Britain's Business Leaders Are Not Practising The E-Business Strategy They Preach

ICL's research reveals companies aren't fully embracing eBusiness

Over 97% of British business leaders believe that major British companies will be left behind by foreign competitors if they refuse to take electronic business seriously. The research was commissioned by ICL's FutureForum* and conducted by MORI as part of its Captains of Industry survey, carried out annually with top-level executives from Britain's top 500 companies.

The study shows that while business leaders believe their customers and employees should embrace eBusiness, 25% of them do not have access to the Internet or email at home, limiting their online business activities to the office environment. Furthermore, 12% still do not expect to have Internet and email access at home within a year.

The findings also showed that 52% of the business leaders do not trust technology and keep paper copy backups of their data instead of relying on their IT systems and just over half had bought anything online.

Andrew Boswell, chief technology officer at ICL and president of the FutureForum, said: "CEOs recognise the competitive eBusiness threats from abroad, and yet they don't always practise what they preach. Lack of desktop internet access at home and concerns about the security of online transactions still deter these executives from leading by example and making a wholehearted commitment to e-business.

These strong reservations about technology inevitably challenge these companies' willingness to implement an all-encompassing e-business programme."

More than half of the executives polled have already purchased products online, spending predominantly on holidays, financial services, gifts and music. 47% of these online purchasers cite convenience as the primary attraction of buying on the Internet.

Of the 42% who had not bought online: 7% said it was too complicated to buy online; 21% were not connected to the Internet; and 19% had security concerns.

*ICL's FutureForum is a group of world-class experts from inside and outside ICL. The aim of the FutureForum is to promote a knowledge society that meets the needs of ordinary people and to harness technology that enriches people's lives.

Technical details

In November 1999, ICL commissioned research within the MORI/Captains of Industry annual survey, which interviews main board directors from Britain's top 500 companies. The companies surveyed were drawn from the FTSE 500, the top 500 companies by turnover and the top 100 financial companies by capital employed. 102 top directors were interviewed.