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To: Slumdog who wrote (78773)	9/28/1999 10:16:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

Europe's bankers, broadcasters lag in e-commerce By Sara Ledwith, European Technology Correspondent LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Over 60 percent of European companies believe it will be necessary to sell over the Internet in two years, but bankers and broadcasters are behind other sectors in the e-business race, a survey on Tuesday showed. The survey of senior executives in over 2,000 companies and 500 local government organisations, was carried out by Britain's Bathwick Group for computer network equipment maker Cisco Systems <CSCO.O> and software company Oracle Corp <ORCL.O>. They said it showed European firms embracing Internet technologies at a much more rapid rate than perceived so far. It found that for European firms, links with customers were a more important Internet plus than its scope as a sales channel. World Internet users are forecast by researcher IDC to treble to 500 million in 2003 and with Europe set for the sharpest growth, U.S. technology firms are touting their own e-commerce experience as a pitch for European business. ITALY GROWING FAST While the survey, carried out in May-August, found that the automotive and aerospace sectors were among those forging ahead towards the new age of efficiencies opened up by the Internet, it showed retail and the broadcast media were less advanced. By country, Britain and the Nordics were ahead, with Germany also doing well, and while France, Belgium and Italy were behind, Italian companies were showing the fastest growth of the 10 countries in the survey. Oracle's European business development vice-president, Alfonso di Ianni, said that while Spain and Italy are seen as behind in technology, their focus on tourism and agriculture opened up clear opportunities for them to use the net to leap-frog older, established business models. Banks seemed hampered by hefty established or "legacy" information systems -- which need to be meshed in with Internet Protocol to enable electronic commerce -- and decision-makers were slower to make the strategic shift towards e-commerce. However, the survey found retail bankers had high hopes of making the Internet move -- investment bankers were less keen. "Banks are dead in their current form -- bricks and mortar, buildings, branches etc. However, banks are changing ... they are becoming diversified financials," said William Nuti, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa operations for Cisco Systems. CUSTOMER LINKS, MORE THAN ONLINE SALES As part of their push to grab a role in building Europe's electronic business market, the two groups are using the data as a sales tool -- building a new Internet-based system to help customers remodel their businesses. By aligning the responses to an Internet questionnaire with the results of the survey, it will offer executives an e-business "benchmark" to see where they are compared to their rivals and map their way forward. While the survey showed the amount of goods actually sold over the Internet was expected by Europeans to remain small, many set high store on its potential to boost the number of their customers and improve connections with them. Firms expected to almost double the percentage of goods they sell over the Internet in the next two years -- but at just six percent of the total that figure was tiny compared to the 80-85 percent rates of some information technology groups. However, nearly 80 percent of respondents said they planned to invest in customer contact systems over the next two years. "80 percent! That's a magic number for us!" said Di Ianni. REUTERS Rtr 08:45 09-28-99