Marketing Execs Tackle E-Commerce Initiatives

The number of marketing executives who are responsible for formulating and directing e-commerce strategies is on the increase, according to a study by Zona Research.

Zona’s Enterprise Usage Study (ZEUS) found that marketing executives are responsible for e-commerce operations at 28 percent of the companies polled, up from 15 percent during the first quarter of 1999. The number of IT professionals responsible for e-commerce strategies has dropped from 59 percent to 46 percent for the second quarter.

“The fact that over one quarter of enterprises now charge their marketing executives with setting e-commerce strategy demonstrates a significant shift in the Internet’s development,” said Jack Staff, Chief Economist at Zona. “Enterprises are no longer asking what is Internet technology, but instead are asking how can the Internet provide the company with a competitive advantage.”

Other findings from the ZEUS survey include:

• 43 percent of companies plan to have implemented their e-commerce solutions during 2000
• 64 percent of companies say they have no budget for Java-related development activity
• 46 percent of the enterprises surveyed currently have deployed Web application servers in their organizations
• 14 percent of companies do not know if their network security has been compromised by an intruder.

The total sample pool of ZEUS comprises approximately 1,300 IT professionals from the IntelliQuest Technology Panel. Qualifying parameters include mid- to top-ranking employees in corporations with 20 or more computer users and annual revenues of $1 million or more.