Despite ?e-business’ being the buzzword of the new millennium, New Zealand organisations are lagging behind their international competitors in adopting e-business practices and procedures.
That’s the conclusion of the latest Deloitte e-business survey Ñ insights and issues facing New Zealand business.
It reveals that:
Compared with survey in April 1999, NZ organisations have only marginally increased their uptake of e-business technology.
Lack of knowledge, imple-mentation costs and lack of understanding of what e-business really means are the key inhibitors to e-business implementation.
NZ organisations are still unsure of the impact e-business will have on them, although significant majority (63.4 percent) believe some form of e-business strategy will be important to maintain or create competitive advantage within your market.
NZ businesses need expert help to develop e-business strategies.
Deloitte’s survey showed that almost all respondents (96.8 percent) had email Ñ an integral part of an e-business solution Ñ and 65.2 percent had website.
Nevertheless, only one in four organisations had invested in electronic data interchange (EDI) technology, one in five in online purchasing and one in six in online sales.
“Kiwi organisations are getting ?wired’,” says Deloitte e-business champion Alasdair MacLeod, “but at this stage it’s at the most basic level. While email and website are the backbone to e-business, without being used to generate business and make processes easier, they are an expensive luxury.”
Nearly half of all respondents cited implementation costs as the key obstacle, while 42 percent cited lack of detailed knowledge. More alarming is the fact 38 percent put lack of strategic direction from the company’s management as the major barrier to change.
“New Zealanders are often seen as innovators with ?can do’ attitude. This survey shows that, on the contrary, we are lagging our international competitors.”
