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Web-monitoring specialist internetVista, a company that keeps a close eye on websites to make sure they are operating properly and performing to expectations, states that depending on their individual business sector, companies and organisations are not always aware of the need to monitor their websites. This is the main conclusion drawn by this Belgian company, based on two recent surveys, one of which examined the web activity of some of Belgium's leading companies, while the other was conducted with internetVista customers all over the world.
The first survey was based on the results of an in-depth monitoring programme conducted through the InternetVista service of a hundred or so websites belonging to the major players in a variety of sectors. Over a period of 8 weeks, internetVista monitored activity at their websites, as well as the actual availability of these sites through its 24/24 x 7/7 x 365/365 service. A number of the websites totally ceased operating for relatively long periods, during which time customers, prospects and general visitors were unable to gain access. The way internetVista sees it, this situation is often due to the fact that the "owners" of the sites are simply not aware of these "breakdowns" or malfunctions.
"If you are not aware that your site has gone down, there's really nothing you can do to rectify the situation," explains Cédric Braem, one of the two founders of internetVista. "So when it does happen, you simply have to trust to luck and good fortune. If you are particularly lucky, someone will tell you that your site has stopped operating and you can do something about it. Otherwise your presence on the web is likely to disappear for 24 hours or more, leaving you totally defenceless. However, there is a downtime prevention service that operates 100% effectively. If you use the solution provided by internetVista, you will be alerted immediately of any anomaly and can take direct action and keep any loss of business to the absolute minimum."
internetVista has also noted that some sectors, which operate in part thanks to the business they do on the web, have very poor awareness of the importance of monitoring and virtually never use it. This observation stems from the survey that the Belgian company conducted in February 2007 with customers located all over the world. Taken worldwide, it seems that web agencies are the main users of monitoring services, whereas finance companies almost never use them. Some sectors, such as ITC and service-providers are already well represented on the internetVista client list, whereas others, despite the fact that they work on the web, such as tourism companies, appear to be less inclined to adopt the business continuity guaranteed by monitoring. From a geographic point of view, France and Belgium are internetVista's biggest markets, followed by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and other European countries. The Wallonia-based company also has major customers in markets as far away as China, New Zealand and Mexico.
"If we skew the results the way we want, these surveys show us that there is still immense potential to be explored in this market," concludes Mr Braem. "Web monitoring has now been well and truly launched and will carve out a well-deserved position for itself in the market for IT services. We are also seeing a genuine growth in interest for what we are doing, both from marketing managers (who are the real owners of the sites) and IT managers (who manage the sites). And that of course also explains our own recent growth with the arrival of two new staff members. We are convinced that this trend will continue throughout the whole of 2007."
About internetVista
Created in 2003 by two graduates with master's degrees from the University of Namur, internetVista provides Internet monitoring services to the world's companies, focusing on the analysis of website performance and availability. From its six points of presence (Belgium, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany and the United States), InternetVista provides continuous external checks on operations at websites, as well as other Internet services (mail servers, file transfers, etc.). Any breakdown in the service being monitored is notified by e-mail and SMS to the owner of the site.
For more detailed information, please contact
InternetVista
Cédric Braem
Tel. 010/39 00 75
cbr@internetVista.com
3vondemand
Vera Luypaert
Tel. 0475/77 11 11
vera@3vondemand.be
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