Internet Use Grows as More O.C. Firms Find Home on Web
Business use of the Internet is growing rapidly in Orange County, with nearly eight in 10 local companies saying they now have a home page on the World Wide Web, a new study found.
That’s up dramatically from 59% that had a Web page last year and 31% in 1996, according to a UC Irvine study released Tuesday.
Of the 300 businesses that responded to UC Irvine’s annual Orange County Executive Survey, 92% said they are now connected to the Net compared with 89% in 1997 and 63% two years ago, UCI said.
While e-mail is still the main way businesses use the Internet, with 89% using electronic communications, many are also using it for other business activities, UCI said.
“As companies become more sophisticated Internet users, they’re finding it valuable for much more than e-mail,” said Kenneth Kraemer, director of UCI’s Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations and co-director of the survey. “They’re advertising and ordering supplies and talking to contractors in Taiwan and Tokyo--all on the Internet.”
More than three-quarters of local firms advertise on the Internet, while 65% use it to gather information on markets and competitors, and 61% use it to generate sales leads, UCI said.
The survey found that 38% of the companies use the Internet to recruit employees. Nearly one-third of the firms use it to sell products or services, and 19% order supplies and materials through the Internet.
Companies that do business abroad reported the highest Internet usage. Among global businesses, 85% have a Web site, according to the survey.
“International businesses typically are high-tech firms, so they’re more likely to be at ease with the technology,” Kraemer said. The Internet also helps companies with far-flung operations speed up their work cycle, he said.
Only 24% of the executives said the chief advantage of the Internet was providing access to information, compared with 47% a year ago. However, 23% cited efficiency as a major benefit, which wasn’t mentioned last year.
Only 13% were concerned about security issues, while 11% said slow response times were a downside of using the Internet. Just 7% complained about cost, and an equal proportion mentioned time wasted by employees.
Business and professional services firms are most likely to provide Internet access to their workers, with more than half saying their employees use it. Four in 10 finance, insurance and real estate companies and about one-quarter of the manufacturers give workers access to the Internet.
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Business and the Internet
Percent of county firms using Internet for:
E-mail: 89%
Advertising: 76
Market/competitor intelligence: 65
Sales contacts: 61
Job recruitment: 38
Selling product/service: 29
Ordering supplies/materials: 19
Source: Orange County Executive Survey, 1998
