The European e-Business Report 2004 - Berlecon Research GmbH

The European E-Business Report 2004Exhibit 2.3-2: The importance of various e-business objectives and applicationsin the electrical machinery and electronics industries in overviewE-business application area Importance Remark / exampleFacilitate remote and mobilework (fieldworkers, homebasedtelework)Improved knowledgemanagementAutomate internal businessprocessesImprove ERP-to-ERPconnectivitySupply chain processintegrationDecrease direct procurementcosts through e-procurementWeb based e-marketing andcustomer related servicesElectronic customermanagementE-commerce: Increase salesvolume / area through sellingon the InternetB2B marketplaces on theInternetUse of e-business standardsfor exchanging structured dataWeb services and XML basedstandardsExtended enterprise:collaborative e-product designThe sector is well equipped with remote/wireless access. Thiscould become an important application area in the future in theelectrical machinery sub-sector.E-learning applications are used more than on average inother sectors.Very advanced compared to other sectors in the usage ofonline technologies to support internal processes. Important e-business application area in the electronics industries.ERP is much more used in the electronics sector thanaverage. ERP is used specifically by large companies whichimplement it to rationalise complex chains of processes.Managing the supply chain has a high relevance for theelectronics sub-sector. In total, the sector uses SCM solutionsmore than other sectors do on average. B2B collaboration isalso important.Purchasing online is one of the most widely used e-businessapplications in the sector, for firms from all size-bands,including the purchase of maintenance, repair and operationsgoods and direct production goods.This issue could gain importance in the future. Currently it ismore important for the electrical machinery sub-sector than forthe electronics companies.Not a focus on this sectorEnterprises that actually sell online are still the exception,especially in the electrical machinery sub-sector. It could,however, become more important in the near future.An important issue for the electronics sub-sector, but less sofor the electrical machinery sub-sector. Marketplaces are anaccepted channel among companies that use the Internet tosell their products.The use of e-business standards for exchanging structureddata is more widely used in the sector than on average. Mostelectronics manufacturers use electronic business applicationsvia EDI. E-business standardisation processes have agenerally high relevance in the electronics sub-sector and anaverage relevance in the electrical machinery sub-sector.Companies themselves remain to be convinced about XML.However, it could become the main standard for electronictransactions in the future.High relevance for the electronics sub-sector. = little relevance; = average relevance; = very relevant; = high relevance for sector = mixed results, depending on the sub-sector within the electrical machinery and electronics industriesICT infrastructureSource: e-Business W@tch (2004)In most aspects of ICT infrastructure, the electrical machinery and electronics industries are clearlyahead of the industry average consisting of the aggregate value of nine sectors. Basic computerusage is available in nearly 100% of firms in all countries. A LAN (Local Area Network) and remoteaccess are relatively well deployed, whereas a fortiori wireless LAN is much less dispersed. A WideArea Networks (WAN) is predominantly used by large firms, many of which connect their differentestablishments or departments by means of a WAN.Nearly all employees work in firms that have access to the Internet. The growth of the Internet hasspawned a number of new application software solutions designed to reduce transaction costs andincrease communications efficiency. However, if nearly all companies have access to the Internet, few101