Small Businesses Getting Online-Savvy

My husband, who technically is a small-business owner, has slowly but surely come to understand the value of the Internet over the past several months, but only as it pertains to his personal shopping habits. (Researching custom wheel rims for his way-too-expensive motorcycle but then buying them offline.)

Sorry honey, but you're a dinosaur.

JupiterResearch recently predicted that 82 percent of all small businesses will have Internet access by 2011, laying the groundwork for an e-commerce revolution. Of that numbers, close to 90 percent are using broadband connections, according to the research firm.

Jupiter estimates that small businesses spend more than $43 billion in B2B related purchases annually. And that doesn't count the offline purchases influenced by online research.

Clearly, some of CRN's own readers have contributed to this trend personally. But even moreso, it means your traditional customer base could become a lot more open to e-commerce solutions over the next four years because they will now have the IT infrastructure to support them.

Even if your customers choose to buy this e-commerce capability as a service from a hosting providers (I think many of you actually do this yourselves), they'll be looking for someone to help integrate this function with their books.

Don't you think?

E-mail your comments, feedback and story ideas to hclancy@cmp.com.