A market research survey commissioned by Intel on the impact and perception of the Internet and e-business in SA and across Central and Eastern Europe, reveals that most businesses - including the vast majority of South African businesses - regard the Internet as a vital business tool.
The research conducted by Research International targeted 100 companies in SA, Turkey, Greece and the UAE, straddling industries that include the financial, manufacturing, telecommunications/IT and retail sectors.
Steve Nossel, country manager of Intel SA, says the research survey commissioned by Intel set out to analyse trends in the local market and draw comparisons to countries in other regions with Internet and computer usage.
"What the reports do show," says Nossel, "is that South African businesses are already poised to play a key role in the global development of e-commerce. SA has a sound infrastructure and good investment in equipment, a more positive impact can only be derived by rapid deregulation of the telecommunications sector."
A motivating finding, according to Nossel, is the fact that when it comes to harnessing the Internet, SA leads countries such as Turkey and Greece "in many respects". In SA, 90% of companies said they enjoyed Internet access, compared to 88% (Turkey) and 82% (Greece).
But SA scored the lowest of the three countries when it comes to recognising the importance of the Internet, with 87% saying they regard it as an important business tool, in comparison to 97% in Turkey and 95% in Greece.
Moving to the World Wide Web, just under three-quarters (73%) of IT managers felt that a Web site was an important tool. Companies that did not have Web sites either felt that there was no need (29%), that is was too expensive (16%) or were already busy making one (13%).
Nossel believes that while the Internet offers massive opportunities for businesses at large, it is a potential that is not been fully maximised.
"The importance of the Internet will spread beyond those sectors mentioned earlier -services and retail - which are currently best adapted to e-commerce. Even businesses like coffee shops and hardware stores will increasingly communicate with suppliers and customers using the Internet, even if they do not practice e-commerce. It will be very hard for non-Internet companies to maintain a competitive cost model."
Citing barriers to entry as high cost and low speed of Internet access, Nossel also issued a call to action on the part of the government and telecommunications leader Telkom, saying that while government needed to speed up privatisation and improve legislation enforcement, Telkom needed to prepare itself for a competitive environment, introduce a flat fee which would reduce the cost of Internet access, and increase bandwidth.
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