Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., October 23, 2007—Companies in the computer and electronics industries are increasing their usage of business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce applications, a new survey conducted by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) reveals.

More than one-half of the companies surveyed (59 percent) said the value of B2B e-commerce to their organizations is increasing significantly; and 38 percent said it is increasing slightly. The survey also found that 57 percent of companies reported a significant increase in the transactional volume performed using B2B e-commerce.

“The increasing usage of B2B e-business clearly demonstrates its value as an essential tool that enables companies to conduct business quicker and with more flexibility,” said David Sommer, acting chief operating officer for CompTIA.

Sommer will present the results of the CompTIA survey this week at Microsoft’s second annual Global High Tech Summit in San Jose, Calif.

While use of B2B e-commerce applications is on the upswing, companies also said they are dealing with several challenges. Hurdles to greater usage of B2B e-commerce solutions include:

• Driving down internal manual process costs, cited by 86 percent of companies
• Cost of implementing data and business process standards (62 percent)
• Cost of performing e-business (57 percent)
The majority of companies surveyed are computer and electronics manufacturers; computer and electronics resellers and retailers; and software and software services solution providers. More than half of the companies (56.4 percent) have annual revenue of more than $10 billion. The Web-based survey of members of CompTIA Electronics Industry Data Exchange (EIDX) Group and European E-Business Council was conducted in September and October. For more information on the survey please visit: http://www.comptia.org/sections/research.aspx .

The CompTIA EIDX Group provides a unified voice, global leadership and strategic direction to further e-business interoperability. Members are committed to advancing industry growth through the development of standards, best practices, accreditations, professional education and development, tools and business solutions. For more information on the CompTIA EIDX initiative, please visit http://eidx.comptia.org/ .