The future of e-commerce in Australia and New Zealand looks optimistic, with significant plans being made for increased activity and implementation in the region.

The Australian government has acknowledged the opportunities of e-commerce and is working with all Australian states and territories to coordinate efforts to reduce barriers to its adoption. The findings suggest that e-commerce is now reaching a critical mass and, while a number of elements continue to restrict its development, many of these, including the old security scare, are now being overcome. Significant plans are ahead for implementing e-commerce technologies, and we can expect significant growth in communication technologies, including company web sites, with 22% of respondents indicating they intend to implement web sites within 2000. In the same time frame, 25% intend to implement intranets, 27% extranets, 20% firewalls, 19% Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), and 15% certification/digital signatures. At an industry level, a significant amount of activity is planned across all sectors surveyed.

Plans in the financial sector are ubiquitous, with 43% of this group indicating they intend to implement extranet technologies, 31% intranets and digital signatures, and 26% interactive voice response. Education also has significant implementation plans; for instance, 30% of this group intends to implement extranets, 22% intranet, and 24% an electronic kiosk. Health indicates a lot of activity with 44% and 42% planning to implement intranets and extranet technologies, respectively. In addition, 33% are planning a company web site and firewalls, and 30% foresee using digital signatures. Most of the businesses surveyed have been engaged in some form of e-commerce to the fore, its potential as a means of buying and selling. The survey paved the way for the development of a complete and comprehensive theoretical framework.

We presented the findings of potential versus achieved benefits and potential versus perceived risks, followed by a comparison of the findings between Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Finally, we conclude the article with two groups of ecommerce adopters, lessons learned, recommendations, and the future of ecommerce in Australia and New Zealand. The next article presents a review of the current literature in business to business e-commerce and trust.