A survey of Internet usage in the Malaysian construction industry

In recent years, the construction industry in Malaysia seems to be using the Internet as much as other industries. However, what is the actual level of Internet usage in the construction industry and what are the perceived benefits and disadvantages experienced by the users? A survey was conducted to find the answers to the questions. Based on the survey, it was found that the respondents have accessibility to the Internet; comparable to countries such as the United States. However, the main use of the Internet is only for emails and information search. Use of the Internet for online bidding and e-meetings are almost negligible. The good news is, for those using the Internet, they experienced time and cost savings as well as increased in efficiency. On the other hand, the survey found that most of the disadvantages experienced are slowness in downloading, virus problem and frequency of being cut-off from Internet connection. As such, it is recommended that the relevant parties in the industry should look into provision of sufficient infrastructure and IT skills training to enable the workers in this industry to fully utilise the potential of the Internet instead of just implementing basic automation.