Internet casts wide web for local businesses

By ELIZABETH ROSS WHITE
Special to Essex County Newspapers

You’re pressed for time at the office, and your stomach is screaming, “Feed me, now!” With the click of a mouse button, you send your order for a turkey sandwich and a bowl of chili to a local restaurant. Delivery time: 15 minutes.

Welcome to the new world of the Internet on the North Shore. It's changing the way businesses operate. Whether used for e-mail messages, hosting elaborate Web pages or ordering lunch on a busy day, the Internet is here to stay.

In fact, North Shore Internet service providers have noted dramatic growth in sales to local businesses over the past few years.

Mike Reddin, president of Network Innovations Inc.(nii.net) of Beverly, says the business sector is his company's fastest growth area.

Bill Ostaski, general manager of Cove Communications (cove.com) of Salem, says he's creating up to four Web sites a week.

At pioneer Internet service provider Shore.Net of Lynn, overall sales have increased more than 80 times in the past five years.

"When we first went into business, it (the Internet) was still relatively new to consumers, something only for pioneering businesses," Reddin says. "Most businesses are now realizing, at the very least, that having an Internet presence will eventually be better than being in the Yellow Pages."

To compete successfully in a changing marketplace, businesses are being forced to go online. Insurance agencies use the Internet to retrieve policies and application forms from company clients. Travel agencies use it to access reservation information from airlines and tour companies. Manufacturing businesses use it to make product and service information immediately available to clients.

Jeff Schutzman, CEO of GourmetEtc, an online catering service in Beverly (www.gourmetetc.com), virtually created his business on the Internet. He relies on his Web page to post daily lunch and dinner menus, take orders and communicate with customers and employees.

"Direct mail is too slow for us because if it takes two days to reach people, we've lost half of our business," he says.

Internet service providers are assisting businesses with a variety of services, including Web hosting, Web design and e-commerce. Cove Communications in Salem rolled out a search engine of 1,400 companies on the North Shore this past fall. Other companies can add themselves to the list.

Shore.Net, meanwhile, markets DSLs (Digital Subscriber Lines) to companies. Popular with small to medium-size businesses, it offers inexpensive high-speed service that runs right off a telephone's copper wires, without a shared connection. Businesses must be within a few miles of a phone company's central office to be eligible for the service, however.

"DSL is a huge up-and-coming technology. As the bugs get ironed out, it's going to become very popular and become a household word," says Scott Hersey, Shore.Net communications manager.

Folly Cove Books (www.follycovebooks.com) owner Ray Bentley isn't sure what to think after his foray on the Web.

A one-man, Gloucester-based publisher of poetry books, Bentley recently posted a Web site. For an initial setup cost of $400, the site carries his logo, a list of books, sample poems and an order form that can be downloaded.

Since the site won't take credit-card transactions, Bentley wonders if he'll see much response. After more than two months, he still hadn't received any orders.

"I thought I had to be on the Web because everyone else in the world is," he says. Even with no response for now, he figures the Internet will eventually affect everything, including both small and large businesses. "You can even order groceries on the Web. I think that's incredible," he says.

For many businesses, simply having a Web site is not enough, says Joe Mari, co-owner of JMK Systems Solutions of Ipswich, a company that helps offices set up Internet services and integrate them with advertising and other marketing tools.

"If you don't advertise with that Web site, then it's useless," he says. "You see ads all the time on billboards and on TV. If you do that along with the Web site, then it's a very worthwhile tool."

At Eastern Science Co. (www.easternscience.com), a machine shop and computer-chip manufacturing company in Rowley, owner Richard Alfoni says the Internet "is embedded into our everyday life _ absolutely, without a question."

The company finds all information and pricing for raw materials on the Web. It also accesses forms and documents for safety and tool information from there. In addition, e-mailing clients and employees is faster and more efficient than telephoning.

"It makes a nice easy backup," says Alfoni. If a client mistakes a deadline, for instance, Alfoni can check the history of their e-mail correspondence and access the correct deadline in written form.

"I also find that, when you can take the time to develop a good message, there can be a little humor in there, and it doesn't have to be as impersonal as a fax that would go through the whole office."

One feature of his company's Web page is a camera that shows a real-time photo of the shop floor, which is refreshed every 30 seconds. He estimates the site gets about 1,600 hits a month, although he admits it doesn't bring in much outside business.

Some company Web sites have made a huge difference, however. Laney Roberts, artistic director of Wharf Rat Productions (www.wharfrat.com), a nonprofit theater company in Salem, uses the company's Web site to reach an international audience.

Each year, she promotes a yearly international playwriting contest on the Web. The company has received original scripts from all over the world _ including Africa, Australia, Austria, Great Britain and Ireland, Iceland and Japan. Each year, a winner is announced and is invited to Salem to see a full-stage performance of the play.

Roberts also uses the Internet for publicity. Every month, she sends out mass e-mails about upcoming performances.

The Internet, she says, "has done nothing but positive things for the company." Even the negligible monthly costs "pale in comparison to the benefits."