New Intranet-Internet Study Shows Corporate America Getting Serious About Internet & Security
PR Newswire - May 15, 1998 12:53
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FRAMINGHAM, Mass., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- IDG's CIO Communications, Inc. and Intellectual Capital Exchange (ICEX) today released its second Intranet/Internet study. Entitled "Mastering Your Intranet/Internet: Policies, Procedures, and Best Practices," the report is a thorough investigation of the issues facing technology executives who are charged with leveraging the 'net to provide business value. The new report also provides trends from an initial study conducted in April 1997.
According to Joseph L. Levy, President, CEO, and Group Publisher of CIO, "corporate America is grappling with a multitude of Internet-related issues -- managing employee access, providing effective security mechanisms, maximizing Web site market value to generate sales, and fishing out the best and most effective ways to use Intranets(A). It's all about managing and protecting information, lots of information...and it's got business executives struggling to balance the demands of customers with the needs of employees."
Two hundred nine companies from a variety of industries responded to the survey. The Mastering Your Intranet/Internet report, which is part of the CIO ConsultWare Series(TM) research product line, explores corporate usage policies, the process for setting and managing policies, and today's latest corporate practices. Study highlights:
Nearly all respondents (90%) expect the Internet to be "extremely important" or "very important" to their business by the Year 2000, and none (0%) believe it's "not very important" or "not at all important". Just two years ago, only 11% highly rated the business importance of the Internet.
Effectiveness of Internet Security Measures
To protect valuable and sensitive business data from damage, sabotage or theft, organizations are using a variety of measures to secure networks from potential havoc caused by determined hackers or careless others. In 1997, companies reportedly spent an estimated $868 million on security hardware and software. The most common security measures used are anti-virus software (85%), password protected network access (82%) and firewalls (70%); the latter regarded as the most important measure (75%). Proxy servers and encryption are almost as highly valued.
World Wide Web Practices
Web site uses with the best results are customer service and support (49%) and receiving e-mail (48%). The least beneficial use is human resources (i.e., online recruiting) as 23% of respondents say results have been "disappointing" or "terrible".
Intranet Practices
Intranets are now seen as a key way to manage information. Three-quarters of respondents say they use intranets for general communication, while nearly as many (70%) use them as knowledge repositories (i.e., for publishing, document management, etc.). More than half use intranets for human resources, including recruiting (59%) and corporate communication (59%).
The best result from intranet use is from customer collaboration as 52% rate it "excellent" or "better than expected." Personal Web pages and human resources uses offer the least benefit.
Internet Access Policies
The most important reason companies issue Internet policies is still a desire to manage employee productivity (65%). However, executives are becoming increasingly concerned about preventing online activity that might lead to legal liability (13%) or compromising business interests (13%). Yet, companies haven't embraced restricted access to the Web as a way of dealing with potential liability or abuse. More than two-thirds do not use products or procedures to filter, block or restrict access to Web sites. This is an increase over last year's figure (60%).
Companies are becoming more restrictive about personal use of the Internet at work. Forty-three percent prohibit non-business use (up from the 1996 report's 36%). Forty-six percent allow only limited personal use during or after business hours (up from 41%). Just 2% allow unrestricted personal use at any time (down from 17%).
Complete findings are included in a 100-page report, which will be marketed to global technology and business executives via the Internet, direct mail, conferences/trade shows, and print advertising. The study retails at $1,495.
ICEX provides value-added intellectual capital to help professionals improve business performance. Formed in 1994, ICEX has pioneered new methods for quickly and efficiently acquiring, packaging, and deploying knowledge. In addition, ICEX offers services to assist corporations acquire and package strategic intellectual assets, conduct practical research on key business decisions, and facilitate leading practice exchanges between world-class companies. The company teams with CIO Communications in the research, packaging and deployment of intellectual capital on critical technology and management topics. CIO ConsultWare product information is available at cio.com consultware.
CIO Communications, Inc. was formed in 1987 to help CIOs, IT executives and other senior management executives succeed in their enterprises through the use of information technology. The company publishes CIO magazine, produces the award-winning www.cio.com Web site, and develops and produces CIO Executive Program--a series of conferences that provide educational and networking opportunities for corporate and government executives who want to expand their knowledge of technology, business management issues and innovative products and services.
CIO Communications is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading IT media, research and exposition company. IDG publishes more than 285 computer magazines and newspapers and 500 book titles and offers the largest network of technology specific sites around the world, located at idg.net, which comprises more than 170 targeted Web sites in 45 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 110 computer-related expositions worldwide, and provides IT market analysis through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is available at idg.com.
NOTE(A): Any network which provides similar services within an organization to those provided by the Internet outside it but which is not necessarily connected to the Internet.
SOURCE CIO Communications
/CONTACT: Erin Lynn Marino, 617-268-4759, marinoel@aol.com, or Susan
Watson, 508-935-4190, swatson@cio.com, both of CIO Communications/
/Web site: cio.com |
