Yankee Research Shows EU Business Investing in the Net

The majority of European large and multinational companies are anticipating an increase in their levels of spend on their e-business and Internet presence over the next 18 months. This is according to new findings uncovered by the Yankee Group in their European Global Network Strategies Survey.

The majority of European large and multinational companies are anticipating an increase in their levels of spend on their e-business and Internet presence over the next 18 months. This is according to new findings uncovered by the Yankee Group in their European Global Network Strategies Survey.

The data, as detailed in the group's 'View from the Top: Big Business Forges Ahead with Internet Plans' report, is optimistic for expanded ebusiness and Internet activity generally.

The findings themselves indicate that there has been a steady shift under way from hosting e-business and Internet activities in-house towards a greater expected reliance on managed hosting. The research focuses on how large companies are now supporting their e-business channels.

Within the survey, respondents claimed that they expect to see their total spending on support of web activities grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17% from 2000 levels to 2002. This rise is very much in line with the current growth in spend on traditional IT. However, spending on external managed hosting is expected to rise at a rate of three times that of spending on internal support over the same period.

According to Scott Smith, director of the Yankee Group's Internet Strategies Europe practice, 'While there is certainly a lot of turmoil in the Internet infrastructure markets, this has as much to do with structural problems within the industry, as demand. Large managed hosting service providers will benefit from the market rationalisation, and should keep leveraging reliability, quality of support, and breadth of portfolio.'

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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