What percentage of $43 Billion do you want ?

Posted : 25 Oct 2002

After reading this latest report on www.theage.com.au (see extract below) I just had to whip up this report ...

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/23/1034561542812.html

Do you have an plan to incorporate the Internet into your business? Seems like you cant afford not to, looking at the report below... and from personal experience, all I can say is that it has worked and is continuing to work for me. I have seen several of my clients completely transform their business by taking careful and considered advantage of opportunities offered by the Internet.

Mike's basic checklist :
1) email address
2) web site
3) domain name
4) broadband connection
If you aren't at the basic level already (and you know who you are), RUN, don't walk, to your phone and call me tomorrow ! And if you didn't have high speed Internet you just spent over an hour trying to download these songs rather than listen to them real time. And if they didn't play directly in your web browser then you don't have some of the most used plug-ins that almost everyone else has.

Mike's advanced checklist *:
1) on line price list, services or resources for your clients to peruse
2) downloadable catalogue/brochure (pdf, word or excel files as appropriate)
3) managing an email mailout list
4) updating web site regularly
5) incorporating the Internet as a part of your business plan
6) on line ordering for your clients
7) on line tracking of job progress for your clients
8) back end database running your web site
9) basic understanding of on line security (we don't want to get hacked or spread viruses around)
10) employees have their own email addresses and ready access to the Internet
11) training systems in place to get both employees, management and owners up to speed with the technology
In other words, do you have a plan to make the most of the technology or are you just playing around? If you want to get into the advanced area, let me know and I can help you get there also. This stuff isn't rocket science and it doesn't have to be expensive either. The aim is to work smarter.

* Obviously not all of the advanced points are appropriate for every business but many are.

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Australian Net economy worth $43 billion: Cisco study
Extract from www.theage.com.au, full article at :
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/23/1034561542812.html
Sydney
October 23 2002

Ninety-five per cent of Australian businesses were "online", with the Internet economy generating revenue of around $43 billion in 2001-02, a report found.
Businesses which used the Internet earned on average thrice the revenue per employee than businesses who were not connected and also reported cost savings of around two per cent of total costs, the report said.
"Broadband delivers the service at volumes that make it useable, that make people more productive as opposed to sitting there frustrated waiting for their computers to do something," Mr Walsh said.
The study, by Internet products manufacturer Cisco Systems Inc, also found those businesses using broadband were generating higher levels of revenue.
The Built for Business II - Beyond Basic Connectivity report surveyed 634 businesses from every major industry sector across Australia.
The report found online income was growing at an annualised rate of around 33 per cent, accounting for about 6.4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2001-02.
Also, Australia's Internet economy revenues had a market value of around $43 billion, compared with $28 billion in 2000-01.