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FRIDAY MAY 15 1998ÿÿComputingÿ
EUROPE: Companies cash in on web
By Paul Taylor in London
Nearly a quarter of European companies with access to the web are already earning revenues through the internet, according to the preliminary findings of a new Mori study into the growth of electronic commerce in Europe.
The study, commissioned by Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking equipment, suggested European companies have begun to recognise the importance of the internet for their businesses and to close the gap with their US counterparts.
The survey was based on interviews with 900 business directors in six European countries - UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and France - from a cross section of large, medium and small companies.
Overall, 60 per cent of companies now have access to the internet, with 20 per cent planning to gain access within the next 12 months. Almost half those questioned thought adoption of electronic commerce will be important to their industry and 60 per cent expect the amount of business they do online to rise next year.
On average, these companies predicted an annual rise of 24 per cent in electronic commerce.
Most companies expected the volume of orders that they take over the internet to grow substantially this year and thought ideally 30 per cent of their business should be undertaken electronically in the future.
Somewhat surprisingly, the survey also revealed Spain is leading Europe in the adoption of electronic commerce with 46 per cent of companies with web access already conducting business over the internet. Spain is followed by France (33 per cent) and Germany (20 per cent) while the UK, Netherlands and Italy appear to be lagging.
Among those companies already involved in e-commerce, 58 per cent claimed to be making savings as a result with gains in productivity cited as the biggest benefit. "Our own experience has shown significant savings can be made using the internet," said Richard Freemantle, in charge of Cisco's Northern European operations.
Among the other findings, Spanish and UK companies lead in provision of customer service over the internet while the UK and the Netherlands lead in using the internet for recruitment. >>> |
