It is not common for Finnish or Swedish companies to offer interactive services for their customers and partners over the web. According to a survey conducted by Market-Visio on behalf of Teamware Group only a fraction of small and middle-sized companies provide their stakeholders with possibilities to interact online.

Only 7 per cent of Finnish and 3 per cent of Swedish companies interviewed for the survey said to offer their customers with online discussion facilities. However, in Finland most companies provide their customers with an electric feedback channel. In Sweden the corresponding figure is less than one third.

Even though companies don't utilize web communities on a larger scale, they are familiar with the 'web community' concept. Three out of four Finnish respondents and more than half of Swedish respondents recognized the concept, although only a small number of interviewees said to belong to a web community.

According to the survey conducted this spring, Finnish and Swedish companies are investing heavily in their web services. In Finland it is most common to invest in content development and visual design, but in Sweden most web projects focus on integrating the web solution with the operative systems of the company.

Only one third of the interviewed companies have outsourced the hosting and maintenance of their web services. Most of the companies maintain their own sites. Usually this is taken care by 1-2 persons, but in large Finnish companies, employing more than 500 people, the hosting and maintenance functions tie up to 14 persons' resources.

The survey shows that Finnish SME's have utilized the Internet-technologies longer than their Swedish counterparts. In Finland electric communications channels have more or less replaced traditional channels while in Sweden the letters and faxes are still widely used in customer communications.

In both countries e-mail has become the most important internal communications channel. Also the importance of intranet is notable at least in bigger companies. 76 % of Swedish and 63 % of Finnish respondents have implemented an intranet solution.

According to the survey the main problems in electric communications are the inavailability of correct contact persons, lack of personal contact and technical difficulties, such as incompatibility of different systems. In internal communications also the amount of data and limited skills of users are problematic.

"The survey proves the fact that companies do find the Internet an extremely important communications channel. But it also reveals that the possibilities offered by the latest web-technologies haven't been utilized on a larger scale yet", says Rauno Toivonen, CEO and President of Teamware Group. "The interactive next generation web-solutions offer unparalleled communications possibilities and free companies' resources from routine-like maintenance functions".

The survey shows that in both countries ISP market is quite decentralized with no dominating supplier. Internet solutions are offered by traditional technology companies, advertisement agencies as well as new media companies.

During the spring of 2001, 157 Finnish and 160 Swedish IT-decision makers were interviewed by Market-Visio. The survey was conducted on Teamware Group's behalf.