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Businesses in the Midlands are to be encouraged to use the Internet to reduce their costs and increase sales, as e-business take-up in the region remains low.
According to Elizabeth Downes, e-business manager of the Midlands SME e-business programme, while e-mail usage among businesses in the area remains high, only between 30 to 40 percent of local companies have Web sites and on-line trading involving such firms is "minimal".
"I don't think the Midlands is unique in having a low uptake of e-commerce as it appears to be a national trend," Downes told ElectricNews.Net. "Businesses here know about the Internet and appreciate what it can do for them, but still have security, cost and legal concerns about adopting the technology."
In order to highlight the benefits of e-business, local chambers of commerce, through the regional SME e-business programme initiative, have organised a conference to be held in Tullamore on April 11 that they said will give companies first-hand information on how they can integrate the Internet into their businesses.
Speakers at the event will include local businesses that have already experienced these benefits. One such enterprise is Torc Truffles, which manufactures luxury hand-made chocolates. It set-up a one-page Web site in 1998, but earlier this year the company revamped its site due partly to increasing enquiries about its products from the US.
Torc Truffles' proprietor, Ruth McGarry Quinn, told ElectricNews.Net that the initiative had been worth it with sales over the site quadrupling. McGarry Quinn said the company's Web site had allowed the business to increase its sales in the US, Asia and Europe, and had more than re-paid the IEP4,000 (EUR5,079) investment in it.
Another speaker at the event with a positive experience of e-business will be Stuart McNamara, the owner of Lough Ree Powerboat School. He said that the company's award-winning site has been critical to the success of the business, which he established in 1998.
According to McNamara, the majority of his sales come through e-mail enquiries with around 80 percent of bookings organised via that electronic route. His site also acts as a brochure and receives around 30 hits per day, of which approximately 35 percent are converted into business through on-line bookings.
In addition, Lynda Deverell of Annaharvey Farm Equestrian Centre will tell conference attendees how her business uses the Web to promote its offerings. According to Deverell, a large proportion of Annaharvey Farm's business comes through its site.
Additional speakers at the "Making the Internet Work for your Business" conference include Barry Flanagan, chief technology officer of DigiServe and a founder of Ireland On-Line; John Howard, a senior telecoms consultant with Norcontel; and Andrew Fordham, SME business marketing manager with Eircom.
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