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The study aims to provide a critical review of the extent to which digital technologies are likely to replace human labour, the exponential rise in the amount of work to be done and how far distinctively human skills are future-proofed and therefore likely to be in short supply. It reviews the evidence for a permanent switch to home and remote working enabled by emerging technologies. It assesses the business, digital and labour strategies of work organisations and the promise and challenges from a dominant trend towards a digitally enabled flexible labour model.

A critical review of 1020 plus case studies and the extant literature was carried out.

The relationship between emerging technologies and work is widely misunderstood, and there are major qualifiers to the idea of an overwhelming tsunami of technology drastically reducing headcounts globally. Distinctive human skills remain valuable, the amount of work to be done is increasing exponentially and automation is becoming more a coping than a labour replacement mechanism. Moves to a hybrid digitalised flexible labour model are promising but not if short-term, and if the challenges they represent are not managed well.

The main limitation is that we are making projections into the future, though we are drawing on a lot of different sources and evidence and past data projected into the future.

The problem is not labour displacement but large skills shortages that will slow down the speed of technology adoption. Skills development is vital, as is the taking of long-term perspectives towards the management of hybrid, flexible working based on human-machine interactions.

Organisations need to revitalise their training and development and labour management models. Governments and intermediary institutions need to manage transition states if the skills required to gain economic growth are to be available, and to ensure that large labour pools do not get bypassed from not having requisite skills.

The study offers a more subtle and complex perspective on the emerging evidence about the future of technology and work.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges faced with mobile information communication technology (M-ICT), more specifically tablet software, in the construction phase of UK infrastructure projects. Quality assurance in the context of passive fire protection is scrutinised, where M-ICT use is prevalent, to provide an industry perspective.

The research design is founded on exploratory multiple case study approach. Specific themes are developed, based on a critical review of previous ICT studies. The themes identified are used to inform a qualitative interview protocol for investigating three large UK infrastructure projects. Each project is at different stages in the construction phase, with varying examples of M-ICT implementation in use. Participants are interviewed regarding their experiences of the implementation of M-ICT on each project.

Findings identify diverse experiences across each project. Single and multiple M-ICT platforms are currently being used, with individual stakeholders using ICT in isolation, and in some instances, multiple project stakeholders are using it together. Complete replacement of paper-based processes is evident in one case study, but more commonly, digital technology is being used in parallel to traditional paper-based processes. The challenges, although varied across each case study, can be categorised under the themes of Technology (IT support, ICT infrastructure, IT security, contractual, software), People (social aspects, user competency, safety), Technical Compliance (technical compliance evidence) and Process (conventional processes).

It is recommended that each theme be reviewed at project commencement, with all key stakeholders, to ensure key aspects are considered prior to M-ICT deployment. This will ensure avoidance of challenges reported and maximise the opportunities that are available through M-ICT in a multi-stakeholder infrastructure project.