European Businesses See the Virtual Enterprise as the Future, Nortel and CMA Survey Says

London (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Benefits of Cost Saving, Enhanced Efficiency Far Outweigh
Current Barriers

The vast majority of European companies believe the virtual
enterprise is the way to increase profits and productivity for the
future, according to new independent research commissioned by
Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) and the Communications Management
Association (CMA). The research report - Virtual Enterprise 2006 -
focused on 200 UK-based organisations that conduct business across
Europe. It is the first survey in the region to capture business
perceptions of the virtual enterprise. The survey defined the
virtual enterprise as a 'human Internet' where customers, employees,
partners and suppliers have access to information - and each other -
from wherever they are and on whatever device. The survey found that
83 percent of respondents believe adoption of virtual enterprise
solutions will increase to drive cost savings and improve
efficiency. Most of the organisations surveyed (91 percent) already
provide their employees with secure remote access to their internal
network when needed. Flexible working capabilities and hot-desking
facilities for teleworkers are being provided by the majority of
respondents. The perceived benefits of making these provisions for
employees were increased efficiency and productivity and a more
flexible work environment for employees. Peter Kelly, president,
Enterprise EMEA, Nortel said, "Virtualising any aspect of a business
will bring advantages but as the research confirms, the full benefits
of the virtual enterprise can only be realised by virtualising every
aspect of an organization across processes and the workplace. Once
this is achieved, the business benefits from agility, streamlined
processes and cost savings."

The survey found that organisations do perceive some barriers to
the adoption of the virtual enterprise. Primary concerns are HR
concerns relating to new management and organisational structures
(68 percent), security issues (23 percent) and the cost of new
technology (19 percent).

The research also revealed a disparity between the pace of
virtualisation of the workforce and that of partners and suppliers.
The virtualisation of suppliers and partners appears to be a slower
process. More than half (58 percent) of the organisations surveyed
have already integrated suppliers or partners with their IT system.
The companies that have already adopted the virtual enterprise model
with partners and/or suppliers stated that their organisation have
become more efficient and responsive. Despite the barriers, less than
one fifth of the respondents stated that they do not plan to
integrate their IT system with suppliers and/or partners. Glenn
Powell, chief executive, CMA said, "We believe that the Virtual
Enterprise is a critical business topic for our members and the
enterprise at large, and hence we teamed with Nortel to commission
this research. We were very interested to discover that although many
of the respondents may not have been familiar with the term 'The
Virtual Enterprise' they were acutely aware of the benefits of this
model of working."

For a copy of the full research results, please contact Tara
Sinclair on +44(0)1628-432-435 or tsinclai@nortel.com

About CMA

CMA, Communications Management Association, is the UK's premier
business communications user association. It represents individuals
who have responsibility for or manage private communications systems
in commerce, industry and the public sector. CMA is a registered
charity and a Company Limited by Guarantee. Its individual members
are drawn from the ranks of the top businesses and corporations
across UK public and private sectors. More information can be found
at http://www.thecma.com

About Nortel

Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications
capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power
global commerce, and secure and protect the world's most critical
information. Our next-generation technologies, for both service
providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support
multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate
today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying
networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business
in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the
Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit
www.nortel.com/news.

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(x) Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of
Nortel Networks.

ots Originaltext: Nortel Networks
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Angelika Kempf, +44(0)1628-437-340, angelika.kempf@nortel.com; Tara
Sinclair, +44(0)1628-432-435, tsinclai@nortel.com