A new report into broadband use by small and medium sized enterprises has discovered that nearly half of all small businesses are not making the most out of their broadband connections.

Analysis of numerous small businesses around the UK performed by Business Link has resulted in statistics showing that 45 per cent of small businesses do not have a website or a plan allowing them to market themselves online and bring in new customers.

Two thirds of respondents to a survey conducted by Business Link also said that they were very much in favour of creating and operating their own website. Even the 55 per cent of small businesses that do have their own websites are not taking full advantage of the extras offered by BT business broadband packages and others.

Business Link’s Tony Cattermole said that there was a growing gap between those small and medium businesses who had jumped on the broadband bandwagon and those that had not.

Mr Cattermole also said that the small businesses that really took advantage of all that a broadband connection and a website could offer were able to generate income, contact customers and provide the perfect place in which to advertise new services and products. Since websites are relatively cheap to set up and run, they are also a more efficient tool for marketing and communication for small businesses than traditional means.

Simon Gerrard, Communications Manager at Simple Broadband added that “Business broadband packages offer enterprises a cheap way in which to create their own online presence and creating a website is always an important step for any organisation. If the results of the survey are accurate on a wider scale, then thousands of UK businesses could benefit from comparing business broadband bundles, taking the plunge and catapulting their enterprise to the next level.”