According to market analyst company IDC, the business-to-business (B2B) playing field will grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent over the next five years -- a statistic supported by a local Internet association which told ZDNet Australia: "The Internet is a great efficiency tool for business, and for this reason its [70 percent CAGR] is completely within expectations."
Australian B2B e-commerce transactions were valued at AU$11.83 billion in 2001, a figure which represents just two percent of Australia's gross domestic product. This reflects the general immaturity of e-business in Australia and around the world, according to an IDC report - Australia B2B eCommerce Forecast, 2001-2006.
The prediction of five years' growth at 70 percent annually will increase e-commerce to about AU$166.25 billion by 2006. IDC expects this growth to be driven by an increase in the number of organisations participating in B2B e-commerce, as well as an increase in the volume of transactions those organisations channel through the Internet.
The fastest growing segment is predicted to be government, increasing from AU$562.51 million in 2001 to AU$11,426.6 million in 2006, a compound annual growth rate of 83 percent.
The largest contributors to total B2B spending are medium and large business, accounting for 59 percent of total transaction value. These businesses are in a more favourable position to pursue ebusiness initiatives, which require considerable investment and commitment.
It depends. I have developed sites for small businesses to use (www.swap4free.com.au) that were only expensive to setup and low-cost to run - that is the point of the Net - self-service. The Net is made to be efficient not bloated. Why should programmers get the lion's share here? Another point - we seem to be leaning way too far to government paying for all major investments. This is holding our companies back to waiting for government to pay $1Bn's before they come on board. GST was a case in point - having the ECI setup pulled small business kicking and screaming into the 20th Century in terms of doing their books which led to them capitalising more in software and technology and not being left behind - otherwise they went under. Sign of the times - Big Brother Govt pulling along the tardy small business into the 20th Century.