We wanted to find out if that is indeed the case. While the precise nature of future Internet based vendor services is impossible to predict it is not difficult to list the types of things progressive companies will be doing in the next few years. A significant portion of vendor costs are related to information distribution. Most LIS vendors are small companies with few regional offices so there is a high cost associated with supplying information to a national or international audience an audience consisting of current and prospective users, third party partners, the media and consultants among others. Online order forms Problem logging and solution trackingSales presentations including slides and audio narration.
Any good company wants feedback from users as it develops new systems.
Online surveys will contribute greatly to this process. Paper-based surveys are expensive and time consuming to prepare, administer, tabulate and report. Many people do not participate because the process of filling out the forms by hand can be awkward and the results are often so long in coming that the impact is not appreciated. While the amount of planning is not diminished just because the medium is different, electronic surveys can be published , analyzed and reported in days rather than months. Vendors were asked to provide information about current and planned Internet capabilities as shown in Chart 1.