But the main thing these contractors are looking for online is product information, according to 88% of the study’s participants. The ability to access company e-mail was the next largest area of Internet use, at 53%. General company information, online buying, website links, and rep contact all hovered around 36%.
Contractors are pretty much up to speed now on owning computers for business purposes (88%), although a surprising 12% said that they do not. Also, 85% said that they use the Internet for business purposes, averaging 6 hrs per week (see Figures 1 and 2). That leaves a meager 3% who use computers for actions like dispatching, customer tracking, and accounting, but who do not use e-mail or go online with them.