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Research highlights benefits of using collaboration systems

Clients increasingly require 'extranet expertise'
Independent research commissioned by the Network for Construction Collaboration Technology Providers (NCCTP) shows that 74% of clients increasingly favour contractors with experience of using web-based collaboration systems - or 'project extranets' - to deliver construction projects.

The 'Proving Collaboration Pays' study, carried out by Benchmark Research, also found project teams welcome the greater control over their projects that collaboration technologies gave them.

In the survey, 96% of those interviewed said they had experienced benefits from using collaboration technologies.

Interviewees were drawn from 195 different companies and comprised roughly one quarter each of designers (architects, civil engineers, etc), main contractors and sub-contractors, with the remaining quarter made up of client representatives and quantity surveyors.

Construction industry clients within the sample were asked for their opinions regarding collaboration technologies. Almost three-quarters (74%) said they were more likely to award contracts to firms experienced in using collaboration technologies, and over two-thirds (68%) said they would insist on using such systems on all future projects.

Such client attitudes are clearly familiar to many professionals within project teams. Four out of five non-clients (81%) agreed that an increasing number of larger clients insisted on using the technologies, two-thirds felt expertise in their use gave them a competitive edge in winning contracts, and 54% said they would not be able to compete for certain jobs without using the systems.

The free report, entitled 'Proving Collaboration Pays', is available for download in PDF format by clicking here.

The NCCTP/Benchmark survey was undertaken shortly after publication of an influential study by academics in the Graduate Design School at Harvard University in the USA (which also included projects from Business Collaborator. While the Harvard study was more qualitative, it did investigate users' perceptions of the benefits of online collaboration, and there was significant overlap in relation to eight areas of benefit. Both surveys delivered very similar rankings, with audit-trail related benefits and the ability to find/access data swiftly both given very high scores.

Notes to editors:

• The Network for Construction Collaboration Technology Providers (NCCTP) was established in late 2003 to promote the effective use of online technology to support collaborative working on construction projects.
• The NCCTP's members include all the leading UK providers: 4Projects, Aconex, Asite, BIW Technologies, Business Collaborator, Cadweb, Causeway Technologies and Sarcophagus.