MEDIA RELEASE

E-Commerce in Oz - Winners and Losers

In Information Age this month - what does it take to be successful on the Web?

Friday 14 May 1999 - The secrets of success for electronic commerce sites on the Web are revealed this month by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in its national magazine, Information Age.

Functionality, answering consumers' fears about security and thorough testing are revealed as some of the paths to success. But some major Australian companies are shown to have missed these clues.

"Spending a lot of money on a high profile Web site does not necessarily guarantee success," said ACS Publications Board Director, Tom Worthington, who also chaired last year's Information Industry Outlook Conference on E-commerce for the ACS.

Information Age features e-commerce as the May cover story, with second feature on life after Y2K and what some industry experts foresee will be the key issues for concern early in the next millennium.

Also in this issue of Information Age:

Product Review - SunPCi puts Wintel in your workstation;
Tongue in Cheek - A portal to my heart;
Web Watch - With such a wealth of information, the Internet can be daunting; and
Think all your colleagues are jumping ship just for fat pay cheques and sign-on bonuses? Think again. The No. 1 reason people change positions is because they hate their boss - and that includes IT professionals.

Mr Worthington, who is Director of Technical Issues for the Department of Defence Y2K Program Management Office said, "Y2K has made IT professionals and businesses tighten up their IT procedures. We need to lock in those benefits for the long term".

Information Age is distributed to 14,000 IT professionals in government, industry and academia. It is also available in electronic format on the Web at: http://www2.idg.com.au/infoage1.nsf

The June issue will profile three successful IT professionals - one each from the fields of consulting, IT management and programming, as well as a feature on online training, in particular, courses available via the Internet. Information Age will also look at Linux's Windows makeover, while the Product Review section will consider how the UnixWare operating system aims to oust NT and NetWare.

Some of the issues Information Age has covered this year include: the accuracy of IT analysts' forecasts; training for IT professionals; the IT skills shortage; overseas jobs market; State Government Y2K compliance; and Internet-related certifications.

Information Age Editor, Angela Prodromou, is inviting suggestions from the IT industry for future issues. She can be contacted by e-mail at: angela_prodromou@idg.com.au

This media release is located on the ACS Web site at http://www.acs.org.au/news/iamay99.html

ENDS

The Australian Computer Society is the recognised association for information technology (IT) professionals, attracting a large and active membership from all levels of the IT industry and providing a wide range of services to its members. It is the public voice of the IT profession, the guardian of professional ethics and standards in the IT industry, with a commitment to the wider community to ensure the beneficial use of IT. See the ACS Home Page for more information.

Media Enquiries:

Tom Worthington, ACS Publications Board Director, Tel: (0419) 496 150, Email: tom.worthington@tomw.net.au

Angela Prodromou, Editor, Information Age, Tel: (02) 9902 2716, Email: angela_prodromou@idg.com.au

Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au