SME e-commerce market to increase
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are planning to increase their investment in e-commerce in 2004, according to findings by webhosting company NetBenefit.
Freelancers could benefit from this increase as the SME market was identified in the recent Parliamentary survey as one of the key opportunities for them to exploit.
The NetBenefit study, the State of the eNation, found that over the next 12 months the major online objective for SMEs is to ramp up their online activity, with 12 per cent planning to add e-commerce capabilities to their websites. Currently 20 per cent of SME respondents have e-commerce enabled websites with online payment processing, whilst the remainder of SMEs are using their website primarily to display information and to encourage sales leads.
The research also indicates that there will be a growing demand for online security solutions, with unsolicited email being the primary Internet related worry for SMEs, and virus protection cited as the biggest concern for large corporates.
Despite recent high-profile cases of e-mail abuse within the workforce, 53 per cent of SMEs do not have a policy in place outlining guidelines for the use of company e-mail, and 20 per cent of large businesses have yet to implement a corporate e-mail policy.
The study also revealed that 70 per cent believe the UK is an environment that encourages businesses to go online, with 65 per cent of SMEs stating that the Internet has made a positive impact on their business.
Service over price
The survey also examined attitudes towards web hosting. When choosing a web hosting provider, 50 per cent of respondents stated that 'service and support' are the most important decision-making factors, followed by reliable uptime and fast connection speeds, price and choosing a company that is reputable and financially stable.
Company email addresses
The State of the eNation study which surveyed over 400 SMEs and large corporates also found that when it comes to choosing an email address, more than 80 per cent believe it is more professional to use a company (own domain name based) address than an ISP address.
What it means for freelancers
Working with other SMEs was one of the key three opportunities for freelancers identified by the recent online public consultation and report from the All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group into freelancing. The other two being opportunities in Europe and within the public sector.
The Parliamentary consultation identified that there are 3.7 million SMEs in the UK, each one of them providing an opportunity for freelancers.
The consultation on freelancers and SMEs on the All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group website is available here