Global Study Shows Businesses Slow to "Log On" to the Internet, Despite Widespread Access; But Greater Usage Could Be Just Around the Corner.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 1996--Big business -- the very machine pushing the Information Revolution -- seems reluctant to climb aboard its own computer-driven bandwagon, according to an international survey conducted by worldwide public relations firm Manning, Selvage & Lee (MS&L).

MS&L's Corporate Cyber-Dash Survey expected to find that most company communicators understand the value of the Internet and are using it regularly. However, the survey found that while many companies have their own web sites and offer employees broad access to the Internet at work, company communicators are not logging on as much as all the cyberhype would have us believe.

Specifically, the results indicated that 66 percent of the 500 corporate communicators questioned in the United States and Europe had access to the information superhighway at the office. Yet 80 percent of respondents considered the Internet to be an unimportant communications tool; more than 85 percent rated it unimportant for their customers, 88 percent for their employees and 91 percent for their shareholders.

"All talk and no action is the way you'd have to characterize corporate use of the Internet thus far," said Monita Buchwald, managing director of M/NET -- the interactive public relations service of Manning, Selvage & Lee. "Rich opportunities are being missed because companies are not taking advantage of the Internet's many ways to reach and influence their key audiences."

Buchwald said she expects that companies will change their tune as more and more people come to understand the benefits of interactive communication. Survey respondents apparently felt the same way, as the study revealed that corporate communicators projected four-fold or higher increases by the year 2000 in the importance their companies place on the Internet in reaching their respective target audiences.

"The term interactive communication is going to become redundant," predicted Buchwald, "because as companies become more comfortable with information technology, traditional one-way communication between businesses and consumers will become a thing of the past. It may take longer than at first anticipated, but the Information Revolution will indeed forever change the way we do business around the world."

While companies may appear to be dragging their feet when it comes to the Information Revolution, most of the respondents seemed to be comfortable communicating through the Internet's most common use -- E-mail. The survey found that company communicators spend an average of 1.19 hours per day on E-mail. More than 30 percent said they spend more than that, with nearly 12 percent spending more than two hours per day.

Other leading Internet uses, based on activities conducted at least weekly, are:

-- operating a worldwide web site (26 percent)

-- distributing information (24 percent)

-- monitoring dialogue in newsgroups (20 percent)

-- monitoring competitor activities (17 percent)

-- primary research (17 percent)

-- secondary research (15 percent)

The international study found that U.S. corporate communicators are more active in all these Internet uses than are their European counterparts. However, the difference in usage between the two groups was not large.

The Corporate Cyber-Dash Survey was published by Manning, Selvage & Lee in cooperation with the International Public Relations Foundation (IPRF). The IPRF, founded by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in 1984, is the leading international organization in providing, coordinating and stimulating the provision of research-based evidence to support the world's professional public relations practice.

Manning, Selvage & Lee, headquartered in New York with 13 offices in seven countries, is the world's eighth largest public relations consulting firm. The firm recently created M/NET, a subsidiary that provides on-line communications services to clients around the globe.

CONTACT: Manning, Selvage & Lee, Atlanta

Barry Finkelstein, 404/875-1444, x241