VARBusiness wanted to measure how solution providers' and end users' e-business and IT strategies this year compared with what they had planned and accomplished in 2000. Issues included IT spending, outsourcing plans and length of project implementation. To capture this information, VARBusiness partnered with Boston-based Bernett Research Services, a data collection company that specializes in the computer industry.
The project called for VARBusiness to craft an insightful survey and for Bernett to collect the market data. Bernett converted the questionnaire into a telephone survey, calling more than 6,900 unique telephone numbers. To participate, respondents had to be end users whose job function was in IS/networking management, and they needed to have already implemented or planned to implement an e-business strategy. Of the roughly 540 end users spoken to, 74 percent qualified for the project; 400 questionnaires were completed during five business days in March. The sample was randomly selected from the subscriber file of InternetWeek, a sister CMP Media publication. The margin of error on this project was++5 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval.
