[LINK] The web in Tougher Times

[Michael Lean]

Hmmm, I like "companies making the smartest use of the Internet", from 
recent Link discussions/experiences there doesn't seem to be too many 
stories like that in Oz...
cheers,
Mike

>WHAT THE WEB MEANS IN TOUGHER TIMES
>Issue: Internet Jobs
>Growth is not a word heard often in any context these days, and companies
>are reassessing their Web strategies in light of the sudden economic
>slowdown. Some are pulling back, while others are speeding up spending,
>hoping to find even greater savings in everything from purchasing to
>training workers. And some companies are acting on this discovery: a
>technology that lets you do more with the same number of people also lets
>you do the same amount of business with fewer people. When the mutual fund
>giant Janus announced earlier this month that it was cutting 468 jobs, it
>said that part of the reason was the company's successful customer service
>Web site. "We've started to realize significant operating efficiencies,
>which has inevitably resulted in the elimination of some positions," said
>Margie Hurd, the president of the company's customer-support subsidiary.
>Andrew Whinston, the director of the Center for Research in Electronic
>Commerce at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, said
>that the companies making the smartest use of the Internet to prepare for a
>possible recession were those that are introducing efficiencies at many
>levels.
>[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: JOHN SCHWARTZ
>(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/28/technology/28SCHW.html)