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Skills Training
March 28, 2006
Information Technology
Survey to ask how IT used in industry
CCA hoping for strong response rate to survey
The Canadian Construction Association’s e-construction committee is undertaking a “benchmarking” survey of information technology (IT) use in the industry.
Committee secretary Doug Hotston said CCA is attempting to get a grasp on the extent to which such technology is used to advance productivity.
“We have the questionnaire pretty well ready to go,” he said. “It’s now a case of determining the best way (distribution method) to ensure an adequate response rate. We want to get a 15 to 20 per cent response.”
In an interview with Daily Commercial News, Hotston said the survey will query utilization of everything, from different types of software and computers to portals where drawings and the like are deposited.
“We want to get a snapshot of where the industry is,” said Hotston, the CCA’s director of industry technology and trade services. “We want to know if we are still in the dark ages, with people relying on fax machines.”
If the results indicate that adoption of information technology isn’t all that prevalent, CCA would like to do the survey again in perhaps two years “to see if there has been an uptake.
“If not, we’d want to find out what we need to do to educate the industry and further stimulate IT use so that we can see some real productivity gains,” Hotston said.
CCA intends to involve local associations across the country in dissemination of the survey.
Results are expected to be published by fall for internal CCA use.
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