VERDICT - An e-readiness assessment application for construction companies

In the recent years, the use of e-commerce tools in construction has been on the increase. The benefits of using these tools on construction projects have been well documented in research and industry publications. Studies have shown that the construction industry recognises the potential for the use of e-commerce. However, the use of these tools is still not common within the industry and the uptake of e-commerce technology in the UK construction industry has been relatively slow. Implementation of any new technology such as e-commerce for achieving business targets requires major changes in an organisation, its current practices, systems, processes and workflows. Taking this into account, construction companies who are currently using, and those who have yet to use e-commerce tools need to take measures to successfully adopt and use this technology. It is important for companies that seek to adopt e-commerce tools to analyse their businesses to ensure a productive and beneficial implementation of these tools (i.e. measure their 'e-readiness' for adopting e-commerce tools). To address this need an e-readiness assessment model and a prototype application were developed. This paper describes the development and implementation of VERDICT, an e-readiness assessment prototype application for construction companies. VERDICT assesses the e-readiness of construction companies in terms of their management, people, processes and technology, and presents the readiness results in both textual and graphical formats. It also provides companies with the potential to compare their e-readiness against that of the 'best-of-breed'. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.