Companies suffering due to Net ignorance

Research for Sun/Netscape highlights missed internet opportunities and knowledge gaps.

A Benchmark Research report has painted a worrying picture of the Net economy with IT managers aware of the advantages, but crippled by poor resources and knowledge within their organisations.

The research, commissioned by the Sun/Netscape alliance, questioned IT, marketing and commercial directors from The Times top 2,000 companies.

Seventy six per cent of the UK's IT directors believed the internet would offer an opportunity to expand their role within their companies. But 50 per cent stated they did not have the skills to keep up, and 75 per cent recognised that their management team did not understand the internet's competitive advantage.

More than 50 per cent believed their companies were already missing out on the Web economy and to make up the lost ground, 62 per cent claimed changes to the structure of UK business would be required. One of the key conclusions drawn was that IT departments would disappear, as technology became the cornerstone of business.

Antony Wright, head of IT strategy at the Standard Chartered Bank, said: 'The internet is a wake-up call for IT professionals. It gives us an opportunity to place ourselves at the heart of our organisations and play a strategic role in competitiveness. IT professionals must be business and marketing savvy or risk missing the opportunity for ourselves.'

Guy Norgrove, director of the Sun/Netscape alliance, added: 'The Net economy is not just another technology development - it is a totally different business model.

IT directors have a great opportunity to be instrumental in driving the Net economy for UK organisations. They have to gain a greater understanding of the business as a whole in the internet economy or face obsolescence.'

LACK OF MATURITY

The uptake of e-commerce and convergent technologies among the UK's top companies has been stymied by user concerns about the maturity of products and confusion over their business application.

A survey of 150 IT professionals in the UK's top 800 companies revealed 60 per cent of companies have not adopted e-commerce functionality in their businesses.

The survey, conducted on behalf of networking integrator Black Box, also indicated only five per cent of companies had begun developing integrated voice and data networks.