Companies rush to build e-business operations

When it comes to e-business, most brick-and-mortar companies don't like to hang around.

According to a report published today by Forsa, a Hamburg-based media institute, in conjunction with technology consultants Cap Gemini, companies are prone to investing heavily in e-commerce before they even have a financial model in place. Companies keen to position themselves in the internet space territory are increasingly prepared to spend large amounts of money without a detailed understanding of expected costs and revenues.

Between March and April, Forsa interviewed the chief information officers of 102 companies in Germany, the majority of which employed over 1,000 staff. 23 per cent of those polled described business to consumer (B2C) as their top priority, followed by resource management (20 per cent) and the construction of an e-business infrastructure (17 per cent.

56 per cent of companies said they had already launched an e-business project, 21 per cent of which had been completed. 26 per cent said a project was underway, two thirds of which were expected to be launched within six months.

In most cases, between DM1m and DM3m had been earmarked for investment into e-business projects. But an astonishing 29 per cent of companies said they had not yet taken a final look at the numbers for either ongoing or imminent projects.