Caution over e-business investment
Cautious business leaders smarting from the cost of investing in unproven technology are adopting a wait and see attitude towards e-business investment, a report on hi-tech trends has revealed.
Cautious business leaders smarting from the cost of investing in unproven technology are adopting a wait and see attitude towards e-business investment, a report on hi-tech trends has revealed.
Pragmatism is holding back senior managers with highly developed PC web-based systems from jumping to adopt alternative technologies, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report from its Silicon Valley technology centre.
Rolf Sackman, PwC systems integration leader for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: ‘Today e-business is synonymous with business.’
Heavy investment over recent years in PC web-based technology had forced business to exercise an element of caution, he said.
‘Understandably the majority of organisation are now waiting to see what forms of e-business investment will be most effective in the next few years,’ he added.
Sackman urged financial directors and top executives to exercise open-mindedness over rapidly emerging technologies.
‘Senior management could do worse than to remain flexible on content delivery to meet any new channel that is next adopted.’
The report – Technology Forecast: 2000 – argues that this year IT has become an integral part of the business environment.
‘Our clients are finding that IT is no longer a set of back-office support systems but a vital part of their ability to deliver goods and services’, the report claims. ‘For an increasing number of companies, both an important competitive advantage and integral component of the products they are offering.’
Europe is well-ahead in global technological advances, argues Sackman, particularly next-generation mobile phones due to the acceptance of GSM standards.