In recent years, ICTs have played a very important role in the innovation of different sectors. There is a wide variety of ICT applications for the logistics and transport sector, including transportation management applications for management and planning, supply chain execution applications for a real-time sharing of information during the transport of the goods, field force automation to automate processes between the workforce and the different business processes, and fleet and freight management solutions used as reporting applications that give different transport data (e.g. travel times) to transport managers [
5,
11]. A recent study has demonstrated that the implementation of ICT has positive effects on supply chain agility and economic performance [
12]. For example, the use of ICT technologies in the transport sector has shown to have benefits for drivers, eliminating the time spent on administrative activities, which represents a 5.4% of the driver’s working day [
13].
Nowadays, some of the most prominent ICT technologies include big data, the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence and cloud computing [
10]. Advances in digitalisation supported by these technologies are necessary to provide solutions for the management and safe transport of merchandise. This digitalisation process will avoid human errors and increase efficiency through a higher level of automatisation that will reduce expedition times and costs. The positive role of ICT in improving overall performance, customer service levels, visibility and communication between multimodal transport operators has been recognised by many stakeholders [
6], however, there are many barriers that slow down the adoption of ICT solutions.
2.1 Barriers to ICT adoption in the TDG supply chain
There are many publications that analyse the factors affecting the adoption of ICT solutions, however, few studies have focused on the implementation of ICT in the transport and logistics sector. Pokharel (2005) identified four main factors that affect the level of ICT adoption by logistics companies, which include the logistic services provided, the size of the company, the number of industry or product types with which the company works, and the technological development and policy regarding ICT [
6].
We have analysed the different barriers in three different groups: company-related barriers, external barriers and technical barriers.
Company-related barriers are those in which the behaviour of companies towards ICT adoption appears to be affected by the characteristics of the company itself, and include economic barriers, human capital restrictions and operation-related barriers.
Economic or financial barriers include the long implementation periods for ICT solutions [
6] and the need for financial justification in order to fully implement an ICT solution [
14], as well as insufficient compatibility between new ICT solutions and the existing solutions adopted by the company. This insufficient compatibility between solutions often leads to high substitution costs for firms, in order to intensify the use of the ICT [
15]. ICT implementation can also be hampered by the cost of the investment needed to buy equipment (e.g. telematic equipment in the case of tracking and tracing applications), the installation and the integration of new ICT solutions with legacy systems [
16,
17], and insufficient management support [
18]. One of the main barriers to ICT adoption is uncertainty about timely returns on investment, and a lack of methods for the identification and analysis of potential benefits (in terms of costs and intangible benefits due to, for example, additional services) [
5,
11,
17].
Human capital restrictions also hinder the implementation of ICT. The lack of ICT specialists, together with insufficient training and the reluctance of personnel to change and to learn new technology are important aspects that affect the acceptance of ICT [
15,
17]; as well as the attitude of managers and company policy about the implementation of new ICT solutions [
5]. Harris et al. (2015) studied the barriers associated with the adoption of ICT in multimodal transport with a focus on operation-related barriers, including the lack of ICT specialists, the shortage of skills among personnel to operate new applications and insufficient ICT-oriented training – all barriers that may have a big impact on small companies due to the dearth of specialists [
10]. Workers, such as drivers, also feel that the implementation of new technology would control them more strictly, feeling as if they were observed during the whole working day, and thus seeing new technological advances as an enemy rather than a tool that could facilitate their work [
17]. They may even feel that their job is in danger if ICT solutions are implemented, leading to the sabotage of the process by the workers [
19].
A deficient ICT strategy and insufficient knowledge of the potential gains to be made from ICT by managers [
15], or a lack of management by company decision-makers, stand in the way of ICT implementation. Often the performance of an ICT technology or its future development is unknown or unclear, thereby restricting its adoption by companies [
15,
19]. There are also some psychological barriers when making a decision. Several studies show that the use of ICT is more positively perceived the bigger the company is [
6,
20,
21], possibly due to their higher financial stability which allows the planning of investments for long-term results (long-term vision), and where the objective is to increase their business volume. Patterson et al. (2003) suggest that “the more decentralized the organization, the more likely it will be to adopt supply chain technology” [
21]. Pokharel (2005) considered whether the fact that a company dealt with many different types of products means that they would need a higher level of ICT implementation. The survey showed that this is not a factor that affects having a higher degree of ICT implementation, since companies handling large volumes of a specific product use higher levels of ICT; and therefore the implementation of ICT is not dependent on handling different types of products or not [
6]. In a similar vein, Golob and Regan (2002) report that carriers that handle added value goods or which need a higher control (e.g. refrigerated substances, dangerous goods) are more keen on the adoption of ICT solutions for the tracking and tracing of goods [
22]. Previous experiences with similar ICT solutions and a company’s current technological development can affect the decision of whether or not to use a new ICT solution [
5,
6,
15]. Patterson et al. (2003) indicated that organisations with low success in implementing ICT technologies in the past are more likely to adopt new technologies, since those who have already adopted old technologies would have to invest a huge quantity of money to make profit from them and so they are not made redundant if another new technology is used [
21]. Those entities that have included a supply chain management strategy in their corporate strategy are also more likely to adopt new technologies to manage their supply chain [
21].
External barriers are those in which the behaviour of companies towards the adoption of ICT appears to be affected by the behaviour of other players in the market. Partnership among companies in the supply chain, customer attitudes towards ICT or a reluctance to adopt technology may prevent companies from being involved in ICT projects [
5], or favour their implementation if there is a good climate between supply chain members [
21]. The adoption of ICTs that involve different members of the supply chain therefore needs them all to have a similar ICT strategy in order to accomplish a high implementability of the solution [
23]. In the review recently developed by Gunasekaran et al. (2017), they conclude that organisations should think strategically about which technology could give them competitive advantage and how to integrate it with other supply chain members (alignment), and should include fast adaptation to new scenarios in their business strategy (adaptability and agility). If these three concepts are not considered the new ICT solution will eventually fail [
24].
A study by Jacobsson et al. (2017) showed that deficiencies in the information exchange between involved actors are common and can be a barrier to the implementation of an ICT solution for the multimodal TDG [
25]. Marchet et al. (2009) analysed ICT adoption in the Italian freight transportation industry, and said that one of the main reasons for the low level of ICT implementation is the fragmentation of the Italian logistics and transportation industry due to the multiple levels of sub-contracting [
11]. Integration between the different ICT solutions and technologies used by the different members of the supply chain is then also required for the efficient implementation of new ICT solutions [
5,
26].
On the other hand, customers can have a strong influence on their suppliers, pushing them to the implementation of specific ICT solutions that can improve their communication or can distinguish them from others [
21,
27]. Patterson (2003) also identified environmental uncertainty as a factor affecting the adoption of ICT technologies, understanding uncertainty as unpredictable changes from suppliers or from customers, changes in the production processes or any fast change that cannot be predicted beforehand. Those companies that have more environmental uncertainty are then more keen on the implementation of technologies for greater control over their business [
21].
Technical-related barriers are the third type of barriers, and these include the interoperability of systems, ICT integration, standardisation, security and data protection. These kinds of barriers relate to the technological constraints that hamper operators from making full use of ICT solutions [
4,
10]. Pokharel (2005) analysed ICT adoption by transport and logistics companies through the development of a survey to 600 companies, of which 84 responded and only 45 were valid [
6]. From a technical point of view, the analysis of the responses showed that ICT adoption could be facilitated by a good infrastructure, the availability of technology to meet the needs of the industry and how industry managers are motivated economically: if there is a good opportunity to increase profits. He also identifies the costs, the management support and the rapid obsolescence of technology as some of the main barriers. Stakeholders feel that ICT solutions will soon be updated, mainly due to the fast evolution of technology and the use of tailored solutions for each company [
6]. Helo and Szekely (2005) developed a review of the different software applications, analysed their benefits, and indicated the importance of the integration between different software solutions and the creation of standards [
26]. This low level of integration between the different ICT solutions was also identified by other authors [
11,
17].
2.2 Methodologies used for the development and analysis of ICT solutions
A variety of methods can be found in the literature for i) the development of new ICT solutions, and ii) for the analysis of the benefits and barriers of developed ICT solutions.
Software usually follows a series of development phases. Two of the most common methodologies are the ESA standard [
28] and the Agile methodology [
29]. Droschl et al. (2002) compared the development of a software module using the ESA standard with the formal Vienna development method (VDM) and found that the use of VDM led to the fulfillment of more requirements, thus increasing the quality of the developed product [
30]. Many other methods for the design, development and validation of a software module or a software solution can be found in the bibliography (e.g. fuzzy clustering, voice of the customer (VOC), the design structure matrix (DSM), modular function deployment (MFD)) [
8], however, many of these methods are centred on user requirements, the design of the architecture, the development and the validation, and do not include a specific analysis identifying the barriers to implementation that the developed solution will have to face, and how they should be handled in the design phase so that they can be overcome. A comparison of the characteristics of current methodologies and the methodology proposed within this paper, as well as their impact on the effectiveness of ICT implementation can be found in Table
1.
Table 1
Comparison of current methodologies and IAM-ICT methodology, and impact on its effectiveness in the implementation of innovative ICTs
ESA standard | ◦ General methodology that includes practices and guidelines for the phases of software development including transfer, operations and maintenance and prototyping concept. | | ◦ IAM-ICT specifies the tools to be used in each of these development phases except for transfer, operations and maintenance phases. ◦ It includes the prioritisation of the acceptance barriers. Co-creation is used to resolve implementation barriers. |
Agile methodology | ◦ Flexible method allowing frequent and regular software releases. ◦ Includes agile methods giving general ideas of what to be done. | | ◦ IAM-ICT defines the methods to be used in the requirements gathering phase. ◦ Prioritisation of barriers in the design phase. ◦ Co-creation is used to resolve implementation barriers. |
Vienna development method (VDM) | ◦ Used for the detection of errors and improvement of requirements. Allows the analysis of designs and identification of defects at an early stage of system development. | | ◦ IAM-ICT addresses market needs within a specific scope and prioritises barriers in the design phase. ◦ Co-creation is used to resolve implementation barriers. |
Fuzzy clustering | ◦ Method to hierarchize a set of objects and identify modules . | | ◦ IAM-ICT includes the prioritisation of the acceptance barriers and how they can be overcome using co-creation methods. |
Voice of the customer (VOC) | ◦ Method to gather customer needs as to how they use the product, through interviews, surveys, etc. | | ◦ IAM-ICT includes: the selection of the most appropriate elicitation technique, the consideration of cost benefit analysis, prototyping, and the prioritisation of implementation barriers. |
Design structure matrix (DSM) | ◦ Used to represent activity dependencies. ◦ Allows the formation of clusters that indicate possible modules. | | ◦ IAM-ICT includes the design of the modules and the development of a prototype, the selection of the most appropriate elicitation technique, UDI techniques to gather requirements and implementation barriers, the consideration of cost benefit analysis, and the prioritisation of implementation barriers. |
Modular function deployment (MFD) | ◦ Manages data efficiently and performs numerical or statistical analyses (with qualitative and quantitative data). ◦ Allows the formation and definition of clusters. | | ◦ IAM-ICT methodology includes an additional phase for the analysis and prioritisation of implementation barriers; using co-creation to resolve them. |
The most common methods for the analysis of ICT deployment barriers in companies are literature reviews and surveys [
5,
6,
17,
21]. Sternberg et al. (2014) used direct observation for the analysis of road haulage operations and how ICT technologies could benefit truck drivers [
13]. Tseng et al. (2011) used the Fuzzy DEMATEL method to show interrelationships between criteria [
31]. Kengpol and Tuominen (2006) proposed a methodology to help decision makers in the evaluation of information technology proposals, including a qualitative and a quantitative analysis; the methods used were the analytic network process (ANP), Delphi, and Maximise Agreement Heuristic (MAH) [
32]. Marchet et al. (2009) evaluated ICT adoption using multiple-case studies based on interviews. This is a qualitative method with three steps: literature review, interviews and case studies [
11]. Zeimpekis and Giaglis (2006) also analysed the circumstances of the success of telematic solutions implemented in SMEs using a three-phase research methodology which included a literature review, a qualitative method (interviews) and a quantitative method (online questionnaire) [
17]. Patterson et al. (2003) developed a model of the antecedents of supply chain technology adoption in which seven different hypothesis were analysed and validated through a survey which uses the Likert scale [
21].
Other methods that have been used for the analysis of barriers in other fields include interpretive structural modeling (ISM) a methodology for the analysis of dependencies between barriers, and the Impact Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) method for the classification and quantification of the barriers [
19]; as well methods already mentioned, such as literature reviews, Delphi and AHP [
33].
The design and analysis of the barriers to and benefits of ICT are usually analysed separately. Studies found during the literature review show that barriers to ICT adoption have only been analysed after the development of the ICT solution. On the other hand, ICT design methodologies are focused on the gathering of user requirements, the definition of the system architecture and on development and validation tasks, but they do not include an analysis of potential barriers once the product comes onto the market. There is therefore a gap in the development of studies for the ex-ante identification of barriers to new ICT solutions, and their inclusion in ICT design and development methodologies. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a methodology that encompasses both the design of the software solution through the different elicitation techniques previously used in the literature, and the analysis of qualitative and quantitative barriers through multicriteria decision methods, Bayesian networks and co-creation.