Irish SMEs feel they aren’t getting enough benefit out of their websites, according to a new study from the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association. ISME’s e-Business survey 2008 found that 26 percent of SMEs have no website and of those that do, 49 percent are unhappy with it. “Many small and medium-sized businesses would have been sold email and website packages as a sales tool but they haven’t utilised it as such,” said Mark Fielding, ISME chief executive. He said these businesses were misled in the past by web designers and that this had left a sour taste in their mouths. This view was backed up by survey responses: 44 percent of businesses found commissioning a website to be a frustrating or confusing experience, while 41 percent thought web designers tried to baffle them with jargon. The road to bringing these businesses online is a two-way street, according to Fielding, who said that managers and staff in SMEs will have to be trained up in order to be able to reap the benefits of websites, while designers will in turn have to pay closer heed to what clients ask of them. For more on this story see ENN.ie. (See Issues 183 and 184 for tips on web design and development.)

There has been plenty of varying reports with regard to our economy and whether or not it is slowing down. I would like your opinion from a Leitrim business perspective.

UPDATE:

Yes 37% (15 votes) – No 63% (26 votes) – Total Votes:41

Yesterday was the busiest day this blog has seen since it started on December 19th. With 107 visits, it is quite apparent that SPAM is a major problem. (Average daily rate – 45 visits).

Thanks to all who contributed to the discussion. I may organise an Innovation Evening on the subject.

Spam email is a huge problem. I would like to discuss some solutions here and get some opinions from our ICT Network members.

This discussion was initiated by Dan Hillman of hobbyhorsetoys.com

This is a copy of Dan’s email.

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Hi Johnny

I have a slightly technical question that you may be able to supply a quick answer to. Due to the fact that my email address is stated openly and accurately on my website I have been receiving an increasing amount of spam. I have seen some people’s sites giving email addresses of the form “dan<at>hobbyhorsetoys.com” to throw the spambots off the scent, but I don’t want to confuse potential customers who aren’t au-fait with this.

I suppose the spambots are capable of recognising any proper email address contained in the code for a webpage, but is there any way of hiding it from them?

Thanks for your attention,

Dan Hillman

Feel free to use the comment section to start discussion.