E-Business 2001 - ' Conclusion 01 '

Conclusion 01: Focus of E-Business

E-business systems have significant mindshare among top IT executives. Seventy-three percent say they have installed, are installing or intend to install an e-business system. Yet just 37 percent of those surveyed now have an e-business offering.

Companies are more likely to focus on e-business systems intended for consumers than for their supply chains. Sixty-two percent of all businesses said they had implemented or were implementing a consumer-focused offering, vs. 23 percent for suppliers.

Larger companies are significantly more likely to look at e-business offerings intended for use by employees, such as online human resource information systems. In bigger businesses, such employee-focused systems were second in line to be implemented, at 59 percent, with business customer-focused offerings third, at 44 percent. Smaller companies flipped these priorities, with business customer systems at 54 percent and employee systems at 32 percent.

CIOs have some specific concerns about their e-business initiatives. Thirty-one percent wish they'd scoped their projects better, and 33 percent said their actual costs were at least 10 percent over budget. Only 40 percent believed they were at no risk of having a project cancelled. What's most at risk? Supply chain management and business process automation projects, considered potential cancellation material at 15 percent each.