We read some reports recently about SMEs and the internet / www – they make fascinating reading.
The internet and world wide web [www] are acknowledged as a highly cost-effective and flexible business tool, but research by Dynamic Markets for internet service provider UK Online found that small companies in the UK are not using the internet for business as much as the general population.
They found that barely a third of UK businesses with one to 10 employees have an internet subscription compared to over half of the UK population as a whole. Of those, over a third uses a consumer rather than a business account. Of those with internet access nearly one in five is using dial-up. Just over one in five have a business email address and fewer than half have a website at all.
“I was surprised by the low level of internet use,” said UK Online managing director Chris Stenning. “I was expecting the figure to be nearer 70-80 per cent. It does show that the smallest businesses have not grasped the benefits of the internet.”
However, research late last year for Microsoft by Burlington Consultants and by Institute of Directors (IoD)...