How e-commerce rescues you from recession

Dot-coms may have fallen out of favour and technology-heavy stocks may be trading at almost half their value compared to a year ago, but this has not dented the faith in e-commerce shown by some of Europe`s biggest firms. In a recent survey of European attitudes towards e-commerce, consultancy group Accenture found that 60% of the companies questioned will be increasing their spend on e-commerce initiatives over the next 12 months.

This report, now in its fourth year, shows that champions of e-commerce are to be found within all sizes of company, and not just in the technology departments of multi-national organisations.

"Changes in attitude have been driven by the realisation that e-commerce can help businesses weather downturns," commented Rosemary O`Mahony, an Accenture partner with substantial experience in technology and co-author of the report. "Just as importantly though, those who hesitate will be left behind when the economy picks up."

However, Accenture also found that there has been a shift in emphasis. Companies are increasingly turning to e-commerce to help them streamline business processes and survive any looming recession, rather than to attract new customers. Many have stopped expanding customer-facing websites and are embarking on far-reaching projects designed to re-shape basic business functions. Some, like Sainsbury`s, are turning to technology to keep a closer eye on stock as it moves from suppliers to warehouses and on to the supermarket shelves. Replacing existing business processes with networked alternatives now has a high priority.

"In the early days e-commerce was seen primarily as a means of marketing and sales," continued O`Mahony. "Now we are seeing it being used much more to drive operational functions and cut costs. This realisation has encouraged many companies to start new projects, even in the face of a possible recession. Companies are seeing the opportunity to move costs out of the system. In the past e-commerce was used to keep up with competitors, now they are doing it to drive efficiencies and to prepare themselves for the future," concluded O`Mahony.

As the UK brand leader in e-commerce financials software, Access Accounting Ltd has found that its systems have helped maximise profitability for a number of high profile companies. One such success story comes from Oxygen, the biggest supplier of personal oxygen canisters in the country (a company made famous by the custom of pop sensation Britney Spears). "Without Access` e-commerce solutions we would not have grown at such a rapid rate," added Oxygen`s MD, Henry Hardoon. "Neither would we be in such a strong position to survive any future recession."

Access has used e-commerce to help drive the efficiency of its own company. 86% of all sales orders processed by Access in the last fiscal year were received into its order processing workflow system automatically and directly from the Internet. These sales orders also are entered, automatically, into the Access dealers purchasing systems as a purchase order. This can provide huge time saving and efficiency for both participants in the transaction.

"While our Web sites continue to provide a regular stream of high quality sales leads, we no longer have the dot-com expectancy that they will take sales orders 24x7," said Alistair O`Reilly, MD of Access Accounts Ltd. "That is not the business that we are in. However, the Internet has revolutionised the efficiency of our business and the B2B system our dealers use to place all of their sales orders, helps us to provide unparalleled efficiency in the way we handle and fulfil sales orders."

Accenture`s findings and report are based on the recent experience of Europe`s largest firms. Access Accounting`s experiences show that the trend can be extended into the SME sector, where it has even greater potential to help the British economy.

"We have also experienced a similar phenomenon locally," commented Paul Marketos, MD of ASYST International SA. "Our local SME sector is a very significant part of the economy and thus the potential impact is even greater than in Europe."