According to IDC Research, home offices in America are relying more and more heavily on the Internet as an aid to business. Their report “Home Offices on the Internet: Forecast and Analysis, 1999-2004” concludes that by 2004 there will be an estimated 92% connected. There are many factors driving this increase: the availability of internet-ready PC’s, remote access to company data, collaborative working and file sharing etc.
As Merle Sandler, senior analyst at IDC points out “A small business operating out of the home, which in the past was constrained by problems of logistics, can now easily establish a global presence via the Web. Corporate home offices are using the Internet, sometimes instead of the telephone, to stay in touch with their offices and customers, and income-generating home offices are using it to create revenues”
| |
% Home Offices Connected to the Internet |
| 1996 |
26 |
| 1999 |
81 |
| 2004E |
92 |
