Businesses keep faith in information technology

BUSINESSES continue to invest in information technology to enhance their performance, a survey has found.

It says nearly half the medium to large organisations in Ireland plan to spend the same on IT as in 2001,

undaunted by troubles experienced in the hi-tech sector over the last 18 months.

3Com Ireland commissioned Direct Line Marketing to carry out the study in which over 37% of those surveyed said they intend to increase spending on IT.

The annual survey is the most comprehensive available analysis of activities in the Irish IT sector and is in its fourth year.

Its objective is to fill the information gap about the state of the IT industry and it covers the decision makers in 166 medium to large firms and 257 small companies.

It focuses on companies that employ 51 or more people.

Online purchasing continues to be the main corporate use of the internet, the study found, with 21% of large companies using it to purchase airline tickets, books and other business materials.

From a lifestyle point of view, the survey found that teleworking is becoming an increasing feature of Irish business life.

More than half of large enterprises now offer such flexibility to workers.

One quarter of the larger firms in the survey said they introduced flexible working in order to hold on to employees while 23% of those surveyed felt employees were more productive working form home.

But pragmatic reasons such as traffic gridlock were cited by some for the introduction of the option of working from home.

The main barrier to teleworking continues to be poor telecommunications or broadband access with 35% of big firms citing it as a continuing obstacle in Ireland.