• Cloud computing adoption in enterprise: challenges and benefits

      Ullah, Raja Muhammad Ubaid; Buckley, Kevan; Garvey, Mary; Li, Jun (Seventh Sense Research Group, 2019-06-30)
      Loss of the business and downturn of economics are part of almost all types of business activities. There are also new concepts and technologies evolved and entrepreneurs need to keep update accordingly. Therefore, business people have to concentrate on keep exploring new ways to cut down expenses without compromising on the quality. One of the options is to go for the latest technologies. Taking into consideration these problems, the entrepreneurs always choose the right technology to minimise losses, increase efficiency and maximise their profit. In order to help out the entrepreneurs, the IT industries have developed platforms for businesses to use shared resources and online applications through cloud computing. The significant role played by cloud computing in providing a solution to the problems faced by business enterprises to increase business growth and help them to stay alive in a competitive environment. Cloud computing also brings efficiency in managing business resources and make improvements in traditional business practices. It also facilitates the enterprises to avoid unnecessary expenses of procedural and administrative nature, hardware and software costs. Apart from the advantages of cloud computing have certain drawbacks also. The main issue is the security in cloud computing considering the attacks on the cloud too. The primary objective of this paper is to highlight the benefits, challenges in adopting cloud computing and utilizing services offered by cloud computing. Recommendations have also been made to ease the adoption process and how to address security issues.The method has been used is the secondary research, that is collecting the respective data from published journal papers and conference papers.
    • DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED DECISION ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK FOR SELECTING ICT-BASED LOGISTICS SYSTEMS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

      Georgakis Panagiotis Dr.; Fadiya, Olusanjo Olaniran (University of Wolverhampton, 2012-03)
      The current application of logistics in the construction industry is relatively inefficient when compared with other industries such as retail and manufacturing. The factors attributed to this inefficiency include the fragmented and short-term nature of construction process and inadequate tracking facilities on site. The inefficiency of construction logistics creates inter alia loss of materials and equipment, waste, construction delay, excessive cost and collision accident on site. Meanwhile, several information and communication technologies (ICT) have been proposed and developed by researchers to improve logistics functions such as tracking and monitoring of resources through the supply chain to the construction site. Such technologies include global positioning system (GPS), radio frequency identification devices (RFID), wireless sensors network (WSN) and geographical information system (GIS). While considerable research has been undertaken to develop the aforementioned systems, limited work has so far been done on investment justification prior to implementation. In this research, a framework has been developed to assess the extent of construction logistics problems, measure the significances of the problems, match the problems with existing ICT-based solutions and develop a robust ready-to-use multi-criteria analysis tool that can quantify the costs and benefits of implementing several ICT-based construction logistics systems. The tool is an integrated platform of related evaluation techniques such as Fault Tree Analysis, Decision Tree Analysis, Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Multi-Attribute Utility Theory. Prior to the development of this tool, data was collected through questionnaire survey and analysed by means of statistical analysis in order to derive some foundational parameters of the tool. Quantitative research method was adopted for data collection because the processes of the tool for which the data was required are quantitative. The implementation of this tool is novel given the integration of the analytical techniques mentioned above and the application of the tool for selecting ICT-based construction logistics systems. The tool takes in data such as cost and quantities of materials for a building project and quantifies the cost and benefits of alternative ICT-based tracking systems that can improve the logistics functions of the project. The application of the tool will eliminate guesswork on the benefits of ICT-based tracking systems by providing an objective platform for the quantification of cost and benefits of the systems prior to implementation.
    • Evaluation of renewable energy strategies in the Dominican Republic

      Renukappa, Suresh; Suresh, Subashini; Sosa, Angelines Daihana Donastorg (University of Wolverhampton, 2019-10)
      Dominican Republic electricity sector has been in crisis for decades, because of the ageing grid system, technical and nontechnical losses and the dependency of around 85% of its electricity from fossil fuel. However, the situation in the Dominican Republic is contradicting; the country has high renewable energy potential for generation, the international support, aid and funds, the willingness of the private sector, and the 57-07 law for incentives for renewable energy projects yet out of 200 renewable projects approved only 4 have been successfully implemented and are in operation. Why did so many projects fail? Why has the country had so difficulties making the transition? Those were some of the questions that drove this research. To answer those questions an exploratory qualitative research was undertaken with a pragmatism ideology at its core, due to the lack of documentation on the subject. The research focused on the energy sector especially electricity from renewable sources. To understand the environment for renewables in the country and lack of success in the area twenty-five key stakeholders representing the renewable sector in the country were chosen and through purpose and snowball sampling were interviewed in a semi-structured manner, as to allow for the participants to express the knowledge they possess. Through the literature review and the content and interpretive structural modelling analysis of the interviews, key drivers, challenges, critical success factors, benefits, financial tools and business model were identified, and their interlinking relationship was discovered. This identification and interconnectivity of the parameters aid in the creation of a successful framework for the implementation of renewable energy projects in the country, that could be used be the private and public sector of the country, the auto producers and local and international investors, which was the aim of the research.
    • The key enablers, techniques and benefits of managing stakeholders within BIM supported projects

      Singh, Sukhtaj; Chinyio, Ezekiel; Suresh, Subashini (Emerald, 2021-12-16)
      Purpose Project managers still face challenges with managing stakeholders. Using building information modelling (BIM) has further increased these challenges. Meanwhile, there is a paucity of research specifically focussing on the techniques which organisations are adopting to manage stakeholders within BIM-implemented projects and the associated benefits which they can reap. Thus, this paper aims to identify the key techniques, enablers and benefits of managing stakeholders within BIM-implemented projects. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory approach was adopted due to the paucity of the variables on the topic. In total, 23 semi-structured interviews were conducted in the UK through purposive and snowball sampling. The data was analysed using content analysis and the “NVivo 11 Pro” software. Findings Two key techniques and two enablers required to manage stakeholders within BIM-implemented projects were identified. Nine benefits of managing stakeholders were identified which split into interim and eventual benefits. Originality This paper provides a richer understanding of the enablers and techniques which organisations should focus on while strategising for minimum resistance from stakeholders in their BIM implemented projects.
    • Managing knowledge in the context of smart cities: a systematic review

      Abdalla, Wala; Renukappa, Suresh; Suresh, Subashini; Al Nabt, Saeed (Academic Conferences International, 2021-09-30)
      The most recent view on smart city development has recognized that the level of technology adoption in urban contexts is no more able to reflect the real smartness of cities. Smart cities is seen as a centre of knowledge, education, and creativity. The development of smart cities is becoming more and more knowledge based. As a result, knowledge has been perceived as the core component that makes cities smart. Hence, to take advantage of the opportunities that knowledge-based economy and society can bring to the city, leaders and decision makers need to develop cities that take advantage of local knowledge and intellectual capital of the population. Therefore, they need to take initiative to adapt Knowledge Management (KM) in smart cities development. Smart cities KM offers the means to create valuable knowledge that brings consistent and sustainable added value that can therefore be useful in avoiding strategic risk, better-informed decision, and finding smart and effective business solutions. However, smart cities is a relatively new concept that still raises many questions related to its relevance in knowledge management studies. This often calls for the creation, use, capture and exploitation of new knowledge. Therefore, managing this knowledge is considered an important source of sustainable competitive advantage. However, only a few studies in the academic literature on smart city initiatives address issues related to managerial and knowledge management perspectives. This paper investigates the underlying dynamics behind KM and the need for successful implementation of KM strategies within the context of smart cities. The findings are in the main, based on thorough review of literature. It reviews the concept of smart cities and KM. The paper concludes that effectiveness of smart cities knowledge creation, exploitation and management significantly influences on effectiveness of smart city development. Therefore, smart cities governance must be able to exploit and manage knowledge that results from smart cities development.
    • Stakeholder management within BIM implemented projects in the UK construction industry

      Ezekiel Chinyio; Subashini Suresh; Singh, Sukhtaj; Faculty of Science and Engineering (University of Wolverhampton, 2021-04)
      Over the last decade, the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has proliferated to manage the increasing complexity of construction projects. Project managers face challenges while managing stakeholders on BIM-implemented projects because the BIM concept is still relatively new to many stakeholders. The implementation of BIM brought new and complex activities to the already complex process of project management, which led to radical change in the working practices of project stakeholders and generated risk for diverse areas. In this study, the challenges, techniques, enablers and benefits of managing stakeholders within BIM-implemented projects were investigated. This exploratory study adopts a qualitative approach with an interpretative stance at its core, which is an appropriate approach to adopt when the variables and theory base are not known. Pilot study was conducted to test the research instrument. A total of 23 semi-structured interviews were conducted in the UK, via purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The data gathered was analysed using content analysis and the NVivo 11 Pro software. The findings include a persisting low understanding of the BIM concept in project team, especially the client. The users’ resistance to change, and disintegration of BIM and traditional teams leads to unanticipated issues. Holding face-to-face meetings with client at the onset of a project for discussing BIM process and arranging frequent meetings of BIM users among themselves are the key techniques of mitigating issues proactively. Furthermore, organisations should create a sharing and learning environment to encourage and facilitate adoption of BIM. The effective management of stakeholders leads to generating good quality information, avoiding unanticipated issues and assists in understanding the result clearly. A descriptive framework was developed and validated. This framework provides requirements that needs to be integrated during stakeholder management in BIM projects. Every construction project has a unique set of stakeholders. Therefore, project managers should conduct a BIM assessment of all key stakeholders and develop a bespoke stakeholder management plan based on that. BIM has a huge potential to manage stakeholders effectively on construction projects. Even the roles that are not directly/indirectly related to BIM can benefit from increased and better communication and collaboration. Communication, collaboration, stakeholder engagement, trust, common goals, technology and people are at the core of managing stakeholders within BIM projects. Top management should proactively support stakeholder management plan because the lack of knowledge and understanding of BIM among project participants on an ongoing project may lead to conflicts. Larger organisations should help smaller organisations on BIM-implemented projects because smaller organisations usually do not have enough budget to train their staff. To date, researchers have focused on implementation of BIM and stakeholder management aimed at the micro level with little attention to the effect of new digital ways of working with stakeholder. This research provides a richer understanding and awareness of the enablers and techniques, which organisations have to focus on while making strategies in order to face minimum resistance from stakeholders. The study is unique in a way that it considers BIM from a management perspective, especially the stakeholder management. The previous studies have identified challenges of BIM in isolation. The enablers, techniques and benefits pertaining stakeholder management were identified and prioritised in the context of BIM. Furthermore, this study has established new ways which managers can adopt to manage stakeholders in addition to technical approaches.