UK firms slow to get netted

White paper shows UK business drags feet over electronic trading

UK businesses are holding back from investing in the internet and intranet because they believe electronic trading is insecure and too slow, according to a white paper released by research group Interforum.

The paper, entitled Commercial Opportunities and Threats in the Networked Community, warned businesses that their livelihood is at stake if they do not react to the technological revolution. It said every company needs an internet presence to demonstrate it is forward looking and in touch with its customer base. But many CEOs have never used the internet and fear it would make them lose centralised corporate control. Two-thirds of UK SMEs have neither accountancy software nor a network.

The research also found that a country?s economic success is partly determined by its willingness to embrace new information and communication technologies. But Europe is suffering from a technology deficit, investing $100 billion less in IT than the US, and the UK is lagging behind the US by as much as two years.

The paper advised the industry to continue pooling its strengths to develop open standards and to strive to understand individual business needs rather than force-fit products to problems. It also noted the need for a joint industry/government education campaign to raise public awareness of the business capabilities of internet and intranet technologies.

The paper said businesses should be encouraged by the development of technologies that will make network systems simpler, cheaper, more secure and ease online congestion.