While some IT executives still are wary of the hype surrounding some aspects of the Internet and other Web-based technologies, it's clear that these technologies are becoming firmly entrenched as business tools for communications, data access and electronic commerce. That's up from 88 percent in last year's survey. About 80 percent of those surveyed this year say they are using or plan to use both an intranet and a public Web site, up dramatically from just 53 percent in the 1997 survey. Intranets Fuel Growth Much of this increase stems from the growth of intranets, which many companies have come to rely on for a wide variety of applications such as information sharing, human resources and training. A year ago, only 27 percent of those surveyed said their companies were conducting a full intranet rollout.
Improved communications is the key benefit of the networks.
Next highest was improved departmental communication, cited by 65 percent. Companies are using their intranets to provide many types of services in their organizations. Among the fastest growing intranet uses from last year to this are database access, human resources and software distribution. Just subscribe to our IT Pro Downloads Newsletter, and we'll send you a free, weekly collection of the hottest IT shareware, freeware, and demoware. Now you can see our Real-World Labs in action over the Web.