Industry Perspective
How are Web sites or extranets faring as moneymakers across industries? Not too badly among the five sectors examined in this study. IT vendors saw the sharpest drop in online revenue, from 30% of total revenue in June 2001 to 20% in 2002, accounting for the small dip in the overall average.

Despite the decline, the IT and retail and travel industries report the largest percentage of annual revenue coming from E-business sales at 20% and 19%, respectively. The financial-services, manufacturing, and health-care industries report average revenue from Web sites or extranets to be 16%, 13%, and 11%, respectively.

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Declines Are Unusual
Investing in E-business operations has proven fruitful for most of the companies in InformationWeek Research's E-Business Agenda Study. After all, companies are reporting increases in E-business sales during the past 12 months more often than declines. Unfortunately, small companies are taking the brunt of the downturn in E-business trade. One in five small sites reports a drop-off in E-business transactions in the last 12 months, with 19% characterizing the decline as minor and 2% as significant. Losses are nearly as prevalent among the study's midsize and large businesses.

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Not Just Yet
Even as businesses equip employees with cell phones, PDAs, and notebook computers to boost productivity, companies in general aren't expecting a tidal wave of sales from wireless-equipped consumers or businesses just yet. Nearly three in four small companies and two-thirds of midsize and large businesses expect that mobile devices won't affect their E-business operations. Consequently, there's no expected rise in support of these technologies related to E-business. Few companies expect wireless and mobile technology to generate substantial revenue streams in the next 12 months.