SMEs gearing up to get online
Ninety-one percent of UK small and medium-sized companies are to set up business-to-business networks by 2002, according to new research.
But almost half of 322 British SMEs polled have yet to offer products over the internet, citing budget constraints and lack of in-house expertise as reasons for not having begun internet sales, according to a survey conducted by internet solutions company Mediacast.
Recent surveys, however, show that SMEs are now gearing up to get online.
E-commerce revenues for European SMEs are about to soar by 800% from Euro 409m last year to Euros 3.2bn by 2003, according to a study by Datamonitor and Microsoft.
Small businesses created around 75% of all new jobs in Europe in the past three years, according to the SME Union, a European lobbying group.
President of the English ICA Graham Ward, urged SMEs to set up their own business-to-business networks now. ‘Smaller suppliers urgently need to reassess their business strategies if they are to survive in this kind of competitive environment,’ he said this week in his opening speech at the institute’s e-commerce conference.
The conference focusing on e-commerce was a great success for the professional body and its new president who suggested the theme over a year ago. Around 800 delegates from varied sectors of industry attended.
AccountancyAge.com at the English ICA conference
Be realistic with e-commerce plans, warns MP
English ICA conference: Ward warns on cybercrime
Ward heralds accountability in the digital age