Power Surge

Many of the survey findings correlated with company size and age. Companies with fewer than 100 employees were less likely than larger firms to have in-house experts to manage technology and provide support. Instead, small companies rely on consultants and third-party service suppliers.

This is due to the limited amount of time small firms can take away from critical operational and marketing tasks to devote to technology support, theorizes Azzi. Thomas agrees: "When I'm out in the field all day [deodorizing] cars, how can I keep up with technology?"

It may come as no surprise that younger small businesses are more likely than their elders to embrace the Net. The survey reports small businesses are using the Net for e-mail, research, advertising, recruiting and videoconferencing, as well as purchasing and selling goods. But companies less than one year old were more likely to have Web sites than were older companies--46 percent vs. 40 percent for firms 2 to 5 years old, and only 26 percent for firms that have been around more than a decade. Overall, about one-third of surveyed companies had Web sites. For those who are on the Net, reaching new customers was their primary goal, but other reasons for going online included research, public relations and education.

When it comes to software, the word was Microsoft. Sixty-two percent of those polled used Windows 95, and 95 percent ran a Microsoft operating system, including Windows 3.1, Windows NT, DOS and Windows 98. Microsoft's Office suite was the most popular application, used by half the respondents. Other popular software applications included those that handle graphics, desktop publishing, database marketing, drafting and inventory management. Desktop publishing software was far more popular with women-owned firms.

Not all the technology that entrepreneurs use is computer-based. Fax machines were the single most common type of office technology in use, at 79 percent, followed by cellular phones (64 percent) and e-mail (52 percent). Copiers were about as common as voice mail, at 43 percent and 42 percent, respectively.

About one in eight companies reported using laptop computers. Hispanic-owned firms were the most likely to use personal digital assistants such as the Apple Newton and the Palm Pilot. Mainframes, once the dominant form of computer, were employed by only 18 percent of small-business owners.

The most common computer peripherals were modems, used by more than 70 percent of respondents, with three in 10 modems being 56 Kbps models. And Internet-knowledgeable entrepreneurs looking for an edge over their competitors might want to look at high-speed hookups: Cable modems, ISDN lines and T1/T3 dedicated data lines accounted for just 3 percent of the Internet connections combined.

This article was originally published in the November 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Power Surge.