Cloud Computing Technology Adoption and Implementation in Construction

This report delves into the integration of cloud computing within the construction industry, highlighting its transformative impact. It begins by analyzing the penetration of technology in the sector, emphasizing the shift from traditional methods to cloud-based solutions. The report explores the various cloud computing services, including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and their relevance in streamlining construction processes. It then outlines the significant advantages of cloud computing, such as cost savings, improved communication, enhanced collaboration, and a competitive edge. Furthermore, the report acknowledges and addresses the challenges associated with cloud computing implementation, particularly concerning security, skilled personnel, and stakeholder integration. It suggests solutions like data encryption, system authorization, and training programs to overcome these obstacles, ultimately advocating for the widespread adoption of cloud computing to enhance efficiency and innovation in the construction industry.

Use of cloud computing in construction industry
Name
Institution
Professor
Course
Date
Abstract

Technology has been one of the tools believed to offer competitive advantage to any
organization. To make sure adoption of technology is of substantial benefits to all
stakeholders, constructors should focus on its full implementation before construction process
can start. Some of the aspects that has been addressed in this paper are; analysis of
technology penetration into the industry. The focus has been on general view of cloud
computing technology by all stakeholders and the rate of technology adoption in the industry.
To use cloud computing, several services must be available to support its implementation by
customers. The importance of cloud technology, its challenges and solution to such issues has
been addressed.
Contents
Abstract................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.........................................................................................................................................4

Background study................................................................................................................................4
Cloud computing services...................................................................................................................4
Importance of cloud computing in construction industry................................................................5
Cloud computing implementation challenges....................................................................................6
Solutions to cloud computing implementation challenges................................................................7
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography........................................................................................................................................7
Introduction
Cloud computing involves use of todays’ technology such as internet to access both
hardware and software from anywhere across the globe. With cloud computing, organizations
does not require centralized physical office to manage its operations. It is possible to have
virtual office that coordinates all construction working sites from single location. Each

working site can be turned to an office because employees can access, control, update and
receive all communication via the internet (Amarnath, Sawhney & Maheswari 2011, p.
1238). With cloud computing, all stakeholders can participate in the construction process
from different parts of the world. It is obvious that many of the contractors have used
technology for one reason or the other. Their use of technology might be on research, get
updates on state government changes in construction rules and regulations as well as
communicate to other contractors. Despite these use, it is important for contractors to
understand technology can still be used in the management of construction processes from
early stages to later stages including management of residential houses and other facilities.
Adoption of cloud computing technology in the industry makes the entire process efficiency,
cheaper and easier to manage (Chong, Wong & Wang 2014, p. 159). In this regard, the main
question is, do we need to incorporate technology in construction industry?
Background study
Technology adoption has been noted to be the key driver in almost all sectors of the
business. Its adoption depends on the nature of business and the market gap that specific
business indents to tap. However, construction industry has not been advocating
technological adoption because its major stakeholders such as contractors have been resisting
its use (Spoorthy, Mamatha & Kumar 2014, p. 308). Technology adoption in the construction
industry has been gaining momentum over the years. In the past 5 years, a research shows
that use of cloud computing in construction industry by contractors has increased
substantially from 16% to 85% in the year 2017 (Cooley & Cholakis 2013, p. 4). The
percentage of technology use by contractor can be used as an indicator to measure the rate of
cloud computing penetration in the industry. There has been notable difference between
contractors who uses technology in the construction processes and those do not. Contractors
advocate that cloud computing technology offers more benefits than it was initially believed.
Cloud computing services
To leverage use of cloud technology in the industry, several services need to be
integrated in order to make its implementation successful. These services are majorly
classified into infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) which is used by customers’ to either access,
start or carry out some configurations to virtual servers as well as other storage facilities
(Puthal et al. 2015, p. 118-119). IaaS provides an opportunity to service consumers to
change necessary settings of the existing infrastructure in order to suite specific customers’
need. The next cloud computing service involves Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) which brings
together various software development tools. These tools are usually hosted by service
provider and consumers makes access to such tools through use of other supporting tools
available on users’ computer. Lastly, Software-as-a-Service provides an opportunity to users’
to interact with it and access available services through browsers and website portal. SaaS is
commonly known to be one of the robust tool that covers almost all types of industrial
application (Sareen 2013, p. 3). Due to this capability, SaaS consumers’ does not need to
worry about system and data maintenance. Required services are readily available throughout
and from any part of the world. With these three types of services from cloud computing, it is
quite possible for construction industry players to take advantage of them and automate all
construction processes.

Importance of cloud computing in construction industry
It has been on the public domain that technology is the key driver to the business
operations. In this regard, cloud computing offers the following benefits in construction
industry; it is a cost saving tool because many processes can be done over the cloud resulting
to reduced cost of operations. Through use of collaboration tools, construction companies are
able to collaborate with other state agencies to obtain required operational approvals (Abedi,
Fathi & Rawai 2013, p. 14). Before construction processes can start, there is so much back
and forth from several state government agencies in a bid to obtain certifications. Similarly,
organizations activities may require frequent movement from working site to main office to
obtain, sign and share some data. Movement from working site to the office and to other state
offices has been resource intensive and time consuming. Besides, at times most construction
organization finds it possible to hire an individual to take information to and from these areas
(Feuerlicht & Margaris 2012, p. 7). In this case, organizational use of cloud computing makes
it possible to have a common working platform which cuts off all these movements and
additional personnel. This minimizes the number of working personnel and reduces time
wastage which in turn lowers cost of construction.
Additionally, communication amongst stakeholders in the industry has been a major
problem but adoption of cloud computing has eliminated this barrier. Before a construction
process can start, it would be important for organization to set up all required parameters in
order to facilitate smooth operations (Habjan & Pucihar 2017, p. 262). With a shared
platform, all stakeholders are provided with required privileges in order to avoid need for
signatures and stamps. In this regard, contractor would be required to raise any authorization
demand with relevant bodies and approvals would be granted travelling to state government
offices. On the same note, change requests, communication and updates on the progress can
be made easily by contractor. All other stakeholders are able to access such information on
real-time and act accordingly in order to make entire process a success. The next benefit is
competitive advantage offered by cloud computing. Minimizing movements, employees,
documentation and document maintenance, the entire construction cost is substantially
reduced. During contract quotation, it is obvious contractor who does not use technology
ends up quoting higher prices in order to cover all expenses (Hassan et al. 2017, p. 31). On
the other hand, techno brain contractors would have much lower quotation. Upon evaluating
the reason of having lower operating costs, the contracting organization would be convinced
by technology use in the entire process. Again, there would be much trust on contractor who
uses technology to maintain business operations.
Further, through use of cloud computing technology, it has been possible to monitor
and control quality of services offered by accessing real-time data. Quality is a very
important aspect in construction and should be monitored and controlled at every stage. Real-
time monitoring and control can only be achieved through use of technology (James &
Verma 2012, p. 1658). Through cloud computing technology, product owner can have a feel
of the service while development is in progress. In order to facilitate real-time monitoring,
contractor can combine cloud computing technology with other aspects such drones to
capture real-time image or videos. Once collected, such data is uploaded directly to the
collaboration platform to be accessible by every relevant stakeholder. Analysis of the
collected data can be done on the same platform and feedback provided with suitable
recommendations. Finally, adoption of cloud computing does not limit users on basis of

devices to use. Cloud computing provides accessibility to all nature of devices including
modern mobile phones such as smartphones (Juan & Zheng 2014, p. 54). Its users does not to
invest heavily on either hardware or software because it makes use of devices which are
readily available, cheap and easy to operate. In this regard, use of simple devices such as
smartphones makes use of cloud technology convenient and cost effective.
Cloud computing implementation challenges
Technological adoption has been associated with many benefits but it is obvious that
there are limitations associated with it. Security is a fundamental aspect that should be greatly
factored in construction industry. The nature, purpose and use of the facility determines the
security to be accorded. In this case, security parameters would range from; hacking of the
collaboration platforms with intention of interrupting the entire process (Kumar, Cheng &
McGibbney 2010, p. 315). Once construction supporting technology has been setup, its
security need to be guaranteed. Cloud computing technology can be set up to support
sensitive construction such as nuclear plants which are of great economic importance to state
governments. It would be extremely dangerous to expose construction techniques to
unauthorized individuals. Competitor’s revelation on use of cloud computing technology may
result to undetected monitoring. All construction secretes can be accessed through snooping
with aim of bringing down the entire facility. Besides interruption, every industry is prone to
competition and there is need to protect business operational privacy. Every contractor would
like to remain relevant in the market and this can only be achieved by keeping operational
procedures confidential. Construction of some facilities require sophisticated technology and
procedures (Sharma, Suri & Kumar 2017, p. 49). Failing to protect how facilities such as
military set ups are implemented may expose country’s security to wrong people such as
terrorists.
The next challenge is on lack of skilled and knowledgeable personnel to implement
and support required technology setups. Cloud computing technology is a new tool in
construction industry and as a result industry does not have sufficient skilled personnel. Many
contractors have expressed need to use cloud computing technology in construction but they
have been facing operational challenge. Though there are many benefits realizable from use
of such technology, if contractors do not have required skills to maintain it, its
implementation would be in vein. The last issue in cloud computing is bring all individuals
on board. If technology has to be adopted, it is important to bring all stakeholders on board to
avoid partial implementation of technology. In this case, planning should be very intensive
such that all parties are aware of technology set up, how to use it and its accessibility
(Oliveira, Thomas & Espadanal 2014, p. 504). Bringing together all stakeholders required
effective relationship management in order to make sure all parties have been factored in
order to avoid further delay once project has been started.
Solutions to cloud computing implementation challenges
Challenges faced by construction industry during implementation of cloud computing
technology should not be taken as an excuse to limit its implementation. To solve security
issues that are associated with hacking, privacy and confidentiality, organizations should
focus on implementing data protection techniques (Chen & Zhang 2014, p. 330). Some of

these techniques are; data encryption which protects data from being used once hackers gain
access to data servers. This is one of the fundamental aspect that construction industry should
focus on in order to make sure its data is unusable by unauthorized users. Similarly, system
authorization and authentication should be clearly defined and enforced through formulation
of strict rule and regulations. Before new devices can access required data, proper
authorization should be done accordingly. System access can also be enforced through
security codes which does verification checks. Next, privacy and confidentiality of
operational procedures can be done through patenting of ownership rights. Patent right
protects individuals from implementing services or product without proper authorization from
its owner. Further, the issue of skilled personnel can be solved by training relevant employees
on use of cloud computing in order to be able to implement and use it without operational
challenges (Jakimoski 2016, p. 52). Finally, bringing all stakeholder on board can be resolved
by liaising with relevant bodies. In this regard, personnel would be assigned to monitor entire
process as well as grant required authorization.
Conclusion
Cloud computing technology in construction industry is a game changer in the entire
process. It is one of the operational tool that makes it possible for any construction
organization to streamline its daily activities. With cloud computing, it is possible to bring all
construction stakeholders on board in order to make it possible to share required data.
Through use technology, contractors are able to decentralize their operations from office to
all working sites. In such a case, it would be possible to minimize waste of time as well as
operational costs which in turn lowers cost of construction. Generally, cloud technology is a
tool that all stakeholders’ in the construction should advocate and implement at all cost.
Bibliography
Abedi, M., Fathi, M.S. and Rawai, N.M., 2013. The impact of cloud computing technology to
precast supply chain management. International journal of construction engineering and
management, 2(A), pp.13-16.
Amarnath, C.B., Sawhney, A. and Maheswari, J.U., 2011. Cloud computing to enhance
collaboration, coordination and communication in the construction industry. In Information
and Communication Technologies (WICT), 2011 World Congress on (pp. 1235-1240). IEEE.
Chen, C.P. and Zhang, C.Y., 2014. Data-intensive applications, challenges, techniques and
technologies: A survey on Big Data. Information Sciences, 275, pp.314-347.
Chong, H.Y., Wong, J.S. and Wang, X., 2014. An explanatory case study on cloud
computing applications in the built environment. Automation in construction, 44, pp.152-
162.
Cooley, L. and Cholakis, P., 2013. Efficient project delivery: BIM, IPD, JOC, Cloud
Computing and more. Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology, 2(1), pp.1-5.
Feuerlicht, G. and Margaris, N., 2012. Cloud Computing Adoption: A comparative study. In
WSEAS International Conference. Proceedings. Recent Advances in Computer Engineering
Series (No. 7). WSEAS.

Habjan, K.B. and Pucihar, A., 2017. The importance of business model factors for cloud
computing adoption: role of previous experiences. Organizacija, 50(3), pp.255-272.
Hassan, H., Nasir, M., Herry, M., Khairudin, N. and Adon, I., 2017. Factors influencing
cloud computing adoption in small and medium enterprises. Journal of Information and
Communication Technology, 16(1), pp.21-41.
Jakimoski, K., 2016. Security techniques for data protection in cloud computing.
International Journal of Grid and Distributed Computing, 9(1), pp.49-56.
James, J. and Verma, B., 2012. Efficient VM load balancing algorithm for a cloud computing
environment. International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering, 4(9), p.1658.
Juan, D. and Zheng, Q., 2014. Cloud and open BIM-based building information
interoperability research. Journal of Service Science and Management, 7(2), pp.47-56.
Kumar, B., Cheng, J.C. and McGibbney, L., 2010. Cloud computing and its implications for
construction IT. In Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Proceedings of the
International Conference (Vol. 30, p. 315).
Oliveira, T., Thomas, M. and Espadanal, M., 2014. Assessing the determinants of cloud
computing adoption: An analysis of the manufacturing and services sectors. Information &
Management, 51(5), pp.497-510.
Puthal, D., Sahoo, B.P.S., Mishra, S. and Swain, S., 2015. Cloud computing features, issues,
and challenges: a big picture. In Computational Intelligence and Networks (CINE), 2015
International Conference on (pp. 116-123). IEEE.
Sareen, P., 2013. Cloud computing: types, architecture, applications, concerns, virtualization
and role of it governance in cloud. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer
Science and Software Engineering, 3(3).
Sharma, V., Suri, B. and Kumar, D., 2017. Methods of Data Access in Cloud Computing and
It’s Challenges in Network Security. International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends
in Computing and Communication, 5(11), pp.47-51.
Spoorthy, V., Mamatha, M. and Kumar, B.S., 2014. A survey on data storage and security in
cloud computing. International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, 3(6),
pp.306-313.