Over 97% of British business leaders believe that major British companies will be left behind by foreign competitors if they refuse to take electronic business seriously. The research was commissioned by ICL's FutureForum and conducted by Market & Opinion Research International (MORI) as part of its Captains of Industry survey, carried out annually with top-level executives from Britain's top 500 companies.

The study, published yesterday, shows that while business leaders believe their customers and employees should embrace eBusiness, 25% of them do not have access to the Internet or email at home, limiting their online business activities to the office environment. Furthermore, 12% still do not expect to have Internet and email access at home within a year.

The survey also showed that 52% of the business leaders do not trust technology and keep paper copy backups of their data instead of relying on their IT systems and just over half had bought anything online.

Andrew Boswell, chief technology officer at ICL and president of the FutureForum, said: "CEOs recognise the competitive eBusiness threats from abroad, and yet they don't always practise what they preach. Lack of internet access at home and concerns about the security of online transactions still deter these executives from leading by example and making a wholehearted commitment to e-business. These strong reservations about technology inevitably challenge these companies' willingness to implement an all-encompassing e-business programme."

More than half of the executives polled have already purchased products online, spending predominantly on holidays, financial services, gifts and music. 47% of these online purchasers cite convenience as the primary attraction of buying on the Internet.

Anna Lagerkvist