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Construction Manager

Firms save by outsourcing IT

Construction businesses are increasingly planning to shift their IT expenditure from in-house server rooms and support staff towards “virtual” data storage and software accessed via the Internet, according to a new survey. 

 

Based on responses from 200 firms in the contracting, housebuilding and professional services sectors, the Building on IT 2010 report looks at expenditure across hardware, software, staff, data networking and telephony. 

 

It found a trend towards outsourcing, driven by the prospect of cost savings. This can take the form of paying a monthly fee to a service provider for data storage and other network management, or buying “Software as a Service” (SaaS) as an alternative to user licence fees. 

 

Half of the respondents are considering “Cloud” data storage and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, while one in four said they had considered switching to a managed service arrangement. 

 

The report was produced by the Knowledge Practice, an IT consultancy; Construct IT, part of the University of Salford; and the National Computing Centre. The lead author was Ken France, formerly chief information officer at both Bovis and Laing, and now a director of the Knowledge Practice.  

 

France explained: “If people are accessing services over the web, then they don’t need as many technical staff in the field. Plus, if you use SaaS, then it’s easier for everyone in the supply chain to access the same software. 

 

“Boards are throwing down the gauntlet to the IT department, asking them to provide more for less. If they move from a centralised server infrastructure to the Cloud, operating costs can be 20-30% lower. Modern services treat IT like an utlity – you pay on demand, on usage, and don’t pay for what you don’t use.” 

 

Clare Watson, vice president marketing at collaboration vendor 4projects, said take-up of its SaaS solution was increasing. “According to a recent survey in Information Week, the number one reason behind the rapid growth of SaaS is speed of implementation. As companies come out of recession, often with smaller IT departments, this factor could become even more important.”

 

“Avoiding large upfront capital investment by operating on a simple monthly charge… means that SaaS is a good fit with these difficult times.”