Brief: Europages Survey shows Internet to be Key Tool for SMEs

76% of SME managers in the European Union consider the internet to be an essential tool, whilst 84%of European countries outside the EU see it as an opportunity to catch up at reduced cost, according to a unique survey carried out by Europages on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, reveals Europemedia.

The European business directory's survey consulted 500,000 decision-makers from 33 European countries. It found that the internet is increasingly used as a tool for both internal company management and external development:
* a third of companies claimed to have modified their internal organisation with the arrival of the internet;
* 63% said the internet had modified their relationship with banks;
* 54% said it had done so with suppliers,
* 60% added that the internet had significantly changed their relationship with customers: with three out of four companies having a website, 92%of which were being used expressly to promote products, though only a third of sites offered trading online as yet and only a tenth were offering the possibility of paying online.

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Radio 4's PM show announces Winner of 'Show Us a Better Way'
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Cisco Systems extends Product Usability Research
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