Firms fail to integrate Web with back office systems

The vast majority of businesses are failing to link their Web sites with their back office systems, according to Jim Schiro, CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Schiro said this hurdle is the greatest challenge facing businesses trying to adapt to the Internet era.

PwC's research - which questioned 1,020 CEOs worldwide - indicated that only seven per cent of companies have linked their customer-facing and back office systems, leaving 93 per cent with separate front and back ends.

Schiro said: "We're seeing companies on a global basis with Internet sites that do not have the linkage back to their organisation's operating systems that's where the real challenge lies."

He predicted that the companies which manage to overcome this challenge will be the ones driving global ebusiness.

Analysts agreed with the comments. Charles Abrams, senior business analyst for Gartner Group, said: "It is an enormous challenge, and businesses can't get away with not doing it. They need to integrate all aspects of the enterprise."

David Taylor, president of IT directors' society Certus, said many IT departments have concentrated so heavily on Y2K-compliance, they haven't anticipated the challenge of ebusiness integration.

"Suddenly ebusiness arrives and they find no link between their Internet site and their back end, and now they have no idea how to unlock the value in their business," he said.

Cassandra Millhouse, lead analyst for Ovum, said the focus on integration could prove a boon for enterprise resource planning vendors. "ERP vendors are very glad to hear this - suddenly boring old ERP is essential for trendy ebusiness," she said.