Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises (HEE), a market leader in the UAE's construction industry, has committed itself to match traditional mortar with the new gains offered by information technology.

HEE managing director Riad Sadek said: 'We have to shift our business closer to where our clients are to be able to make their vision a reality at breakneck speed.'

He said the company planned to apply the right IT lessons learned in the corporate world over the past decade to boost its productivity.

He said HEE IT manager Hassib El Assaad led the team that was applying those lessons.

'After our record landmarks like Emirates Towers and Burj Al-Arab raised the standards for future building owner demands, it became clear that communication with our diverse construction sites needed to be both richer and more rapid than your average computer network can provide,' El Assaad said.

He said HEE is about to enter its next phase on the agenda: Real-time virtual group messaging and meetings, a tailor-made enterprise resource planning package to automate its procurement, engineering, storage, manpower, and financial workflows, and of course, the corresponding training workshops.

As for the future, HEE wants to place itself as a pioneer in worldwide 'web-ified' construction processes by doing its purchasing on business-to-business exchange portals, bidding for contracts online, wireless manpower notification, and exchanging knowledge in many forms with its clients wherever they may be.