Briefs.

– Consultants Hornagold & Hills have clinched the annual Essex Growing Business award. The award was given for the company’s business and financial strategy. Nominated by NatWest bank, Hornagold beat 20 other entrants to the award and will receive free consulting advice to the tune of £4,500 from award sponsors BDO Stoy Hayward. – A survey reveals that 85 percent of CIOs believe managing knowledge can create competitive advantage. Despite this, only 8 percent of companies surveyed had a fully encompassed knowledge enterprise, and only 7 percent had CEOs that regarded knowledge management as a high priority. Cambridge Information Network surveyed 3,500 IT executives. – Cranfield School of Management believes that organisations do not want to take a piecemeal approach to e-commerce. Instead, it says in its Effective Strategies for Electronic Commerce workshop, they want to develop coherent strategies based on sound business sense. – Mercer Management Consulting has revealed that use of the Internet can lead to increased customer spending and greater customer loyalty. This should, in theory, lead to significant profits for companies which maintain strong relationships with customers. – The spend on IT in the asset management sector is set to see a big increase, and market analyst Datamonitor predictions that it will reach $3.9bn by 2004. Growth in the middle office will be 15 percent. – By the end of 1999 it is estimated that European financial markets will have invested $17.9bn in technology.