German companies will significantly increase their investment in electronic business in 2007. More than one third of companies will investment more than in 2006 and almost 60% want to investment as much as last year. These findings were revealed by the “eBusiness-Barometer 2007/2008” survey which was presented yesterday in Berlin. This year companies invest particularly in customer management software, IT security solutions and internet portals.
In the course of the survey in question companies of different size and line of industry were asked about their expectations with regard to e-business. A clear majority (57%) of companies said that e-business was of high or very high importance to them. Furthermore, companies expect e-business to become even more important over the coming years. In particular small companies with less than 50 employees expext the importance of e-business to grow by 13% next year. E-business is becoming more and more a part of the business strategy of companies and is considered to be a crucial factor for business success and international competitiveness.
The growing importance of e-business is also linked to a growing demand for e-business experts. One third of companies plan to recruit additional IT staff this year. According to the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) most sought-after are experts who have both IT know-how and a good knowledge of practical fields such as the automotive industry and mechanical engineering.
With regard to small companies it becomes clear that these still have to catch up a lot in terms of know-how and information as compared to medium-sized and major companies, in particular as far as integrated technologies and applications are concerned. The same goes for IT security: small companies very often rely solely on basic protection which in general is nothing more than anti-virus software. At the same time small companies consider the security issue to be a topic important in future for which they seek support.
The “eBusiness-Barometer 2007/2008” was conducted by the Wegweiser GmbH in Berlin in co-operation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology, the Federal Association of the German Industry (BDI), BITKOM, the Fraunhofer Institut für Arbeitswirtschaft und Organisation (IAO), the Netzwerk Elektronischer Geschäftsverkehr (NEG), PROZEUS as well as with the Institute of Electronic Business (IEB). The complete study is part of the “eBusiness yearbook 2007/2008” and available online. Precondition for download is free-of-charge registration. 