therefore, adoption of EICT is embraced faster by organizations, especially small businesses, if diverse actors are committed in conveying the right information to the key actors, thereby helping them to make adequate decision, and streamline their business processes.

This study is limited by its focus and other factors. Studying the opinions of small service UK SMEs limits the power of generalizing the identified causal relationships; therefore, extended measures are required on accounts of environmental, cultural, geographical and sectorial differences. While some errors seemed unavoidable when measures appear subjective and prone to common error biases, the study advised on recognizing the overriding influence of the roles at each stage of the adoption process to be proactive in committing resources.

This work is of value to practitioners and academics, as it provides further insight into ICT adoption framework by showing how the diverse actors guarantee EICT adoption in small service(s) businesses. This is relevant given that SMEs have limited knowledge of new ICT and understanding diverse actors and their roles in the adoption process would enhance their knowledge of the analysts in the context of new technology adoption and to cope with EICT continually amidst of the roles of actors in the adoption process. The framework serves as an analytical instrument in explaining ICT adoption process and its outcomes characterized by conflicting views.