An interesting study carried out by the Observador Cetelem in 2008 into e-consumer habits and trends a revealed a relatively high percentage of e-consumers within the overall population in Europe, standing at 28%. An online purchaser is considered to be someone who has made at least one purchase via the Internet.

On average, European consumers prefer web pages that have a recognized physical outlet over pure players, which only operate online. The difference is not very significant, however, and will decline over time. In principle, e-consumers prefer to buy products from pages that have a physical establishment, and the prime reason for this is trust.

However, this situation is likely to change with the forward march of pure players, which are increasingly present in more sectors (especially travel and computer-related), and which offer lower prices.

An excerpt from N-Economía report

Sales of food products on Ebay are becoming increasingly frequent in Germany. One example of this trend is ham, with sales of this product growing year-by-year during the months leading up to Christmas.

In 2007, hams worth a total of €1.8 million were sold on Ebay, which accounted for more than 111,000 individual sales transactions. The sales volume picked up pace during the second half of the year, particularly in November and December, when around 36,000 transactions involving hams took place on Ebay.

Spanish products take four of the top spots within the league table of the hams most sold on Ebay in Germany, with shoulders of Serrano ham at the head of the list. Varieties listed on Ebay as "Bodega de Serrano", "Pata Negra Ibérico de Bellota" and "Jamón Serrano" take the eighth, ninth and tenth positions, respectively.

Hams worth €1.1 million have already been sold during the first eight months of this year. According to estimates by the German consultancy BBE Retail Experts, revenue from 2008 ham-related transactions on Ebay will exceed those of last year.

News item from Lebensmittel Praxis

Basic ICT infrastructure, such as simple computer networks and access to the internet, has become a commodity for a majority of enterprises in all sectors. These technologies have become so widely used that they are now essential in daily business. Besides the basic role of ICT, its strategic potential for enabling new business models, influencing value chains and increasing process efficiency are presented in the Sectoral e-Business Watch studies. This extensive report show the critical role in tomorrow's economy for the advanced information infrastructures, services and the value creating activities which are made possible by computer networks and access to the internet. However, e-business1 is not primarily about systems and technology. It is about optimally managing relationships with customers, suppliers and business partners in a complex and often global competitive environment. Furthermore, e-business is not just about accomplishing electronic transactions such as procurement and sales. It is about accessing, providing and sharing information in business networks. Ultimately, it is about doing business in the advancing digital economy. The way business is done is changing rapidly, mainly due to globalisation. Large companies are moving rapidly to exploit the advantages offered by ICT for their business strategies. Smaller companies will have to follow suit, or risk being excluded from digital supply chains.

 The trend towards digitally integrated value systems connected through ICT can be seen as a new lifecycle of e-business. We refer to the period between 1995 and 2000, over which internet based trade emerged, as "e-Business 1.0". During this time, companies connected to the internet and were quickly lured into buying all sorts of immature technology. After the shake-out of several failed business models, e-business between 2001 and 2005 focused on cutting costs. We refer to this more conservative attitude towards ICT as "e-Business 2.0". However, companies are growing more "e-friendly" again. The underlying information infrastructures have matured and today no one doubts their importance for modern business. A new era appears to have emerged, "e-Business 3.0".

The European e-Business Report 2008 report can be downloaded on the e-Business Watch website

The study carried out by Nielsen into Internet purchasing habits shows that more than 85% of the world's Internet users have bought some kind of item online. The survey polled 26,312 Internet users in 48 markets throughout Latin America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East.

The growing popularity of online purchases is a truly global phenomenon. Online buyers can be found anywhere in the world, but the most enthusiastic purchasers are in South Korea, where 99% of those surveyed had carried out some kind of Internet purchase.

The majority of the world's most frequent online purchasers are to be found in Europe, which accounts for figures above the world average (55%) and where 59% of all those surveyed had made some kind of online purchase within the past month.

The number of consumers who have purchased items online in Latin America stands at 79%, with Brazil figuring well above the regional average (with 87% of consumers having made purchases over the Internet), followed by Chile (77%), and then Argentina, with 74%.

An excerpt from the report found at: N-Economía

El Informe anual sobre el desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información en España, eEspaña 2008, que edita la Fundación Orange, muestra que España avanza tres posiciones en el ranking europeo, alcanzando el decimoséptimo puesto.

Según los resultados del Índice IeE08, España ha superado a Letonia, Lituania, Eslovaquia y la República Checa, siendo el segundo país que más ha mejorado en relación al año anterior, sólo por detrás de Portugal. En el último año, España ha experimentado un crecimiento de 12 puntos, corrigiendo el ligero descenso del año pasado y la situación de la Sociedad de la Información en nuestro país tiende a converger con las de los países europeos. El Índice Ie08 se compone de tres subíndices: Entorno, Acceso y Uso, habiendo mejorado posiciones en todos ellos, especialmente en el relativo al Uso.

La posición de España (puesto 21) con respecto al Entorno de las TIC (indicador que engloba la penetración de las telecomunicaciones, la inversión y la innovación TIC) refleja el tamaño del sector TIC en nuestro país, perjudicado por el escaso mercado TI de consumo y el moderado uso de estas tecnologías en las pyme. Así, por ejemplo, el número de ordenadores por habitantes en España es la mitad del de Francia o Reino Unido.

El Acceso a las TIC es el subíndice que muestra mejores datos relativos (puesto 15), mientras que el Uso de las TIC pone de manifiesto aún una elevada distancia (puesto 21) en relación con los países líderes. El limitado desarrollo del comercio electrónico -el porcentaje de individuos que compraron en España en Internet es tres veces inferior al de Reino Unido u Holanda- o el escaso uso de la avanzada disponibilidad de los servicios públicos electrónicos son dos de las causas que motivan esta posición.

La mejora de la posición de España en el ranking no significa, sin embargo, que la tendencia del grado de cumplimiento de los objetivos de la Agenda de Lisboa permita suponer que éstos se alcanzarán en el año 2010. Con los datos de los útlimos años, las estimaciones llevadas a cabo en el Informe sólo auguran que se consigan los objetivos relativos a hogares con acceso de banda ancha, empresas de más de 10 empleados con conexión a Internet y el acceso a través de banda ancha de estas empresas.

Over the past 12 months 55% of the French population has made purchases via the Internet, a figure which means the Internet is now the leading means of distance purchasing in France.

This is the result of a study carried out by the Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Crédoc), which was presented today.

Electronic commerce leads in the distance sales league table, followed by mail order, the system used by 43% of French consumers, and telephone sales, used by 27% of the population.

In a previous study carried out in 2006, mail order was the purchasing method of choice, outstripping the Internet (41%) and telephone sales (31%).

El Comercio Electrónico ha generado un volumen de negocio en España durante el año 2007 que supera por primera vez los 4.700 millones de euros, cifra que supone un incremento interanual del 71,4%. El Informe sobre "Comercio Electrónico B2C 2008 en España" (Informe completo) del Observatorio Nacional de las Telecomunicaciones y de la Sociedad de la Información (ONTSI) de Red.es, entidad del Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio, señala que la clave de este espectacular aumento del volumen de negocio es el dato de compradores, que ha pasado del 27,3% de los internautas de 15 años y más, al 39,8%. En número de ciudadanos supone alcanzar ya los 8 millones.

Estos datos sobre el crecimiento indican que en España en el año 2007 se ha incrementado en un 45,8% el número de internautas compradores y es la principal causa del aumento del volumen de Comercio Electrónico, puesto que el gasto medio anual ha registrado un incremento menos significativo, con una subida del 13,8%, llevando el gasto medio anual a 595 euros.

El perfil de los compradores puede resumirse en el de un hombre entre 25 y 49 años (en especial entre 25 y 34), residentes en poblaciones de más de cien mil habitantes, con estudios medios (destacan los universitarios) y con un nivel socioeconómico medio, medio-alto.

El Informe sobre Comercio Electrónico señala que los compradores en Internet hacen un uso más intensivo de la red. Dos tercios están accediendo a la red a diario, frente al 42,1% de los no compradores. Respecto a la disponibilidad de ADSL, los compradores lo tienen en un 77%, frente a un 62% de los no compradores.

Según el Informe anual B2C 2008, en España el 86,8% de los internautas disponían de e-mail y, de estos, el 84,6% declara que ha recibido información comercial en su buzón de correo. El 34,5% solo ha recibido la información que ha solicitado, el 32% ha recibido spam y el 18,1% ha recibido información no solicitada pero que no les molesta recibir.

Internet como canal de información y comercial

Disponer de información clara sobre los derechos que asisten al consumidor (78%), o sobre el contrato de compra-venta (72,6%) o incluso sobre el bien a comprar y los gastos que genera la compra (75%) son elementos de carácter esencial para los individuos que han realizado compras on line durante 2007. Otros aspectos esenciales también, al mismo nivel que la disponibilidad de información es la comunicación de los elementos de seguridad, como que la empresa informe sobre los mecanismos de seguridad (76,4%) o que ésta esté plenamente identificada (77,3%).

Las claves de la compra por Internet en España

La mayor parte de los compradores on-line, un 76,6%, ya habían tenido experiencias en años anteriores. Es de destacar que el hogar se refuerza en España como lugar para hacer las compras "on-line", ya que el 84,3% de los compradores durante el año 2007 adquirieron desde su hogar bienes y servicios.

Durante el último ejercicio estudiado, las compras se realizan en tiendas virtuales generalistas -aquellas que disponen de punto de venta físico- (55,2%) o especializadas -venden exclusivamente por Internet- (44,7%), pero la oferta en la red se ha diversificado hacia la web del fabricante y los lugares de subastas. La mayor parte (54%) prefiere pagar sus compras con tarjeta bancaria.

En 2007 se realizaron un promedio de casi cinco procesos de compra y cada comprador gastó 595 euros de media. El sector turístico y las actividades de ocio siguen siendo las claves en las compras a través de la red (billetes de transporte, entradas a espectáculos o reserva de alojamientos), y en segundo lugar se sitúan los productos de electrónica, ropa y complementos, libros, DVD, música o videojuegos.

Según el informe B2C del ONTSI, el 93,7% de los individuos que han realizado compras a través de la red durante 2007 declara sentirse satisfecho con las mismas. Sin embargo, hay un incremento de problemas con estas compras, pasando del 7,1% al 18,5%. El problema fundamental es que el producto o servicio adquirido no responde a lo que se ofrecía en la web. El 83,5% de los compradores declara que el servicio de entrega de los pedidos por Internet es correcto, frente al 90% del estudio anterior.

Los problemas de pago tienen menor peso en el conjunto de los problemas, apenas llega al 10,8%, frente a los de tipo logístico (un 42,7%) y el 49,3% de carácter no logístico. Esta mejora en los procesos de pago y en la percepción de los compradores sobre la seguridad de los datos financieros en Internet, sigue siendo esencial para el incremento de las compras a través de la red que hemos analizado

Security when conducting Electronic Commerce is one of the values required most by customers on any website. A report by the consulting firm TNS shows that 69% of all European Internet users who shop online will do so only on the most well-known websites, that they can trust in completely.

This shows that one of the keys to the success of an online business is a suitably secure environment, with absolute clarity in each of the purchasing steps, demonstrating guarantees and earning trust.

El comercio electrónico en España experimentó un fuerte crecimiento en el primer trimestre del 2008 y alcanzó un volumen de negocio total de 1.192,9 millones de euros, un 52,6% más que el mismo periodo del año anterior, según datos del Informe sobre Comercio Electrónico en España elaborado por la Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT).

Por actividades, los sectores que registraron un mayor porcentaje de ingresos fueron: el transporte aéreo con el 17,1%, las agencias de viajes y operadores turísticos con el 10,7%, el marketing directo con el 5,9% y los juegos de azar y apuestas con el 5,5%.

Comercio online desde España hacia el exterior
Las transacciones de comercio electrónico desde España hacia el exterior generaron un volumen de negocio de 569,1 millones de euros, lo que supone un 47,7% del total del comercio online. En este trimestre, para este tipo actividades comerciales, se contabilizaron un total de 7 millones de operaciones.

Los principales receptores de dicho importe fueron los países de la UE con 495,5 millones de euros, lo que representa un 87,1% del total. Asimismo, el segundo destino elegido fue EEUU con 42,8 millones de euros, un 7,5% del total de las compras online.

Entre las actividades que generaron un mayor porcentaje de ingresos figuran: el transporte aéreo con 14,5%, los juegos de azar y apuestas con 11,3%, los servicios legales, contabilidad y gestión con 8,9% y las agencias de viajes y operadores turísticos con 6,7%.

Transacciones electrónicas de las empresas españolas
En este trimestre, el comercio online generado por las empresas españolas continua con la tendencia al alza. Así, las compras realizadas dentro del país y las transacciones facturadas desde el exterior hacia España sumaron un total de 623,8 millones de euros, lo que supone un 52,3% del volumen total de comercio electrónico.

Por su parte, el importe de las transacciones originadas en el exterior y con destino España fue de 180,6 millones de euros, un 15,1% del total. Entre las actividades que facturaron un mayor volumen de ingresos destacan: el transporte aéreo con el 27,2%, la educación con el 13,7% y los hoteles, apartamentos y camping con el 11,5%. Por destino, la UE lideró las compras dirigidas a España con 129,1 millones de euros (71,5%), mientras que los ingresos procedentes de EEUU se sitúan en 22,9 millones de euros (12,7%).

Asimismo, el comercio electrónico generado dentro del país registró 443,3 millones de euros, lo que supone el 37,2% del volumen total de facturación. En este trimestre se realizaron 5,6 millones de transacciones, un 57,9% más que en el mismo periodo de 2007. El transporte aéreo es la actividad más favorecida con 71,9 millones de euros (76,2%), seguida de las agencias de viajes y operadores turísticos con 71,5 millones de euros (16,1%).

Europe could take the lead in the next generation of the Internet. The European Commission outlined the main steps that Europe has to take to respond to the next wave of the Information Revolution that will intensify in the coming years due to trends such as social networking, the decisive shift to on-line business services, nomadic services based on GPS and mobile TV and the growth of smart tags. The report shows that Europe is well placed to exploit these trends because of its policies to support open and pro-competitive telecom networks as well as privacy and security. A public consultation has been launched today by the Commission on the policy and private sector responses to these opportunities. The Commission report also unveils a new Broadband Performance Index (BPI) that compares national performance on key measures such as broadband speed, price, competition and coverage. Sweden and the Netherlands top this European broadband league, which complements the more traditional broadband penetration index used so far by telecoms regulators.

The Internet of the future will radically change our society. Web 3.0 means seamless 'anytime, anywhere' business, entertainment and social networking over fast reliable and secure networks. It means the end of the divide between mobile and fixed lines. It signals a tenfold quantum leap in the scale of the digital universe by 2015. Europe has the know-how and the network capacity to lead this transformation.

European Internet users are increasingly accessing faster and better value Internet: half of them had access to broadband at more than 2 megabits per second (MBps) at the end of 2007, a speed which is twice as fast as one year ago and supports TV over the Internet. Broadband covers 70% of rural population of the 27 EU Member States, closing the gap with total coverage (93%). In the last year, broadband rural coverage in the EU-25 has risen 8 percentage points.

This means that a new generation of Internet use is already on its way, and the potential for Europe's economy is clear. While a quarter of Europeans used web 2.0 sites in 2007, business applications of social networking are on their way. Internet based enterprise software is also expected to grow by 15% from 2006-2011 worldwide.

New technology applications will need ubiquitous Internet coverage. The Internet of Things means that wireless interaction between machines, vehicles, appliances, sensors and many other devices will take place using the Internet. It already makes electronic travel cards possible, and will allow mobile devices to exchange information to pay for things or get information from billboards. It is predicted that such technology will be in more than one billion phones by 2015.

These will be major opportunities for EU businesses as long as there is enough investment in high-speed broadband access and support for innovation and research. The Commission Communication adopted today said that the EU should stimulate investment in next generation broadband access, for example strengthening the involvement of local authorities who may facilitate the access to ducts (or digging of new ones) for faster broadband fibre cables during civil works, keep the Internet open to competition, prevent unfair restrictions in consumers' choice, safeguard consumer confidence in using the Internet and fund research in the Internet of the future.

The Communication is accompanied by a new Broadband Performance Index that compares competition, coverage, speed and quality of Internet access across Europe. It shows that the EU is already well placed to exploit these broadband opportunities, thanks to an open and competitive environment for investments. The index ranks EU countries' achievements in high speed Internet by the main factors affecting the development of faster broadband to highlight priorities for improvement.

The index shows that Sweden and the Netherlands are clear leaders in the EU, thanks to a competition-friendly environment and skilled citizens and businesses that can use advanced services. On the other hand, poor competition may hold back investment in advanced technologies and result in high prices. Social factors such as the lack of digital skills, limited PC penetration and a poor spending in ICT also appear to be important barriers to further developments.

The Commission Communication on Future networks and the Internet is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/index_en.htm

Taobao, China's largest consumer e-commerce company, today announced that its parent company, Alibaba Group, will invest RMB5 billion (US$732 million) over the next five years to further strengthen the Taobao marketplace (www.taobao.com) as the shopping destination of choice for Chinese consumers. The investment will be used for building a world-leading platform for merchants and providing the best online shopping experience for consumers. In addition, Taobao will continue to offer its services for free to buyers and individual sellers.

Taobao is the most trusted online commerce platform for Chinese consumers. According to China IntelliConsulting Corporation, 33% of China's Internet users have shopped online and 76% of these users have purchased items on Taobao.

Since its founding in 2003, Taobao has created an e-commerce ecosystem consisting of 80 million registered users and over 1 million sellers, as well as third-party service providers in payment, logistics and verification and a network of 400,000 web publishers in its affiliate marketing program. Moreover, Taobao will soon open its technology platform to independent software vendors (ISVs) to develop applications for Taobao's substantial user base, including advanced product display and special visual effect functionalities.

Jonathan Lu, President of Taobao, said, "The RMB5 billion investment into the Taobao ecosystem demonstrates our long-term confidence in the Chinese economy, our optimism for China's domestic consumption and our commitment towards creating job opportunities for entrepreneurs who harness the power of the Taobao marketplace."

He continued, "Given the rapid growth of Internet use in China, we expect online shopping will become a mainstream Internet application in the near future. Today, only one-third of Internet users in China have shopped online and we believe that by continuing to offer Taobao's services for free we can accelerate e-commerce adoption and market growth."

According to iResearch, China's online shopping market grew in gross merchandise volume (GMV) from RMB16 billion in 2005 to RMB56 billion in 2007. iResearch further projects that industry GMV will be RMB126 billion in 2008, growing to exceed RMB500 billion by 2011. The 33% online shopping penetration rate estimated by China IntelliConsulting Corporation in September 2008 has increased from 26% estimated by iResearch in 2007.

The purpose of Commissioner Kuneva's proposal is to harmonize e-commerce rules across the European Union and promote intra-Community e-commerce.

Recently published survey results show, for example, that while 56% of European consumers have purchased goods or services online, only 13% have done so from a seller or provider in another EU country. In response, this October the European Commission will propose a unification of 4 European directives and the laws of the EU Member States regarding e-commerce.

Consumer reluctance to shop online in other countries may be motivated by unfamiliarity with the foreign seller or provider, language barriers, shipping difficulties and uncertainty about shipping terms and conditions, or unawareness of consumer rights in the event of a claim.

At present each EU country has different legislation, while consumer overprotection places obstacles in the way of foreign online sellers or providers. Once the laws have been harmonized, it will be much easier to buy and sell online across Europe.

Commissioner Kuneva states that after this proposal is accepted, the EU will continue to be the world leader in consumer protection.

Article published by Cecarm

El 51 por ciento de los hogares en España tiene acceso a Internet, con una tasa de crecimiento superior al millón de hogares al año, según ha revelado una encuesta realizada por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística sobre Equipamiento y Uso de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación en los Hogares. La estadística reflejó además que el número de usuarios frecuentes de la Red supera los 17 millones, con lo cual el número total de internautas creció en un 11 por ciento respecto al año anterior, mientras que la cantidad de viviendas que cuentan con un habitante de entre 16 y 74 años y que tienen un ordenador asciende al 63,6 por ciento.

La investigación reveló además que el número de hogares que cuentan con televisión digital terrestre (TDT) alcanzó el 37,4 por ciento, aumentando en 15 puntos con respecto a 2007, cuando faltan dos años para el apagón analógico.

Según la encuesta, las principales formas de conexión a Internet son la línea ADSL, presente en un 67,9% de las viviendas con acceso a Internet, seguida de la red de cable, en un 14 por ciento de los hogares, y del acceso a través de una vía telefónica, en un 12,8 por ciento de los hogares.

Las comunidades con una mayor implantación de la Red son Madrid, donde un 62 por ciento de los hogares tiene Internet, y Cataluña, con un 60 por ciento.

El motivo principal por el cual los hogares no poseen Internet es que consideran que no lo necesitan, una razón esgrimida en un 55 por ciento de los casos, seguida de la sensación de que tiene pocos conocimientos para utilizarlo.

Por último, el uso de las tecnologías de la Información (TIC) es, según la encuesta, mayor entre los menores de edad. El uso del ordenador alcanza el 94 por ciento entre los jóvenes, mientras que la cantidad de usuarios de Internet es de un 82 por ciento, sin que se noten diferencias entre los sexos.

Noticia publicada por Cibersur.com

The study was prepared by the Universities of Oxford and Oviedo, sponsored by Cisco, based on data obtained in 42 countries by Speedtest.net, a website that measures the connection speed for users who connect to it.

In May, 8 million connections, were analyzed, both uploading and downloading. These data were combined with lag (the time it takes a data pack to travel from a point of origin to a particular destination) to draw up the broadband quality index.

Sweden and the Netherlands are the European countries in which broadband offers the best performance, due to investments in fiber optic connections and cable television infrastructures. After Japan, both are the countries in which users enjoy the greatest Internet access speeds.

The top 10 includes some surprises, such as Latvia, the country with the fourth-fastest speeds. The list of the ten leading countries is rounded out by Korea, Switzerland, Lithuania, Denmark, Germany and Slovenia. The USA is in 16th place, ahead of Russia.

In the negative aspect, the study highlights some highly industrialized countries in which the connection speed does not enable today's Internet applications, which demand major average bandwidth, to work correctly, such as YouTube, for example. This group of stragglers includes the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and Italy.

In the case of Spain, the study detects significant differences by autonomous region. While Internet users in Asturias enjoy download speeds of 6.6 Mbps, Basques and the Aragonese enjoy just half that speed, and in other regions the speeds are even lower. Asturias also has the highest upload speeds, although they are a measly 792 kbs.

The authors of the study situate the optimum speed for taking full advantage of today's Internet services at 3.5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload.

Furthermore, they predict that within three to five years, these speeds will increase to 11.25 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload. Currently, only Japan, with an average of 16.1 Mbps download and 7.2 Mbps upload, exceeds those numbers.

Article published by Baquia.com

TIMBERWeb eMarket with over 49000 members from 190 countries site has now completed a transition to Verisign Extended Validation SSL Certification which conforms with the Extended Validation Standard drawn up by leading SSL Certificate Authorities and web browser vendors such as Microsoft.

Keith Richmond Chairman & CEO said "This means that high-security Web browsers such as IE7 and also Firefox 3 can clearly identify our Web site's organizational identity. The URL address bar will turn green and the display next to the address bar will show a closed padlock and toggle between the certified organisation and the certificate authority".

This also means that all data and information passing between members and the TIMBERWeb Marketplace is encrypted for extra privacy at the highest levels of encryption available.

Companies who use basic email to conclude deals risk their information getting into the wrong hands particularly when using wireless connections. "We have chosen to use Verisign, the world's leading secure certificate provider, who secure over one million web servers worldwide including the world's 40 largest banks and now TIMBERWeb too", said Richmond.

TIMBERWeb was the first Timber and Lumber eMarket on the Internet and has won numerous prestigious Awards from leading organisations including the Financial Times Best Business Web Site, eBusiness Excellence from Barclays, Sunday Telegraph, Computer Weekly, EEDA, and was selected as a Vision 100 Company by British Telecom in conjunction with Cranfield University and Management Today. The TIMBERWeb eTrading platform was originally launched by UK Minister Patricia Hewitt in Sweden.

"The trend toward SaaS applications has affected customer relationship management (CRM) and other applications, and e-commerce isn't exempt from this trend," said Gene Alvarez, research vice president for Gartner. "E-commerce SaaS solutions enable companies that couldn't afford e-commerce to have these capabilities and compete online. It provides organizations with live Web sites, and enables e-commerce SaaS service providers to provide individual services, such as product reviews or click to call, that can be incorporated into e-commerce SaaS platforms, as well as on sites that are using licensed software."

Even with the benefits from e-commerce SaaS solutions, commitment to upgrading e-commerce Web sites appears to outpace commitment to the SaaS model for e-commerce during the next couple of years. Gartner analysts believe several factors are contributing to this trend:

• SaaS e-commerce may not be appropriate for some Web sites, and may not provide a differentiated experience - Because the SaaS model has a low barrier to entry, some organizations feel that competitors can sign up quickly and easily with the same SaaS e-commerce provider, and deliver an equal online customer experience. However, organizations that are challenged in their e-commerce IT capabilities (such as lack of budget for people, hardware and software), and organizations that can have e-commerce capabilities without having to obtain hardware and software, find SaaS e-commerce appealing.
• Current SaaS e-commerce offerings can't support business-to-business (B2B) - All SaaS e-commerce vendors support B2C online selling; however, for vendors with B2B requirements (such as quoting, proposal generation, lead management and purchase order payment processes), or for organizations that sell into a multilevel network of partners, SaaS e-commerce offerings won't be able to meet the necessary requirements.
• Concern about the impact of SaaS e-commerce on the total IT portfolio -Organizations are often concerned about the management of a mixed-application environment (SaaS and non-SaaS applications). Many IT people fear that they'll be held responsible for site outages or performance issues when they actually have no control over the SaaS e-commerce application or its operating environment, and can control only part of the systems that contribute to the overall customer experience.
• Uncertainty of SaaS e-commerce integration with other applications - Organizations that aren't familiar with SaaS offerings are uncertain how to integrate SaaS e-commerce with their existing applications and the stability of the integration over time. Although SaaS vendors don't operate in a stand-alone vacuum, some are able to loosely couple with an organization's applications via application programming interfaces, Web services or XML interfaces, while others have specific and tightly coupled integration requirements.
• Concern about data collection and data ownership issues in a SaaS e-commerce environment - Many vendors claim that all data associated with a client site is owned by the subscriber, but that aggregated data isn't. This belief may vary by vendor, so organizations should ensure that they cover this issue before entering into a contract.
• Some vendors have technical limitations, such a shortcomings in Web 2.0 capabilities.
•  In some cases, vendors focus on providing commodity e-commerce functions (enabling organizations to have basic online stores) to a large audience, while other vendors focus on providing enterpriselike e-commerce solutions for large organizations, which are more aligned with Web 2.0 capabilities.
• Organizations may need IT and non-IT resources to support the Web site - This varies by the vendor selected, because some vendors require the organization to have some IT resources for integration support with back-end systems, and to have business users to manage the products and the site's user interface. Other vendors may provide both of these supportive services; thus, clients must understand their commitments before entering into a contract for the service.
• Various SaaS e-commerce payment models are creating confusion - Payment for SaaS e-commerce can vary by provider, so organizations must run test models to determine what they'll be paying for SaaS e-commerce in the short term (less than three years) and the long term (greater than five years).

"SaaS e-commerce is a viable solution for some organizations, however, they must make that determination based on the SaaS vendor's capability to meet their technical and functional requirements, and on the type of subscription payment model that's offered," said Mr. Alvarez.

"Before pursuing SaaS for e-commerce, organizations should develop a SaaS strategy that accounts for the scoping, evaluation, selection, operation and different architectures or SaaS solutions, as well as determines the organizations comfort level in leveraging externally provided IT applications."

Extract from "Saas impact on e-commerce" Gartner Report.

"I have great expectations for my visit to Peru (next November) to understand, to gather feelings on the ground" explained Alibaba chairman Ma Yun to Spanish news agency EFE, since those "feelings" will help him decide on his business in Latin America.

The executive, known abroad as Ma, said that "the problem is that there are not many people in China who speak Spanish well", although the Alibaba chairman is aware that "Latin America is an enormous market based on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)", his B2B client base.

Nonetheless, the chairman of Alibaba.com, the group's portal dedicated to B2B, Wei Zhe, clarified that the translation of the website to Spanish "will not be done this year", since they have just launched the new service in Japanese, in addition to Chinese and English.

Wei said "we will seek out a partner in Latin America; a local partner, as we have done in Japan", where Alibaba has an alliance with Softbank, one of the world's Internet service providers.

He also explained that he sent a letter some time ago to his international clients to get their impressions and feedback on the service, and "I received 8,000 letters, but the first was from an Argentinean company that thanked us because they had found a Mexican retailer through Alibaba".

Alibaba.com presented a new services this weekend that enables companies from other countries to sell their products to China through the B2B portal, adding it to those already for sale in China, abroad and between companies from third countries.

The group's next step, said Ma, is to "focus on the logistics conditions", so that purchases made by companies through Alibaba, which also has an online payment service, Alipay, reach their destination quickly and safely, although he did not offer any details because, he said, "we are still at the testing stage".

Regarding the possible purchase of his group by Yahoo, which controls 40% of Alibaba, Ma indicated in a press conference that "we will remain independent", and he explained that "Yahoo and Softbank are the uncles, it's good to listen to the uncles, but we are the parents" of the company.

Alibaba.com currently has 29.7 million registered users: 24.8 in China and 4.9 in the rest of the world, including 120,000 from Latin America and 40,000 from Spain.

This weekend, Alibaba, together with the Business Advisory Council of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), organized the second SME Summit, which will continue in Peru on 17 November.

 Article published by EFE

El comercio electrónico en España generó un negocio de 999 millones de euros en el tercer trimestre de 2007, un 52% más respecto al mismo período del año anterior, según los datos del Informe sobre comercio electrónico en España del tercer trimestre de 2007, publicado por la Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT). Las empresas españolas se llevaron más de la mitad de los ingresos generados por el comercio online, gracias al importe de las transacciones realizadas en el interior del país (360 millones) y al de las compras iniciadas en el extranjero con destino a sitios web españoles (149 millones de euros).

A lo largo del tercer trimestre se realizaron en total 11,7 millones de compras. Los sectores que registraron un mayor volumen de negocio fueron: el transporte aéreo (26,5%), las agencias de viajes (15,1%), los juegos de azar y apuestas (5,2%) y las compras realizadas a través de técnicas de marketing directo (4,8%).


Los ingresos provenientes del exterior crecen un 79%
El importe de las transacciones iniciadas en el extranjero y dirigidas a webs españolas aumentó un 78,6% con respecto al tercer trimestre de 2006, hasta alcanzar el 15% del volumen total de negocio. Los países de la UE fueron los que generaron un mayor volumen de negocio en España, con el 66% de los ingresos del mercado español, seguidos de Estados Unidos, con el 11,6%. El sector de la educación alcanzó el tercer puesto en cuanto a volumen de negocio generado por los compradores extranjeros, con 10,6% del total, superado por el transporte aéreo (42,3%) y las agencias de viajes (14,2%).

Los ingresos del comercio electrónico generado en interior del país experimentaron un crecimiento interanual del 76% en el tercer trimestre de 2007. Como sucedió con el comercio proveniente del extranjero, los sectores que generaron el mayor volumen de negocio por compras con origen y destino en sitios web españoles fueron, principalmente: servicios del transporte aéreo (31,2%), agencias de viajes (23,2%), espectáculos (9,7%) y transporte terrestre (6,9%).

Por su parte, el volumen de negocio de las operaciones originadas en España y con destino a web extranjeras experimentó un crecimiento interanual del 33,4%, hasta alcanzar los 489 millones de euros. La mayor parte del importe de dichas compras se dirigió a la Unión Europea (85,5% del total) y EEUU (10,4%).

At present 55% of European consumer complaints are related with online transactions. These figures are included in the European Consumers Network report presented by the European Commission.

The report shows that e-commerce companies in Europe need to improve in certain areas such as contract clauses and delivery. Areas where customer complaints have not been satisfactorily resolved include order cancellation, delivery delays, the returning of defective products or ones that do not conform to what is ordered and even the non-delivery of ordered products.

Businesses risk losing their competitive edge if they fail to adopt Web 2.0 technologies, according to a study by UK consultancy IT Governance.

The research noted that all types of companies are starting to adopt Web 2.0 by encouraging employee blogs, customer forums, greater use of multimedia content and collaborative tools such as wikis. IT Governance warned that companies that do not use these strategies to engage with customers, partners, suppliers and employees risk jeopardising those relationships and wasting the technology's competitive potential. However, the company cautioned that firms must carefully consider the risks that accompany Web 2.0 adoption, especially in the areas of privacy, security and legal issues.

Firms must consider how empowering their employees, or inviting outside comment on their websites, could lead to litigation or other privacy and data protection problems, IT Governance said.

For more on this story see VNUnet.com.

"There will be two billion Internet users within eight years; by this time the Internet will have become increasingly integrated into the personal and professional lives of its users, allowing them to work, play and socialize any time and anywhere. These figures are likely to skyrocket in line with the continued increase in the number of cell phone users, making the Internet genuinely omnipresent," according to IDC research head John Gantz.

Although PCs are currently the major means of accessing the Internet, IDC expects that access by mobile devices will overtake PC connections before 2012. Although users still mainly use Web 1.0 tools for web-based searches, online purchases and sending emails, Web 2.0 activities, such as viewing videos generated by users, creating and updating blogs and taking part in social networks, are quickly attracting attention, and account for increasing amounts of the time spent online by Internet users. Other conclusions of the Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast study include:

1. Users will access the Internet by means of more than 1.5 billion devices worldwide in 2008, including PCs, cell phones and videogame consoles. By 2012, the number of devices used to access the Internet will double to exceed three billion, of which half will be mobile devices.

2. China took over from the United States in 2007 to become the country with the largest number of Internet users in the world. China's online population is expected to grow from 275 million users today to 375 million in 2012. Around half of Internet users make online purchases and carry out B2C transactions worth US$1.2 billion. B2B trade will expand tenfold, accounting for US$12.4 billion in sales by 2012.

3. Around 40% of web users worldwide have mobile access to the Internet. This means 546 million users in 2008, twice 2006 numbers, and this figure is forecast to exceed 1.5 billion users by 2012.

 Article published by idg.es

Un estudio realizado por Alejandro Costanzo Abati para n-Economía afirma que el comercio B2B cada vez está más presente en las pymes, tanto europeas como españolas. Asimismo, señala que el comercio entre empresas es, cada vez más, parte integrante de las prácticas comerciales de las empresas . El total de las transacciones B2B alcanza en torno al billón de euros en Europa en 2007, como ejemplo, entre 70 y 80 mil millones de euros corresponden a Francia. La práctica totalidad de las empresas europeas de más de 10 empleados se benefician de un acceso a Internet, pero el desafío consiste ahora en integrar el uso de las aplicaciones e-business avanzadas en la práctica cotidiana de los intercambios comerciales entre empresas.

Las empresas con más frecuencia compran y venden en línea. Así, cerca de la mitad de las empresas europeas (48%), efectúan sus compras en línea, mientras que una cuarta parte de ellas recibe sus órdenes de pedidos de sus clientes en línea.

Hay que constatar que las pymes europeas todavía siguen siendo reticentes a equipararse y a utilizar aplicaciones e-business avanzadas. Los procesos de transacciones electrónicas aun siguen siendo integrados de forma insuficiente en la organización interna de las pymes europeas. La creciente integración de las pymes en la cadena de aprovisionamiento de las grandes empresas deberá disminuir en el futuro las diferencias constatadas en las prácticas B2B en Europa.

Datos para España

En nuestro país, la proporción de empresas que realizan compras a través de Internet se sitúa en 2007 en un 18,2%, una proporción que ha ido incrementándose progresivamente desde el año 2002, momento en el que solo el 6,8% de las empresas españolas realizaban compras a través de Internet. Si se tiene en cuenta, además, la dimensión de las empresas se observa que en la actualidad el 31,7% de las empresas de más de 250 trabajadores han realizado compras por Internet en el último año.

Asimismo, también ha ido creciendo con el paso del tiempo la proporción de empresas que realizan pagos online. Mientras que en 2002 eran el 49,5% en 2007 eran ya un 62,7% las empresas que recurrían a esta forma de pago.

La evolución es bastante diferente en el caso de las empresas que realizan ventas a través de Internet, mientras que en el período 2002-2005 la proporción de empresas apenas creció y solo se registro un crecimiento de cuatro décimas (1,6% frente a 2,0%), en el 2006 se produjo un gran impulso, ya que se paso a una proporción del 8,0%. En el último año, sin embargo, se ha producido un ligero descenso de dos décimas (hasta el 7,8%), lo que marca una ruptura en la tendencia alcista de dicha serie. Eso sí, nuevamente las empresas de mayor dimensión (mas de 250 trabajadores) realizan ventas a través de Internet en una mayor proporción, ya que el 20,8% de las mismas recurre a este canal de ventas.

Por otra parte, la evolución de las empresas que reciben pagos online también muestra en los últimos tiempos una senda decreciente. Mientras que en 2002 y 2005 se produjo un crecimiento en el porcentaje de empresas que recibían estos pagos, al pasar de un 29,2% a un 42,8%, desde ese momento la cifra se ha reducido, hasta quedar en un 34,1% en 2007.

Los clientes de estas operaciones son fundamentalmente, otras empresas (B2B) en un 88,0% de los casos, una cifra que se ha mantenido relativamente estable desde 2002. El resto se lo reparten los particulares (11,3%) y en una menor medida, Administraciones Públicas (0,7%).

According to the report by Jupiter Research, the total number of people online will climb to 1.8 billion by 2012, encompassing roughly 25 percent of the planet.

The company sees the highest growth rates in areas such as China, Russia, India and Brazil. Overall, the number of users online is predicted to grow by 44 percent in the time period between 2007 and 2012.

"Even though the emerging economies will have lower online penetration rates compared to the developed countries, Jupiter Research believes that they will ramp up the learning curve in adopting sophisticated online activities compared to the developing countries," said research director Vikram Sehgal.

The analyst firm sees Asia as an especially critical market, due to the high rate at which both its physical population and technological markets are growing.

"Asia will not only have the highest online growth rate compared to other regions in the world, but will also present a substantially large pool of sophisticated online users as a market to tap into," explained Jupiter Research president David Schatsky.

Article published by ITNews

Electronic commerce increased by 121% over the past two years in Latin America and the Caribbean, led by Venezuela (224%), Chile (183%), Mexico (143%) and Brazil (116%), according to a private report. These details were revealed in a 17-country study by América Economia Intelligence, presented by Visa Latin America and Caribbean.

Regional e-commerce generated $10.9 billion, but it has not reached a situation of maturity, representing just 0.32% of the Gross Domestic Product for the Region, the study indicates. The entity attributes this increase to sustained economic growth, advances in technology and changes in consumer activities. From a social point of view, the market with the youngest consumers leads in e-commerce expenditure, since the feel more comfortable adopting and using new technologies, the study revealed.

Another factor that contributed to the growth of e-commerce was the quick-paced development of the Internet and broadband access.

Article published on Ansalatina

Recognizing that public-private partnerships have been instrumental in developing and exploiting standards for electronics businesses across administrations, industry and the public and that they show even more promise for the future, seven organizations, the IEC, ISO, ITU-T, OASIS, UN/ECE-UN/CEFACT and UPU, are organizing a landmark conference on the key role of e-business standards.

The invitation-only conference will be held on 18-19 September 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland. It is designed to provide a unique opportunity for high-level representatives of the major players involved in e-business (industry leaders, administrations, regulators, key industry associations and standards developing organizations from all regions of the world) to review the present situation, identify the main trends for the future, provide input on their needs and expectations and extend their collaboration.

The existing public-private partnerships that advance the standards, technical specifications and recommendations associated with e-business are motivated by many specific goals both within and across national borders. Some priority areas include: national competitiveness, reducing the costs of doing business, effectiveness in regulatory controls, reducing trade barriers, fostering market entry by small and medium enterprises and facilitating growth in developing and transitional economies. Moreover, recent developments demonstrate that there are many new opportunities for improving service to the public and private sectors as well as for enhancing their multifaceted interactions.

The conference aims to foster a better understanding of the public-private partnerships through which stakeholders collaborate to develop e-business standards. It aims further to identify steps that might be taken to significantly enhance the benefits of recent achievements and works in progress, as well as to address emerging new requirements.

Participants will include government and industry users of standards and such leading players from the standards community as the ISO-IEC-ITU MoU Management Group and officers of key IEC and ISO.

More information:  http://www.iec.ch/online_news/etech/arch_2008/etech_0408/world_5.htm

ASIMELEC ha celebrado su III Congreso de Facturación Electrónica y Digitalización Certificada. En colaboración con el Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio y Red.es, el evento congregó a más de 180 profesionales y a los principales expertos del sector público y privado nacional y europeo. En este evento, el Subdirector General de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones del MITYC, Carlos Maza, aseguró que nuestro país es un líder en digitalización certificada.

El Congreso estuvo presidido por por Julián Inza, presidente del grupo de trabajo de Factura Electrónica de ASIMELEC, y fue inaugurado por el Presidente de ASIMELEC, Martín Pérez, que señaló que la adopción de la factura electrónica es un excelente motivo para modernizar y optimizar los sistemas de gestión de las empresas, mejorando su eficiencia y haciéndolas más productivas y competitivas.

Pérez, también destacó que el Grupo de Trabajo de Factura Electrónica de ASIMELEC, formado por empresas TIC y en el que participa la Administración Central y otros sectores empresariales, están proponiendo una serie de medidas técnicas, operativas y de promoción para acelerar el uso de la eFactura por las empresas españolas.

Por su parte, Juan José Segura, Responsable de Factura Electrónica de la Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria, dio a conocer las características y contenido del formato Facturae, resultado de los trabajos entre la Administración y las Entidades Financieras, que además de cumplir los requisitos legales vigentes y las condiciones establecidas por la AEAT para la facturación telemática, es universal y puede ser utilizado por todas las entidades y sus clientes, gratuito y de libre uso y basado en lenguaje XML, con la garantía de convergencia con los formatos que se definan en los foros europeos.

Segura también aludió a los plazos obligatorios para que las empresas facturen electrónicamente a la Administración, que comenzará primero a principios de 2009 para grandes compañías de servicios y en noviembre de 2010 se extenderá a la totalidad del tejido empresarial, incluyendo procesos de contratación, contenciosos administrativos, subvenciones, libros de registros de IVA, impuestos de patrimonio, etc.

Ante la cuestión planteada por uno de los asistentes sobre la necesidad de ampliar y añadir extensiones a otro tipo de documentos electrónicos necesarios y específicos para cada sector como órdenes de compra y albaranes, Segura expresó su conformidad con esta necesidad, pero argumentó que la factura electrónica es el primer paso para seguir avanzando hacia este objetivo que permita cubrir todo el proceso comercial de manera telemática.

La jornada de la mañana continuó con diversas ponencias que tuvieron como eje común otros ejemplos de formatos de factura electrónica que se utilizan en Europa, y se recordó que en la agenda de la Comunidad Europea i2010, será obligatorio en la mayoría de los países europeos el intercambio de facturas con la Administración exclusivamente de forma electrónica, impulsando y fortaleciendo el comercio electrónico.

La mesa redonda: Aspectos de la normalización de la factura electrónica en CEN (Centro de Normalización Europea), que moderó Mª Jesús García-Martín, Secretaria General de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones del MITYC, y que junto a Eloy Ruíz, Jefe de Área-Departamento de Informática Tributaria, presentó un panorama poco esperanzador ante la actual problemática de la fragmentación de la estandarización de formatos de factura electrónica en Europa, debido a la multitud de grupos de trabajo y de organismos de estandarización que mantienen múltiples estándares y distintas normativas.

Por tanto, el objetivo que persigue el Centro de Normalización Europea (CEN) en el que participa activamente la Agencia Tributaria española, es el desarrollo de una solución interoperable de contratación pública electrónica y de comercio electrónico, mediante la creación de un grupo de expertos en la Comisión Europea que establezca una estructura conceptual común que incluya estándares y requerimientos de negocio, y que preste servicios de facturación electrónica de manera abierta e interoperable en toda Europa.

Carlos Maza, Subdirector General de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones del MityC, afirmó que España está entre los países más avanzados en cuanto a digitalización certificada, gracias a la política de firma electrónica, que permite legalizar cualquier documento electrónico. Y como la orden de presidencia, la ley de contratos, y el concepto de obligatoriedad contenido en la LISI, han sido y son factores necesarios para el impulso de la facturación electrónica, además de los 7,8 millones de euros que se invirtieron en el programa AvanzaPyme el pasado año y los 4 que se destinarán al mismo programa en 2008.

Maza, presentó también la plataforma de facturación del MITYC, regulada por orden ministerial que permitirá además, la consulta online y seguimiento del estado de cada factura.

La sesión de la tarde fue inaugurada por Juan Holgado, Asesor Estratégico de FUNDETEC, que incidió también en la necesidad de la interoperabilidad entre formatos y en la extensión del uso de la factura electrónica en las Pymes.

La jornada continuó con diversas ponencias sobre la utilización de la factura electrónica como servicio de gestión de pagos a proveedores, plataformas de facturación e iniciativas de gestión de factura electrónica en la Administración Abierta de Cataluña.

Para finalizar, David Sánchez Blázquez, responsable del proyecto de Factura Electrónica de Red.es, analizó el estado de las Comunidades Autónomas en cuanto a facturación electrónica y Lucía Cobos Quinta, de la SETSI, presentó las ayudas para el despliegue de la factura electrónica en el Plan Avanza para las Pymes.

Noticia publicada en Cibersur.com

"In the world in which we live, no one is forced to shop in supermarkets or in the department stores in our local districts" said Meglena Kuneva, the commissioner responsible for consumer protection. "However, we can't freely buy computers, train tickets or consoles throughout the EU either", she said during a discussion in London that was broadcast in Brussels.

The EU Commission took action a few years ago against airlines for selling the same tickets at different prices depending on the purchaser's country of residence. Since then airlines have agreed to put an end to these practices. However, a few months ago the Commission authorized Apple to keep the restrictions it uses in the different national versions of its online music store iTunes, after deeming them to be justified due to intellectual property rights issues.

"There is no place in the single European market for artificial geographical restrictions that enclose consumers within their national borders" insisted Kuneva. "The time has come to scrutinize the legitimacy of dividing up the market based on national frontiers, especially in relation to e-commerce", she said. The Commission is carrying out a study on electronic commerce to launch the debate on this issue.

The Commissioner also highlighted the Commission's other priorities in developing electronic commerce. Firstly, Brussels will be making various proposals this autumn to create a single framework for EU contract law, which will eliminate national differences in matters such as the time frames in which consumers can change their minds about a purchase or the duration of guarantees.

Secondly, this year the Commission will present a guide for digital users to clarify how current consumers' rights are applied in the digital arena. The objective is to combat the "the next generation of unfair commercial practices", such as the appearance of already-ticked checkboxes in forms that have to be filled out on the internet, or the spread of "viral advertisements".

Finally, Kuneva demanded that consumers' data provided over the internet when making a purchase is better protected.

The concept of m-Commerce ("mobile commerce"), or buying and selling goods and services on mobile phones and digital assistants (PDAs), is shaping up to become the second generation of Electronic Commerce, according to an internal study prepared by the California-based consulting firm Cisco Systems.

The study reveals that m-Commerce will promote online sales in the future, due to the benefit of being able to conduct transactions anywhere, at any time. However, it highlights the scarce implementation of this type of online commerce among retailers, as just a small percentage offer the option of purchasing by mobile phone.

During the past Christmas campaign, Cisco analyzed 45 highly prestigious, popular websites, which included the 15 largest web-based companies in the world, concluding that 42% of them allow their products to be viewed via cellular telephone or other mobile devices, while just 15% support complete shopping transactions on these terminals.

The study also concludes that most websites do not offer pages designed for browsing with mobile devices, which makes it difficult to find the desired content.

Article published on Cecarm.com

Centros públicos con largas colas para hacer la declaración de la renta o para solicitar un impreso. Esta imagen habitual en cualquier edificio público ha sido una de las preocupaciones de la Administración. Una de las soluciones ha sido Internet, que ha contribuido a mejorar las relaciones entre las instituciones públicas y los ciudadanos.

La Administración pública ha desarrollado, desde hace tiempo, diversas iniciativas para incorporar las nuevas tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones, tanto en lo que respecta a su relación con el ciudadano, como en la gestión interna de su actividad.

Dentro de este proceso hay dos características principales: por un lado, la importancia que ha ido adquiriendo este aspecto en los presupuestos generales y en la gestión su diaria, gracias a la Ley de Acceso Electrónico de los Ciudadanos a los Servicios Públicos (Laescp); y, por otro, su desigual desarrollo, ya que no todas las administraciones han puesto el mismo énfasis en el desarrollo de las tecnologías de la información.

Normativa
La renovación de la legislación ha sido fundamental para mejorar la relación con el consumidor. Con la Laescp, el Gobierno se propuso garantizar el derecho a establecer comunicaciones electrónicas con la Administración. Entre sus puntos claves, se encuentran la creación de un defensor del usuario o la obligación de hacer efectivos estos derechos antes de 2009.

Según el último informe del Observatorio de Administración Electrónica (OAE), esta normativa se va implantando poco a poco. El 50% de las comunidades autónomas realiza encuestas online para que el ciudadano participe en cuestiones públicas, pero tan sólo el 33% de ellas tiene en cuenta sus opiniones a la hora de tomar decisiones. Por otro lado, el 67% de las comunidades autónomas ofrece la opción de contactar con los miembros de gobierno.

El principal reto que se ha impuesto es el Gobierno es alcanzar una relación exclusiva a través de Internet con el contribuyente. Por ello, las administraciones, tanto regionales como locales, se han puesto manos a la obra. Una de las primeras ha sido la Diputación de Teruel. Este organismo se ha fijado como meta que los 236 municipios de la zona cuenten con los servicios que obliga la ley en el año 2010.

Las empresas tecnológicas se han convertido en un aliado en este campo. Un ejemplo es la compañía estadounidense Microsoft, que ha alcanzado un acuerdo con  la Diputación Foral de Bizkaia para la creación de una plataforma tecnológica. Con este contrato, valorado en 17,4 millones de euros, Microsoft dotará a la Diputación de la infraestructura necesaria para modernizar la gestión interna de la Administración local. La multinacional será el proveedor de este proyecto, tras haber sido elegida como adjudicataria de un concurso público, en el que también participaban empresas como IBM o Google.

Interacción
Según fuentes de Microsoft, "el acuerdo no sólo es para las herramientas que utilizan los empleados públicos, sino que también aumentará notablemente la interacción de los ciudadanos, organizaciones y empresas con la diputación".

El proyecto está basado en la tecnología Citizen Service Platform (CSP). Este sistema dota una plataforma que permite a los gobiernos locales disponer de todos los tamaños de herramientas de gestión y servicios  en la red, que pueden ser personalizadas en función de las necesidades de cada Administración.

Otro de los puntos importantes de este aspecto es la relación entre la empresa y las administraciones públicas. Uno de los puntos más polémicos es la factura electrónica.

En España, las empresas y las administraciones emiten 4.500 millones de facturas al año, y el coste de imprimir dos copias roza los 3,50 euros, según los cálculos realizados por el Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio. Por lo tanto, el gasto anual de enviar y recibir facturas se eleva a 15.000 millones de euros, lo que equivale al 1,5% del PIB.

Para solucionar este problema, la Agencia Tributaria y el Ministerio de Industria ha presentado un nuevo modelo de factura electrónica. Este modelo se puede descargar de forma gratuita  y es compatible con el utilizado por la Agencia Tributaria para las declaraciones y las inspecciones empresariales.

Los únicos requisitos que deberá cumplir la empresa que quiera utilizar este formato es disponer de un ordenador, una conexión de banda ancha y aceptar las tres condiciones impuestas por la Unión Europea a la hora de trabajar con factura electrónica. "Debe dar el consentimiento para recibirla, disponer de un certificado que determine la autenticidad del origen y garantizar la integridad del contenido", aseguró Santiago Segarra, director de informática de la Agencia Tributaria, durante la presentación del proyecto.

Para pymes
Este modelo ha sido ideado para pequeñas y medianas empresas, que no disponen de un sistema de facturación propio y que se ven obligadas a utilizar los que utilizan las grandes compañías. "Si no los utilizan, la empresa grande les llega a amenazar con no comprar sus productos", señaló Segarra.

Con la factura electrónica, el sector público introduce la nueva normativa, que obliga a las empresas que quieran ser contratistas de la Administración a facturar en este formato antes 2019. Este sistema no sólo servirá para el intercambio de facturas entre las administraciones y las empresas, sino que también incentivará la facturación electrónica entre las propias compañías.

Noticia publicada por Expansion.com

According to the latest data from internet research firm Hitwise, Google's market share was up 9 percent from May 2007, although down very slightly from 87.69 percent in April 2008.

Competing search engines have seen a corresponding drop in their market share over the past year: Yahoo's popularity declined from 8.58 percent in May 2007 to 4.09 percent in May 2008, MSN fell from 5.46 percent to 3.72 percent over the same period, and Ask tumbled from 4.96 percent to 3.07 percent. Google's share of the US search market is significantly lower, accounting for 68.29 percent of all US searches. Together, Yahoo and Microsoft account for nearly 26 percent of the US search market.

For more on this story see VNUNet.com.

Online auction firm eBay has closed its online television and radio advertising exchange platform after operating for one year due to the lack of participation by stations. The company notified the end of the pilot program on the platform itself.

The platform called eBay MediaMarketplace was controversial from the outset and stations decided not to place their packages on it. The Cabletelevision Advertising Group, which represents the sales teams of the majority of the leading cable television networks, failed to support the system and only a few of its members took part.

According to AdWeek, some eBay executives believe that the reason for the project's failure could be because the system's functionality was not well understood.

Article published by Marketingdirecto.com

The shortage of revenue among social networks, blogs and other "social media" sites that put user-generated content and communications at their core has persisted despite more than four years of experimentation aimed at turning such sites into money-makers. Together with the US economic downturn and a shortage of initial public offerings, the failure has damped the mood in internet start-up circles.

"There is going to be a shake-out here in the next year or two" as many Web 2.0 companies disappear, said Roger Lee, a partner at Battery Ventures.

"These are challenging macro-economic conditions," said Shawn Hardin, chief executive of Flock, a browser maker that raised $15m in venture capital last week.

Yet that has not stopped a continuing round of venture capital fundraising and acquisition activity at high valuations as investors and corporate acquirers hunt for businesses capable of rising above a crowded field.

"If you look at some of the valuations, you wonder what fantasy of revenues they're based on," said Mitchell Kertzman, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Hummer Winblad.

In one sign of the continued hopes for start-ups that have yet to alight on a solid business model, several financiers expressed support for the private fundraising being undertaken by Twitter, one of Silicon Valley's most talked-about companies. The "micro-blogging" service, whose users post messages no more than 140 characters long, has yet to find a way to make money, but its early adoption by a group of enthusiastic users is seen as a sign that it will eventually be successful.

Other recent venture capital deals have included fundraisings that have put valuations of about $500m each on Slide, a maker of "widgets", small applications that are carried on social networks, and Ning, a social networking platform founded by Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of browser maker Netscape.

Despite the slow start to money-making by Web 2.0 companies, the trend towards more social online behaviour that it embodies is widely claimed by insiders to be of lasting significance.

"The capabilities that are coming with Web 2.0 are very profound," said Devin Wenig, head of the markets division of Thomson Reuters. "The Valley is usually right, and it's usually early."

Article published by Financial Times

In the first three months of 2008 online sales in France grew by 30% compared to the first quarter of 2007, equivalent to an increase of €5 million. Online sales of clothing and fashion products increased by 18%, while technology products rose by 13%. Specialist B2B (Business to Business) sites have witnessed strong growth of 30%.
 
The average transaction value has risen from €91 to €94 compared to last year. This growth is largely explained by the arrival of new clients to the market with a very high level of trust in the internet (62.4% of internet users) and by the increase in these types of websites (+13,000 between last quarter 2007 and first quarter 2008).

Article published by Fashion Daily News

The report entitled 'Observador Cetelem 2008. Habits and trends of e-consumers', prepared by the bank Cetelem (part of the BNP Paribas group), exposes some highly significant facts, such as 17% of the European population uses the internet as a source of information before making a purchase.

The study also reveals that 68% of Spaniards claim to use the internet for banking transactions, although only 16% use e-commerce compared to the European average of 28%. In absolute terms, this means that there are nearly seven million e-consumers in Spain.

The profile of these users is balanced between men and women between 36 and 50 years old, who access the internet from home. They make an average of 7.4 purchases online every year and in 2008 it is estimated that every user will spend a total of €663 on e-commerce, compared to €616 in 2007. The study calculates that the Spanish will spend a total of €4.3 billion online in 2008.

The favourite items purchased online by internet users continue to be those related to travel and entertainment, while the preferred payment method is by credit card, accounting for 47%.

Article published by Cecarm.com

The “Eres Online 2008 Opinion Study” carried out by Clickseguros.es reveals that online banking is going through a boom. Nearly 80% of all Spanish internet users make balance enquiries and online transfers and 32% have also taken out some sort of financial service via the internet.

The figures show that balance enquiries are the most common service, used by 73% of those surveyed, followed by transfers, with 53%.

According to the study, 41% of Spaniards believe that the internet has changed their buying habits or the way that they carry out commercial transactions, while 87% state that they look up information on the internet before making a purchase, to search for offers and compare prices.

The most demanded products on the internet continue to be those related to tourism and entertainment: hotel reservations, airline tickets and show tickets, followed by gifts, fashion wear, sports goods and books.

The study also includes a classification of internet users into four types: internet 2.0 users, advanced users, active users and passive users.

Para que la estrategia de acercamiento a las pymes con el objetivo de fomentar entre ellas la adopción y el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) tenga éxito, deben tenerse en cuenta factores como el carácter sectorial, el componente regional y el tamaño de la empresa. Así lo ha asegurado el director general de red.es, Sebastián Muriel, durante el Desayuno Empresarial Anetcom-Fundetec celebrado el pasado 21 de mayo en Valencia.

En España hay 3 millones de empresas de menos de 10 trabajadores (micropymes), lo que equivale al 94% del tejido empresarial español. Durante su exposición, Muriel ha destacado que para aproximarse a ellas es importante hacerles ver las utilidades reales de las nuevas tecnologías para su negocio específico y el rendimiento económico que les pueden reportar.

Asimismo, Muriel ha asegurado que existen diferencias en la aplicación de las TIC por parte de las pymes, y especialmente de las micropymes, dependiendo del sector al que pertenecen y también de la comunidad autónoma en la que están ubicadas. “La peculiaridad de una empresa de un sector es distinta en cada comunidad, tiene elementos comunes y similitudes, pero también muchas diferencias debido a su situación geográfica”.

Finalmente, el director general de red.es ha hecho hincapié en la necesidad de que “las Administraciones Públicas se apoyen tanto en agentes sectoriales y empresariales como en una red de patners TIC sólida para maximizar los objetivos de los programas”.

Los Desayunos Empresariales Anetcom-Fundetec tienen por objeto formar informando sobre cuestiones relacionadas con las Nuevas Tecnologías, mediante la intervención de ponentes de reconocido prestigio sobre temas de especial actualidad y de gestión empresarial. Esta iniciativa se ha consolidado como referente empresarial en materia de Sociedad de Información, tras seis años aportando al tejido empresarial de la Comunitat un mayor conocimiento de las novedades de gestión relacionadas con las TIC ayudando a posicionar a nuestra región a la vanguardia en el desarrollo e implantación de la Sociedad de la Información y del Conocimiento.

Noticia publicada por Anetcom.es

ANDCE, the Andalusian Electronic Commerce Association, has conducted a study on the e-commerce situation in Spain during the first four months of the year and reaches some interesting conclusions. Its principal point is that the sector is in line with the forecasts made at the beginning of the year and is growing significantly both in terms of internet use as well as the number of users that are making purchases online.

According to the study, the increase in home internet access, together with other factors, such as training, is encouraging growth in internet use and as a result, an increasingly number of people are making purchases online. The latest data shows 44% growth in internet use among the Spanish population, although on the downside, there continues to be a significant digital divide by age and socio-economic status.

With the data from this study, ANDCE shows that electronic commerce is going through a boom period, meeting all the forecasts made for the sector in 2008. According to the Association, the crisis does not seem to be affecting the sector since there are increasingly more internet users making online purchases as well as more companies with websites that offer their products and services, encouraging e-commerce.

In terms of user profile, 62% are men and 38% are women, while the average age of people making online purchases is between 26 and 35.

The internet offers different services to users according to their needs, such as information, communication, entertainment and purchasing. ANDCE highlights a higher increase in e-commerce, although this use continues to be the least accepted by users due to concerns over privacy and the security of purchases made over the internet.

Most demanded products
According to the study, the most demanded products and services by internet users continue to be the same as in previous years, although there has been a significant increase in the volume of purchases made. The online purchase of airline tickets continues to be the most demanded, increasing by 58.5%. This is followed by hotel and accommodation reservations, which have moved up from third place to second, accounting for 26%, and activities related to entertainment and tourism, such as journeys, event tickets, books, videos and everything related to electronic equipment and IT materials.

The reasons for users turning to electronic commerce include its flexible availability, convenience and time savings, as well as the prices and offers available, which continue to be the main factors that influence e-commerce use. On the other hand, the factors that discourage users from making online purchases include the lack of security of sending data over the network and distrust from not being able to see the physical product, both of which relate to the user’s feelings more than objective realities, according to the Andalusian Electronic Commerce Association.

Article published in diariodirecto.com

La nueva firma mixta, Alibaba.com Japan, permitirá que los clientes exportadores chinos de la compañía, que se presenta como la mayor firma mundial en lo que se conoce como comercio electrónico de negocio a negocio (B2B), reciban más pedidos desde el mercado nipón.

La entidad sino-japonesa tomará el control del portal de Alibaba.com en japonés, alibaba.co.jp, que estaba en funcionamiento de prueba desde diciembre pasado, y que permite a las pymes japonesas utilizar entrar en contacto con compradores y suministradores de todo el planeta.

Softbank, que controla el 33 por ciento de Alibaba.com, "ha sido un socio estratégico del Grupo Alibaba durante muchos años, y este acuerdo es una extensión natural de nuestra fuerte relación", manifestó el presidente y fundador de Alibaba.com, Ma Yun.

"Alibaba.com ofrecerá a los negocios japoneses la base de datos más detallada de proveedores de China y el mundo entero que existe hoy en la red", aseguró Ma, gracias a la combinación de sus servicios con la "marca, el poder publicitario, las ventas y la red de servicios al cliente de Softbank en Japón".

La firma mixta se establece con un 65 por ciento de capital japonés y un 35 por ciento chino, y será encabezada por Makoto Kouyama, como presidente ejecutivo, y por dos directores, Masayoshi Son, presidente de Softbank, y Wei Zhe, presidente de Alibaba.com.

Entre los planes de expansión del portal chino, el propio Wei aseguró en diciembre pasado que espera estrechar su contacto con las miles de pymes de España y América Latina que ya están abonadas a Alibaba.com, y que este año espera atraer más clientes a través de la traducción automática de sus servicios al español.

Alibaba.com, que en noviembre pasado lanzó en Hong Kong la segunda mayor salida a bolsa de la historia de una empresa de internet, fue fundada en 1.999 en Hangzhou, a 170 kilómetros de Shanghai, y es un mercado virtual que pone en contacto entre sí a pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes) de China y de todo el mundo.

La compañía consolida ahora su esperado salto al mercado de Japón, que desde 2006 tiene a China como su mayor socio comercial, y que cuenta con más de cuatro millones de pymes, que suponen el 25 por ciento de las exportaciones del país y el 63 por ciento de sus importaciones.

Noticia difundida por la Agencia EFE

The online auction site eBay has said that from May sellers will no longer be able to leave negative comments about buyers on its site. The ban is intended to put an end to "dishonest feedback", said eBay PR and communication director Celia Morales.

Ebay provides a system on its web site by which buyers and sellers rate each other after a sale. They have the option of leaving positive, neutral or negative feedback on various criteria, including delivery time, the item as described or communication. From May this will change and buyers will only be allowed to post positive comments. Morales insisted that this decision is a "quality strategy" aimed at improving the experience for buyers, some of whom have been abused in recent months by a "small group" of sellers.

She explained that the company had noticed that many sellers were delaying feedback until the buyer had rated the transaction. If the feedback was negative, some sellers would "retaliate" by leaving negative comments about the buyer.

According to Morales, most customers "have accepted" the measure and will wait to see the effects it has in the short and medium term. Sellers will still be able to leave negative feedback, but only the company will see it. Story published in 20 minutos

De blanco a tinto se incorpora a la Red como la primera Web 2.0 dedicada enteramente al mundo del vino, con una apuesta firme por el comercio electrónico de este producto y la vocación de servir de foro a los consumidores, según informa la web Comercio electrónico Región de Murcia.

En este portal multilingüe los usuarios pueden enviar sus comentarios y opiniones acerca de los productos que han adquirido o que prevén adquirir, así como participar en la encuesta que edita mensualmente.

Con esta metodología, www.deblancoatinto.com consigue ampliar información y aumentar la confianza de los posibles compradores, que encuentran aquí un espacio abierto donde interactuar con profesionales y con usuarios como ellos. El portal tiene sede en Madrid y comercializa sus productos en España, Reino Unido, Alemania, Francia, Italia, Dinamarca y Portugal

"We want to be the ‘Amazon’ of Europe". There is no doubt that PIXmania is confident. The words spoken by Steve Rosenblum, co-founder of the company, are a premonition and a prophesy of big things to come for a company that seeks to expand its offer to everyday products. The announcement made publicly in Paris by Steve and Jean-Emile Rosenblum within the framework of Focus Partners by Fotovista, PIXmania’s parent company, opens the door to an online European market. PIXplace is a result of logic: if Europe bases its policies on a common economic market, the Internet could do nothing less.

The Rosenblum brothers have set their sights on Europe and they have done so by offering a new market model that leaves behind the days in which PIXmania, founded in 2002, was only a synonym for photography: in 2007, they sold 750,000 digital cameras and they expect that figure to increase in 2008 to some 800,000. The transformation and evolution of the company is similar to that of the American company Amazon, the benchmark for online book sales, which has fought for an everyday product market where web users can buy any product with just a click.

Amazon grew so much that it set out on the adventure of designing its own hardware with Kindle. Far from the adventures of developing hardware, PIXmania, which has some accessories from their own brand, such as pen drives or memory cards, revises the market model with PIXplace.

The French company is the way for small and medium business owners to expand their brand on the Internet, a vast virtual showcase with 15 million unique visitors each month, with a presence in 26 European countries, 6 million customers and, starting now, with over 250,000 products. The mechanics are simple: PIXplace enables any company to promote its products. For example, you are a music lover and you have found a second-hand album at a German music store. PIXplace has been the shop window; the rest is up to the company, which will provide the order with one condition: the guarantee is made by PIXmania.

 The French company will be in charge of ‘fighting’ with the shop if the product received has any defects, it will provide new stock and the traumatic negotiation involved in replacing the product will be between PIXmania and the dealer from which you have purchased the product. This means that PIXmania insures the financial transactions, decreasing any possible risks. Another guest at the PIXplace presentation was the general manager of the British multinational DSGI, John Browett, who obtained 75% stake in Fotovista for €266 million in 2006. During his appearance, Browett supported the new market model proposed by PIXplace in which the business owners will be able to choose the products they wish to sell in each country or set a price and pay a commission only when the item has already been bought by a client.

The strategy proposed by PIXmania highlights their business policy, which works with very small margins: competitive prices, the lowest, must be offered. Profit is based on a high volume of sales, which off-sets prices that are very affordable compared to the offline market. A shopping cart with keys The idea of integrating all products on a single web page was announced at the Paris Casino. In an place lined with red velvet, more appropriate for a cabaret than for a market and for ties instead of corduroy pants, the Rosenblum brothers turned the casino into a theater in which, action by action, they covered all the issues and the different solutions for their new web space. The conclusion was too obvious: the traditional shopping cart could be replaced with one with keys, the computer. “In the end, all product categories requested by the web users will be covered. This guarantees that our users will be able to access all products available on the Internet through a single site, with the certainty of obtaining quality service.

The purchases are centralized in a single ‘basket’, which enables users to make a single online payment, guaranteed by PIXmania”, the PIXplace general manager said during a brief appearance projected on the screen at the Paris Casino. The PIXplace common market closes a circle that was limited until now only by the infrastructure: “broadband penetration in some countries, the consolidation of the online market and a greater computer infrastructure in offices and homes have been the obstacles preventing this idea from being carried out before”, said Jean-Emile Rosenblum.

In Spain, the infrastructure deficit has not kept approximately 22% of PIXmania’s total sales from having a Spanish accent, making Spain the third largest European market for the French company. The top two are France and Great Britain. As regards the Spanish market in particular, PIXmania is the leading online business, with 40% of sales made in the country.

The products demanded most by Spanish consumers are computers, televisions or digital cameras, but the market is expanding and the acceptance of the most diverse products is yet to be seen: from wine to washing machines and guitars or jewelry. PIXplace has launched a total of six new categories: office equipment, home and garden, fashion, health and beauty, musical instruments and gift packages. In short, the Internet has more products to advertise than the other common market, and their sights are set on Amazon.

This August, e-business people around the world will be focusing on the 2008 Global e-Business Champions of the Year awards ceremony.

The 5th Annual Alifest is being extended to encompass 3 global regions: Asia & Oceania Region; Europe, Africa & Middle East Region and the American Region.

The annual contest recognizes the trustworthiness, passion, achievement, innovation and social responsibility of entrepreneurs and SMEs using the Internet as a tool to do business. The objective of the awards is to promote e-commerce internationally and to encourage its adoption by SMEs.

Business people, who

• have successfully integrated e-commerce solutions and
• created a major impact on their company
  

Their Success Story ideally highlights:

• How e-commerce is changing the way business works globally
• What new business opportunities can be created using e-commerce
• Innovation, global reach, true business success

More information can be found it: http://resources.alibaba.com/activities/alifest/alifest_2008_index.html

La norma presenta múltiples novedades que pretenden en su conjunto, ese impulso de la sociedad de la información que la norma adopta como título, según publica el diario económico Expansión.

Facturación Electrónica

La primera de las medidas adoptadas pretende generalizar el uso de la facturación electrónica: Se establece su obligatoriedad en el ámbito de la contratación del sector público, y se promoverá su uso en otras actuaciones públicas, en particular, en materia de justificación de ayudas y subvenciones.

Respecto al sector privado, es claro el efecto de la obligatoriedad de la facturación electrónica para aquellas empresas acostumbradas a contratar con la Administración. Por otro lado, se prevé en todo caso, el impulso del empleo de la factura electrónica entre los diversos agentes del mercado, con especial mención a las PYMES y microempresas, para fomentar el desarrollo del comercio electrónico.

Se prevé la elaboración de un Plan para la generalización del uso de la factura electrónica en España. Se contempla la aprobación de normas sobre formatos estructurados estándar de facturas electrónicas que sean necesarias para facilitar la interoperabilidad tanto en el sector público como en el sector privado y permitan facilitar y potenciar el tratamiento automatizado de las mismas.

La Ley también establece la obligación, para empresas con especial incidencia en la actividad económica, de facilitar un medio de interlocución telemática a los usuarios de sus servicios. Esta medida entrará en vigor el 29 de diciembre de 2008.

Con la interlocución telemática se facilita la realización de trámites como la contratación electrónica, modificación de condiciones contractuales, altas, bajas, quejas, el histórico de facturación, así como la sustitución de informaciones y datos en general. Asimismo, posibilitará el ejercicio de los derechos de acceso, rectificación, oposición y cancelación de la materia de protección de datos. Como novedad, se introducen las bases para la regulación de las ofertas públicas entre empresas, las denominadas B2B (Business to Business).

Así, se crea un protocolo con unas reglas mínimas que pretenden garantizar la transparencia y seguridad del as subastas electrónicas entre empresarios, evitar la desconfianza de las compañías a la hora de participar en estos nuevos métodos de compra, y prevenir prácticas o competencias desleales. Para lograr este fin, se prevé la puesta en marcha de un sello de calidad, denominado Oferta Pública de Contratación Electrónica de Transparencia Garantizada al que podrán adherirse las empresas que cumplan con los compromisos fijados al efecto.

Medidas a implantar

Las Administraciones Públicas promoverán el empleo de medios electrónicos para facilitar la transparencia y la participación en la adopción de decisiones públicas.

La nueva ley impone a las empresas de sectores con especial incidencia en la actividad económica la obligación de facilitar un medio de interlocución telemática con sus clientes, basado en certificados de firma electrónica.

Se establece un marco jurídico mínimo aplicable a las subastas electrónicas entre empresarios (B2B) para dotar a esta técnica de compra de transparencia y seguridad jurídica.

Se flexibilizan las reglas aplicables a la contratación electrónica para promover su uso.

El Gobierno tiene previsto establecer ayudas económicas para la implantación de la factura electrónica.

Efficiency, cost reduction and security for the client have led over 60% of European companies to use automatic processing systems, including e-invoicing.

These are some of the conclusions reached in a study carried out by Basware, a supplier of this type of systems. The report indicates that over half of all European companies with a high volume of billing now have some sort of electronic invoicing or filing system.

Other benefits claimed by these companies as a result of their new invoicing methods are streamlined payment and collection processes, greater empathy with clients and suppliers, and a high level of precision and security.

The study also highlights certain obstacles, however, that must still be overcome by some companies in adopting these systems. These include compatibility with their client’s systems, the costs of i