E-minister Patricia Hewitt offers her support to Computer Weekly's
E-Business Month initiative
A year ago the prime minister, Tony Blair, set some very
challenging goals to make the UK a leading knowledge economy. These
included:n making this country the best place in the world for
e-commercen delivering universal Internet access by 2005
- making all government services available online by
2005.
We've already made progress. And in September the prime minister
launched UK Online - an accelerated programme to get citizens,
business and government online.
Over the past year we have seen a surge in businesses getting
online. Some 1.7 million UK small and medium sized businesses
(SMEs) are already online. Our latest benchmarking report shows
that 450,000 SMEs are also trading online.
This puts us on a par with the US and Canada and we lead all the
other countries benchmarked in this report, including Germany and
Sweden.
Few businesses are exploiting the full power of e-business. The
challenge now, particularly for SMEs, is to move beyond
brochure-ware to fully e-enabled supply chain management. If we are
to be the best place in the world to trade online, we must create
an environment which nurtures new and emerging e-businesses.
We are equipping people with ICT knowledge and skills through
initiatives to reach businesses and consumers. These include the
Department of Trade & Industry-led UK Online For Business
programme (formerly known as the Information Society Initiative)
which helps businesses to get the most out of new information and
communications technology.
Its national network of several hundred advisers offers
accessible, independent, jargon-free advice to small and
medium-sized firms so that they can find the right commercial
solutions to meet their business needs.
Driven by what businesses have told us they need, last month I
announced a £5.5m Mentoring Initiative, designed to help Internet
start-ups and established SMEs who want to make the Internet the
primary means of doing business.
Under this initiative, companies will be able to access tailored
business advice via an interactive Web portal and entrepreneurs
will be helped not only to develop business and marketing
strategies, but also get access to funding and tackle regulatory
issues.
E-business is going to power economic activity in the future and
we want to make sure that the UK leads the way. We need to be
looking ahead to the next big leap for Internet access towards
mobile telephone, broadband and interactive digital television. And
we are well placed to do this.
The UK has one of the most liberalised and competitive
telecommunications market in the world and we are continuing to
drive competition further and faster into the market. We want to
see affordable multimedia access for everyone.
The UKis a world leader in digital television, with one in five
homes now owning a digital TV set. This year too we held the
world's first auction of spectrum for the third generation (3G)
mobile services and on 10 November, the auction for broadband fixed
wireless access - the wireless local loop - will commence.
UK businesses, consumers and the economy more generally, will
benefit from the different means of delivering Internet and
multimedia services, which I expect will result in a faster
roll-out of innovative services and lower prices.
With the lowest off-peak Internet prices in Europe, and a
leading position in 3G and digital TV, the UK is poised to become
one of the first countries to realise the vision of the Internet
anywhere, anytime, on any device.
On behalf of UK Online For Business I am delighted to support
this E-Business Month. Promoting awareness of e-business is crucial
for the UK to continue to play a leading role in driving technology
forward and build a commanding position not just in the European
Union, but in the rest of the world.
To find your nearest UK Online For Business adviser, call the
information line on 0845-715 2000 or visit www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk which also has
this year's International Benchmarking Study