May, 2002 : Europe's SMEs Embracing Internet, Says Yankee Group
📅 - Technology research and consulting firm the Yankee Group (yankeegroup.com) announced the results of its second annual European Small and Medium Enterprise Survey on Wednesday, indicating that European SMEs have made significant progress in adopting Internet technology.
The growth in the SME market for the technology, says the Yankee Group, represents a substantial boost for European vendors and service providers that view the market as a potentially hot area for Internet services, but a hard one to crack.
The survey was completed by IT and communications decision makers from 800 companies, each with between 2 and 499 employees, across 13 European countries. The SME survey was also conducted in the United States, Latin America and Asia to allow for global comparisons.
According to the Yankee Group, data gathered in the survey indicates that SMEs are demonstrating an increased understanding of the Internet, as well as a willingness to spend on it.
"Most significantly, we have found that SMEs now allocate 10% of their total IT and communications budget for Internet access," says Andy Greenman, senior analyst for the Yankee Group's Networked Business Strategies Europe research and consulting practice. "In less than five years, the Internet has grown from early-adopter status to a mainstream business tool. Even more positive is the finding that one third of these SMEs expect to increase the speed of their connections within 2002."
Also highlighted in the report are some of the key findings of the SME Survey, which include indications that 26 percent of SMEs are using either cable modem or ADSL broadband Internet connections, that the ability to sell products and services via company Web sites is the top priority for SMEs and that 37 percent of SMEs expect to implement customer support and supplier management tools during 2002.
The growth in the SME market for the technology, says the Yankee Group, represents a substantial boost for European vendors and service providers that view the market as a potentially hot area for Internet services, but a hard one to crack.
The survey was completed by IT and communications decision makers from 800 companies, each with between 2 and 499 employees, across 13 European countries. The SME survey was also conducted in the United States, Latin America and Asia to allow for global comparisons.
According to the Yankee Group, data gathered in the survey indicates that SMEs are demonstrating an increased understanding of the Internet, as well as a willingness to spend on it.
"Most significantly, we have found that SMEs now allocate 10% of their total IT and communications budget for Internet access," says Andy Greenman, senior analyst for the Yankee Group's Networked Business Strategies Europe research and consulting practice. "In less than five years, the Internet has grown from early-adopter status to a mainstream business tool. Even more positive is the finding that one third of these SMEs expect to increase the speed of their connections within 2002."
Also highlighted in the report are some of the key findings of the SME Survey, which include indications that 26 percent of SMEs are using either cable modem or ADSL broadband Internet connections, that the ability to sell products and services via company Web sites is the top priority for SMEs and that 37 percent of SMEs expect to implement customer support and supplier management tools during 2002.
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URL source: http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/sme050102.cfm
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