Internet business opportunities

Abstract

Does your business have an Internet strategy? If not, you should get one fast. 30 million people are using email, there are about 300000 Web sites with about 1000 new sites being added monthly. Your customers and suppliers expect you to have a telephone and fax. Increasingly they expect you to have an email address and a Web page. Companies like yours are using the Internet for a wide variety of cost effective applications including training, selling, document distribution, market research, and communications. In the USA, about 2/3rds of companies recently surveyed by Forrester Research already have or are considering the use of an Intranet. The paper discusses: what is the Internet; how it differs from an Intranet and from the networks your company may already be using; how your business can use the Internet, or an Intranet; how the Internet and an Intranet add value to your business; what it will cost to set up, maintain, and service a Web site and design a home page; what are the HTML and 3D/VRML issues; what is the business model and how to justify and recover the investment; the best time to get started and how to avoid technological obsolescence; what are the security issues; where to get help getting started and keep running; differences between the European and USA Internet environments; some examples of successful business uses; what can be expected in the future.