Survey: Competitors using e-business weapons

The survey, "eBusiness Reality: Report on the Competitive Carrier Industry," is the second such study by AMS and CompTel and reveals carriers are making strides toward integrating eBusiness with mainstream business operations.

Widely defined as the use of Internet technology as part of a company’s business operations, eBusiness is becoming an element of carriers’ everyday business transactions, according to the survey.

"eBusiness is part of business as usual," said Chris Tatem, chief e-commerce officer/North America for AMS’ New Media and Communications group.

Among other findings, the survey revealed that carriers see eBusiness as a way of expanding existing markets and creating new markets. In last year’s survey, far more (43% vs. 24%) saw eBusiness simply as a method of opening new markets, as opposed to expanding their existing markets.

The survey also found:

• More than 60% of businesses see eBusiness as a complement to their current business, rather than a standalone enterprise, a 14% increase over last year.

• Almost 60% cite integration as the top challenge for implementing eBusiness.

• Some 44% of respondents said they collect data to measure eBusiness benefits.

• Mobile eBusiness is high on respondents’ priority lists – by 2002, almost 60% will offer their customers access to company information via PDAs (personal digital assistants), and 56% will offer the same access via mobile phones.

• By the end of 2001, 45% plan to offer real-time flow-through provisioning with partners and suppliers, and more than 60% of those with company intranets will offer employees access to company information via PDAs.

Despite the movement to eBusiness as a normal process, not many companies are seeing immediate benefits, according to Tatem. "Not enough people are measuring their results," he said.

AMS’s survey was conducted in November and December of 2000, and is based on responses from 54 competitive communications companies headquartered in North America.