Boston September 21, 2001 AMR Research survey results reveal that companies plan to increase their overall e-business initiative budgets by 11 percent this quarter. At a time when companies are cutting their hardware, services and PC upgrade budgets, an 11 percent increase, though not spectacular, represents a positive trend.
Survey results indicate that despite the tough economic climate, executives understand they cannot avoid pursuing e-business initiatives and have prioritized spending on customer management and sales initiatives, hoping to gain some competitive advantage and enhance their existing efforts.
Survey highlights include:
- Companies plan to increase spending on customer management and sales initiatives by an average of 15 percent and supplier management initiatives by 9 percent
- Companies also plan to increase spending on internal e-business processes by an average of 6 percent, while new product development initiatives will get an additional 5 percent
- Consistent with the first half of 2001, executives stated that the main driver for investing in e-business initiatives is cost management and ultimately to improve customer support and retention. Overall efficiency and keeping up with the competition also weighed in as top priorities for the majority of survey respondents
AMR Research conducted interviews with more than 60 U.S. companies with 1,000 employees or more. Respondents consisted of executives directly responsible for e-business budget decisions and planning. Interviews took place in June 2001.
