How effective is the use of business-to-business e-commerce?
Respondents felt that e-commerce has not resulted in a major improvement in their ability to more effectively manage cost or time issues. However, they expect this to change in the next two years. The “payoff” for investing in e-commerce has not yet been clearly demonstrated. Some agree or strongly agree that e-commerce has helped decrease the time to complete projects (55%) or that e-commerce has decreased the cost of purchasing supplies and materials (67%). However, a majority disagree or strongly disagree that e-commerce has decreased the cost of facility maintenance and operations (51%), decreased the total annual cost of facilities (53%), decreased the cost of new construction projects (71%), or decreased the cost of space management (70%). These opinions change substantially when the next two years are considered, with a majority agreeing or strongly agreeing that e-commerce will help decrease both time and cost for all categories. • What are the barriers to implementing e-commer
