This was the clear conclusion coming out of the i-FM-sponsored debate held as a part of yesterday's 'Futures in Property and Facilities Management' conference at University College London.

The scene was set by Mick Dalton, senior facilities manager at Ernst & Young and self-confessed internet freak. He cited a set of extraordinary figures, including a BT prediction that the net could have a billion users within the next ten years and a Forrester Research projection that e-commerce values could be measured in trillions of dollars within the next five years. On a more modest scale, Richard Kinch described some of the internet and intranet applications in place now at SI CBX. It emerged that one of the reasons the international operator Sulzer wanted to buy CBX was the quality of the UK company's systems.

Wayne Felton, formerly MD of Johnson Controls and now in a unique position to see inside a number of FM providers as he works with Mercury Asset Management to build a new group, is in no doubt about the current situation. The internet is a powerful tool for building customer satisfaction, he said, but facilities management isn't moving fast enough. Sticking your head in the sand, he added, is a risky strategy.

This was seconded from the floor with the observation that a 'user/non-user' split may already be emerging. Just as some companies routinely refuse to establish business relationships with organisations that do not use email, there have been instances of contracts being denied to suppliers who are not online.

But the strongest call to arms came from Lorraine Baldry of Regus, a company that is as good a definition as any of success through innovation. She implored listeners to use their imaginations. The technology is constantly developing, she said, driven in part by changing social patterns, rapid growth in e-commerce and an immense demand for high quality information.

Of course, the internet can be damned for being slow and packed with useless (or worse) material. But that's concentrating on trees and not the forest. The technology itself, inspired with a bit of imagination, is the FM's key to efficiency, productivity, better customer servicing and much more.