E-BUSINESS CRITICAL TO LONG-TERM SUCCESS

31 July 2001

The Cutter Business Technology Council says that those companies that view the dot-com failures as the failure of e-business in general -- and stop funding e-business projects and plans -- will not be competitive in the long term.

"The blistering rise of dot-mania and its aftermath should not be ignored or written off," says Cutter Business Technology Council Fellow Jim Highsmith. "Many companies, including General Electric, Cisco, and Fidelity Investments, have extensive, long-term commitments to e-business. The pace may have slowed from blistering to merely brisk, but the ripple effects of dot-mania will continue to create marketplace turbulence which will create great opportunities."

And respondents to a recent Cutter Consortium survey agree. Nearly 75% said their companies have not reduced the amount of money spent on e-business.

In the past year, has your company reduced the amount of spending on e-business?

Yes     27%
No      73%
[Source: Cutter Consortium]

And nearly all respondents, 87%, believe e-business initiatives are critical to their organization's long-term success.

e-Business Initiatives Are Critical for My Company's Long-Term Success

Strongly agree          33%
Agree                   34%
Mildly agree            20%
Mildly disagree          8%
Disagree                 3%
Strongly disagree        2%
[Source: Cutter Consortium]

"Companies that didn't have a true commitment to e-business will use the economic slowdown to back off their e-business spending," concludes Highsmith. "But those that have tasted the first round of e-business success are forging ahead and warning others to back off at their peril."

--Cutter Consortium

[These statistics were taken from Cutter Consortium's Business Technology Trends and Impacts Service. For more information, please contact Dennis Crowley at +1 781 641 5125 or +1 800 964 5125 or e-mail dcrowley@cutter.com or visit http://www.cutter.com/consortium/index_trends.html.]