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To: Meathead who wrote (58387)	8/15/1998 8:52:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 176387

Small Business & the Internet. Meathead: Just came across this piece thought it could be relevant. ============================================== Source:IDC Small Business Embraces the Internet U.S.small businesses accessing the Internet increased dramatically from 19.7 percent in 1996 to 41.2 percent in 1998. Small businesses are overwhelmingly accepting the Internet as critical to the operation and management of their business, enabling them to compete much more equitably with larger, more well established companies. The embrace of the Internet by small businesses confirms a significant opportunity for new information technology products and services. IDC's new study, U.S. Small Business on the Internet, shows Internet usage among small businesses gaining momentum with penetration forecast to approach 4.3 million small firms by 2001. IDC's comprehensive survey of 1,011 U.S. firms with fewer than 100 employees pinpoints key trends and behaviors among respondent companies. The survey confirmed the dramatic growth of small businesses online cuts across all company size categories. The percentage of companies (with under five employees) that access the Internet more than doubled from 1996 to 1997, climbing from 17.2 percent to 36.4 percent, respectively. However, smaller companies do lag behind larger companies in overall online penetration. "Internet usage by company size can easily be traced to the PC penetration gap between larger- and smaller-sized companies," said Warren Childs, research manager of IDC's Small Business Market program. "When just PC-owning companies are considered, Internet penetration tends to be relatively consistent across all size categories." As the deluge of low-cost, Internet-ready PCs continues, Internet penetration in smaller-sized companies will continue to expand. U.S. Small Business Key Findings The professional services sector (e.g., law firms, insurance agencies, real estate agencies, accounting firms) leads in Internet usage with 63 percent of PC owners online. Retail and health care industries continue to be the laggards in terms of Internet use Internet users in manufacturing companies log onto the Internet most frequently and for the broadest range of applications PC-owning small businesses with home pages will increase from nine percent in 1997 to 20.1 percent by 2001. 36 percent of small businesses that plan to go online expect to use the Internet to sell products Less than five percent of small businesses access the Internet through any type of shared server. Small businesses that use the Internet have higher revenues, averaging $3.79 million compared to $2.72 million overall. The Internet is viewed as a vital business resource for specific industry and competitive information. It has opened the possibility to more people of starting a business and has served as a critical driver in the formation of new small businesses. As the Internet continues to expand, so too will the opportunities to be successful in the small business market.